Pio1980
AK Member
Those Bozaks are something like these self-built by a guy in Atlanta?
Stephens trusonic Low-boy cabinets,,Score!!
- Thread starter hunter00
- Start date
hunter00
Super Member
yes production ran from the late 1940's thru mid 60's.You can google the history mr.Stephens roll starting with the sound systems in movie theaters of the day in southern California and worked with and for James B.Lansing on his sytems before striking out on his own .His Stephens Tru-sonics sold side by side with Altec and JBL thru the 50's/60's and were some of the best drivers of the day.
hunter
Yeah, that's how I got the 1957 Heathkit SS-1B's and that Craftsmen 500 amp!
What does Dark Sounding mean?
Biggles
I never did get to see an image of them, didn't get that far. But yeah, that's pretty much it! Neat, huh?
Biggles
hunter00
Super Member
to me Biggs, when I say dark sounding it in relation to brighter sounding speakers.Before I got into tubes I had High powered SS amps needed to drive accostically sealed speakers primarily east coast designed aka AR's,I ran AR9's as my primary setup secondary system were AR3a's,also AR2ax's also various KLH speakers with 100 plus watt amps.Tho the sounded quite good to my ears when I heard my first "west cost"bass reflex designed speaker,vintage JBL blue faced monitors I knew that was the sound I was chaseing ,more forward,sparkle in the top end,ect since I heard my first tube amp in 1974 with old 2-way JBL's.
hunter00
Super Member
Yes he did Pio.Look into the construction of the Stephens drivers and you will see that they were produced at the same time ,with the same quality and materials as the best from JBL and Altec...these were all competeing for market share .from my experience with various Stephens tri-axials they are my first choice of the best of the day includeing Tannoy single point source speakers{just not as well known}
hunter
I think I understand. I was able to listen to the little Bozak B312's before I tore them to pieces. They've got a 12" driver running full range and the ubiquitous 2 aluminum coned tweeters on that center mount array thingy. The sound I heard from them was very wide open with vast amounts of airy, juicy midrange. Nice warm, deep lows that were all very well refined. However, I don't remember how well the tweeters ran. I know the oil capacitors are at least 45 years old, didn't get a chance to put them to a meter. I hear great things about the aluminum coned B209 midranges, which is what is what the B312 was ready to be upgraded to. However, I was able to get one B800 aluminum midrange and I'm told they're to midrange as the Wharfedale Alnico Super 3 is to tweeting. Which is why I'm considering using Wharfedale tweeters instead of the Bozak's offering. But I dunno, nothing is written in stone.
I have not heard from my contact about the Stephens horn, yet. He must be on vacation or something. In the last 3 years he's returned my email within an easy 12 hours. I'll keep after him to see what the scoop is.
Biggles
Pio1980
AK Member
Following with interest, something in my mind comparing what was going on in Boston with Edgar Villchur developing a scientifically designed way to get big box performance into a smaller box to the leaders from the West coast and Hope Ark. The price of course was efficiency and concurrent ease of drive and dynamic response.
JBL had a great machine shop and made superb drivers, opinions vary on how well they integrated them into systems and the results. If one could hear thru ones eyes the Paragon would have been the best system ever produced, but nobody says that it was.
Stephens get a lot of love here in this corner, unlike the JBLs, I don't recall seeing or hearing them in SLC in the 1960s.
JBL had a great machine shop and made superb drivers, opinions vary on how well they integrated them into systems and the results. If one could hear thru ones eyes the Paragon would have been the best system ever produced, but nobody says that it was.
Stephens get a lot of love here in this corner, unlike the JBLs, I don't recall seeing or hearing them in SLC in the 1960s.
hunter00
Super Member
to hear is to believe when you've tasted many,many flavours over 40 plus years.East/west/ European vintage high end ,I had a great speaker purge when we sold our home..What ive kept and have now are the keepers that work best and sound glorious with tubes.I didn't think anything would bump my big Braun L-1000 studio's{13 drivers per} as they sent Altec 14/15/19's,JBLc-34 , AR9's and other well regarded speakers packing.As far as single point source My Stephens FR-150's sound very close to my buddys Altec 604's and Tannoy 15 golds.The thing about the Stephens is their much rarer to the resale market,most people who hear these cant believe the sound quality from 50-60 yr old speakers.Are there better out there for tube electronics ,maybe ,but I haven't come across them
Hunter
Hunter
hunter00
Super Member
I once owned a pair of those Bozaks ,Biggs.Always reminded me of the Fried{IMF} model R's which I owned as well.Dont know if you like or own any vintage "John Coltrane" but I usually test new speakers on his "blue Train " Album,too bad your not closer to hear this album on the Stephens 3-ways!by the way
No worrys or hunrry on the tru-sonic horn,at your leasure.
thx
hunter
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I'm surprised sixcats hasn't jumped in on this thread. He has a beatiful Eames-designed cab, a huge one, and I think it has the same 15" FR'er in it. I wish I had gotten a picture because it looked amazing. BIG, accurate sound, and I think this driver was made in like 1955. Soundwise, it seemed like a hotrodded vintage tube-era JBL sound. Classic early west coast in boutique form. That's the impression I got. Surpringly-accurate and modern-sounding for a 60 year old driver.
Wanted to ask Biggles about the FR80's, which I think are beautiful in those cabs. How did you like the bass of those versus the Super 12's? I would think the 12's, as mellow as they are, would still kick out more and better bass than the 8" ST's, although the larger Stephens driver/s that I heard did put out a pretty-substantial kick in the pants for something that old. I think it went lower than the W90 version that I have. The Super must be s sweet in a large, ported enclosure. I want a pair for those 9ft woofer cabs I have.
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Hey,
I may or may not have Blue Train on MP3, don't believe I have it on vinyl. I probably can't afford it on vinyl! I'll take a look and see what I have available and run it through the 80FR's, see what the deal is. I'm always on the lookout for music to listen to.
That's a tough question to answer. The 80FR is more refined than the Super 12's, a cleaner presence. The Super 12 is larger, pushes more air and sounds louder. However, I believe the 80FR digs deeper, especially in that goofy cabinet. There are some passages in some of the music I've been listening to that causes you to say, "Daaaaaaaang. What was that? Wow. Hey? OoOoOoOoOo." The Super 12 has that huge, wide open, spacious midrange that I absolutely require today. However, the 80FR has that too. The Super 12 really should have a tweeter, but you don't absolutely need one. The 80FR doesn't require one for much of the music I listen to, but should have a tweeter to be more useful as a daily driver. I love them both!
Biggles
hunter00
Super Member
That's the thing with the fr ers they will need a horn if your accoustom to hearing the high frequencies more pronounced.Thats what I do with my FR 150's in the tannoy cabinets.My Stephens 3ways that this tread is based on has the top end covered with the 5 kt horns.You should pick up a simple x-over strip and add a horn on top of those fr8's Biggs.hunter
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, I forgot that the Super 12 didn't extend quite as high by itself as a W12/Super 3 combo. I wonder how they would be with a supertweeter of some kind, or maybe a Super 12 with an upfiring Super 3 on top of the cab. Even the six-driver W90's have great driver-separation, but the Super 12 has no crossover, so it must have that certain special something. I wonder how the ceramic Super 12 is in terms of response.
Hey,
I have to be thoughtful in the horns I bring home. My listening space is so small, the Altec Valencia's horns were unbearable. Even turned mostly down, a nasty 2 or 3 hour headache shows up within 1 minute. However, the little EV T35 horns work well. I've amassed a small handful of oil and metalized film/foil caps in both 4uF and 6uF to try out on the Super 3's. Does that fit the bill for the "crossover strip", or should I be doing something else?
PS - 5kt horn was confirmed a no show.
Hey,
Given what we found out about the Alnico versus the Ceramic Super 3 turned up in the tests, I'm going to say it performs really well. I'd have no issue buying a pair today. When I run across an affordable pair of really good super tweeters, they'll go into testing with the Super 12's and the 80FR's!
Biggles
hunter00
Super Member
I using a 3 uf 600v oil cap on my one set of x-overs I use. I didn't look close at the second set I use in the tru-sonics before we installed them but we did check them with the dmm to make sure they worked fine with the 8 ohm taps off the amp.To be honest my tech started building new x-overs using the x-over strips and there his baby,i didn't get into it with him as far as where the horns x-'s over ,its all new to me
You should be ably to pick up those x-over strips at any local electronics store that sells Capacitors.. then plug and play experiment.
Once you get a horn on top of your Stephens they will transform those speakers!Do you have anyone handy that knows the ins and outs of x-over building?
hunter