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Stephens trusonic Low-boy cabinets,,Score!!

Gang-Twanger said:
Not to mention the magnet assembly.

I don't remember if my woofers have spiders. I somehow think not, but I'll have to take a look.

*EDIT* - Nope... Figured there was a good reason why I was drawin' a blank on that… (Yup... It's called "getting old").
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By the way, even the LOOK of those drivers comes across as idealized vintage JBL.
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Well im going to crack them open again and at least look at the xover boxes.Id rather not re and re the drivers if not neccisary

hunter
 
I like the idea of putting oil caps on old drivers like those from the tube era. If my speakers had been made a year earlier, they would already have had them. Your speakers look to be about the same age. Maybe '61-'63, right?

Anyway, I had great luck with mine. I went with n.o.s. US-made ones from the mid '50's and mid '60's (Two different pairs... One pair for the tweeters and the other pair for the midwoofers).
 
Gang-Twanger said:
I like the idea of putting oil caps on old drivers like those from the tube era. If my speakers had been made a year earlier, they would already have had them. Your speakers look to be about the same age. Maybe '61-'63, right?

Anyway, I had great luck with mine. I went with n.o.s. US-made ones from the mid '50's and mid '60's (Two different pairs... One pair for the tweeters and the other pair for the midwoofers).
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just got finished with changing over the speaker cable runs inside each box as it was old real light gage wire. im amazed they sound so dam good with that small a wire.anyhow I opened and took pics of the x-over boxes and to my amazement there full of wax just like the old AR x-overs ive encountered over the yrs.The inductor/coil and caps are all buried in side the box that is filled completely with wax!I don't think I will be digging into these,and man are they heavey.Do you figure I sould spin these woofers ??

hunter
 
I wouldn't bother with spinning the woofers unless you start hearing some distortion from them. And even before doing that, make sure the pots are cleaned and functioning properly before you go rotating any drivers. The old stuff like this sure does have heavy magnet structures. This was the era of long-winged fenders, early skyscrapers, and John Wayne. Emphasis on "big".
 
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dc270 said:
Back in the day you HAD to have the speakers appear as much like furniture as possible, sound be damned- looks be an integral part. If they happen to sound good to then fine!

Wharffies did it as well as most..........
DC
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And EV too... And Bozak with their curtain grills... I think EV, Western Electric/Altec, and JBL did it best, with EV being my favorite, I think.

Stephens Trusonic wasn't so bad either...
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Well was right I the middle of starting to re and re the wireing in the second speaker cabinet and power outage!!We have a wicked wind/rain storm happening and as the power sputtered earlier im glad I had my system unplugged due to possible power surges.
Then between running around for Gas/a few supplys/and digging out my generator,running cords my speakers are on the backburner...oh well.
Thx for chiming in Gangbanger
Those Eames designed Stephens in your pic are something else hey! Reminds me of Dieter Rams designed Speakers from W,Germany era of Braun.He designed my 64' L-1000 speakers.

hunter
 
heres what I found when I got the x-over box opened,,,Wax filled!!
Same as my old AR3a's and AR2 ax's.thinking back Funny thing was when I recapped the ar3's and 2'axs and tossed those big wax blocks that the original caps were embedded in I think at the time I felt they lost some of there majic with new solens.
As I say I wont be recapping these unless I notice any problems but as is they do sound great.

hunter
 

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Wondering if any AKers have taken apart a Stephens 5KT toroid super tweeter for repair.Access into mine here looks difficult as its seems to be a one piece unit

thx Hunter
 
Can't help with the tweeter, but wanted to chime in and say congrats on obtaining what appear to be a mint set of great speakers. Keep up the posts, has been quite enjoyable to follow.
 
Thx Audiofan
Ive got some great speakers here already but these are definitely special.Im not too spoked by the 5kt horn as they do come up for sale on that site and ive got the top end covered with a jbl horn for now.
Even the grills on these looks brand new and beautiful they are.The bass drivers are serious kit...nothing ive heard has dug this deep,untill one hears accurate deep,clean punchy bass you really don't know what your missing.
These are now married to my Fisher 50A mono amps..great cynergy
thx for chimeing in

hunter
 
Gang-Twanger said:
Not to mention the magnet assembly. The higher-quality drivers from the '50's and '60's all had huge, heavy magnet structures that would sometimes sag a bit after 50 years of gravity.

I don't remember if my woofers have spiders. I somehow think not, but I'll have to take a look.

*EDIT* - Nope... Figured there was a good reason why I was drawin' a blank on that… (Yup... It's called "getting old").
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Every coned speaker has to have a spider. You just can't see it from that angle.
 
Sam Cogley said:
Every coned speaker has to have a spider. You just can't see it from that angle.
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Sam would you recommend rotateing the woofer in these?I know there not a common speaker so there wont be a lot of people with experience with these drivers.

hunter
 
hunter00 said:
Sam would you recommend rotateing the woofer in these?I know there not a common speaker so there wont be a lot of people with experience with these drivers.

hunter
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IMHO, it's a good practice on any driver of that age, unless you have something weird like a phenolic spider (the field coil Jensen A12s are a good example) that can't sag. At the very least, it isn't going to hurt anything.
 
Sam Cogley said:
IMHO, it's a good practice on any driver of that age, unless you have something weird like a phenolic spider (the field coil Jensen A12s are a good example) that can't sag. At the very least, it isn't going to hurt anything.
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K-thanks for that info.I have done it before but with these cabinets never being messed with im kinda resistant to doing anything with them.The W150 woofers are bolted in from the inside of the front baffle into counter sunk nuts that are flush with the front of the baffle and have never been unscrewed.

hunter
 
hunter00 said:
K-thanks for that info.I have done it before but with these cabinets never being messed with im kinda resistant to doing anything with them.The W150 woofers are bolted in from the inside of the front baffle into counter sunk nuts that are flush with the front of the baffle and have never been unscrewed.

hunter
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I'd lay them face down on a soft moving blanket or something similar so you don't mar the edges of the cabinets. That style of mounting is less likely to cause an "oops" moment than the more standard integrated stud. The studs are easier to re-install a heavy woofer with the cabinet upright, though - as long as you don't slip and put a stud through a cone...
 
Yes ive come close to jabbing a finger thru a cone a few times,especially when re and reing "heavey" drivers by yourself.I think I will do it when ive got a buddy over as im not in a hurry and 2 sets of hands are better than one in this regard.

What are your thoughts on the x-overs,Being embedded in wax blocks?To recap or to not recap is the question.I read an obscure post claiming the quality of original caps used by Stephens were very good paper in oil.There is absolutely no sound degradation in any of the drivers,startleing impressive sound from all drivers other than the one poached 5KT super tweeter.

hunter
 
I don't know anything about the parts Stephens used in their crossovers. Hopefully someone around here has some relevant experience.
 
Just heading over to a buddys place to see if theres a fix for the 5KT toroid super tweeter,i'll take pics if we can fix it for future reference..

hunter
 
well my buddy has started on the trusonic bullet tweeter that measured open.These things don't come apart that easily but he got it broken down to where the diaphragm housing is.The pos/neg posts disassembled and found one of the copper tinsil wires that feeds the positive side looked to be broken where it comes out of the diaphagme housing.
Ive got a few pics i'll post later if this turns out to be a successful repair for future reference.
When I left he was attemping to dismantle the housing to access the windings and resolder..
Im keeping my fingers xed on this one will know soon...

hunter
 
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