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Unidentified Speakers.....Can Anyone Shed Some Light?

Atom Drop

Atom Drop

Member
A few days ago I saw these speakers listed on Facebook Marketplace. Their dimensions are 22" high x 14" wide x 12" deep. Veneer covered mdf board. They weigh close to 50lbs each. Each cabinet houses two 6" woofers and two 3.25" tweeters. Every speaker is producing clean and clear sound without any noticeable disturbances or damage. Please help me identify these vintage cabinets. Thanks. 20170611_164723.jpg 20170611_165448.jpg 20170611_165622.jpg 20170611_165643.jpg 20170611_165725.jpg 20170611_165741.jpg 20170611_165853.jpg
 
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Cat. No. might be a good clue (but not to me as I'm not as sharp as a lot of the people here).
Makes me think along the lines of Lafayette or Radio Shack.
 
I would also say Lafayette, though I don't think I ever remember seeing that speaker and I was an avid fan of Lafayette.

looks like somebody was trying to cash in on the popular EPI 180s
 
Thanks. So far I'm not getting anywhere on those numbers. They have bolt head screws holding down the woofers. My socket is too thick to get the screws off. I am really eager to take a look at the back of the woofers and hoping there is some printed information there.
 
nexus said:
I would also say Lafayette, though I don't think I ever remember seeing that speaker and I was an avid fan of Lafayette.

looks like somebody was trying to cash in on the popular EPI 180s
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Around what year or decade do you think they might be from? Thanks again for your support.
 
Katalyst said:
You need 1/4" drive sockets or a standard nut driver set for removing the drivers.
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Okay thanks. I will get my hands on a 1/4" standard nut driver. Do you know if most of the vintage drivers have some kind of information printed on the yoke back part of the driver? Like where it's made from or manufacturer's name?
 
Gazdatronik said:
Looks like carbonnaeu woofers. For build year, I'll guess 1974. Font on the tag looks like either Urbana or Sophia.
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I just searched carbonneau woofers they do look like them. The dust cap is made of a carbon type of material that is not transparent, but the surrounds have transparency to them. Now I need to search for which cabinets were supplied by those kind of woofers. We're getting somewhere I believe. Thanks Gazdatronik.
 
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Atom Drop said:
I just searched carbonneau woofers they do look like them. The dust cap is made of cloth material that has transparency to it. Now I need to search for which cabinets were supplied by those kind of woofers. We're getting somewhere I believe. Thanks Gazdatronik.
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Carbonneau made drivers for many different companies. Generally, a manufacturer won't make its own speaker drivers, but they'll design a crossover and cabinet for drivers that already exist. Harder to find your brand name that way.

Any clues will be in the cabinet, but I'd say its probably a house brand or a mail-order unbranded unit. Its a very unique design though, so one of the fellow members may have seen it before.
 
Sure look like early 70s to me. The RCA jack sometimes showed up back then. Consistent with general appearance, grille cloth,

I wonder what "LEML" stands for? That's the only thing on the label that doesn't ring a bell.

Woofer surround looks CTS to me. And yes if there are numbers/codes on the drivers they may indicate who made them. If you find a 137 that's CTS.

There were a lot of small/regional/house brand speaker makers back then. These are probably not a treasure trove since they have no names and no one recognizes them, but having said that, if they sound good, enjoy them! They probably need some new capacitors though.
 
toxcrusadr said:
Sure look like early 70s to me. The RCA jack sometimes showed up back then. Consistent with general appearance, grille cloth,

I wonder what "LEML" stands for? That's the only thing on the label that doesn't ring a bell.

Woofer surround looks CTS to me. And yes if there are numbers/codes on the drivers they may indicate who made them. If you find a 137 that's CTS.

There were a lot of small/regional/house brand speaker makers back then. These are probably not a treasure trove since they have no names and no one recognizes them, but having said that, if they sound good, enjoy them! They probably need some new capacitors though.
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Thank you. I imagine a speaker treasure is truly in the eye of the beholder. Or should I say in the ear of the beholder. :music: I do find the fact that they have a catalog and a lot number kind of interesting. Like you said they are not anything quite noticeable. The driver and tweeter layouts are unique in their own rights. The back vents have a steel mesh screen and when I peeked into them with a flashlight, the back portions of the cabinets are partitioned about halfway deep (which is six inches) and halfway width (which is seven inches). The left side vent has a gold shiny colored sponge/foam towards the mid-bottom portion and the right side vent has the same kind of sponge/foam towards the mid-top portion. Also the mdf board seams have a thin bead line of dark brown caulk/glue. That's about all the details I have now until I decide to remove the drivers. And they are heavy heavy heavy.
 
nolasally said:
I would not spend any further time or money on them! Keep shopping.
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Sorry, but I already bought em for $20 and hooked em up to this. I easily wasted $20 before in the past so I'm not sweating it. Just giving them a listen. It's really too difficult for me to say whether they sound good or not. There's too many variables involved. All I can say for now is that all the drivers and tweeters are putting out sound. I truly am new to the world of vintage electronics and will need help on how to test each driver and tweeter and capacitors in the crossovers for deficiency. Any help will be gratefully appreciated and respected. Thanks.20170612_184039.jpg
 
Try selling them for 20.00. If a large bookshelf speaker is hard to pick up 40+lbs or you knock on the side of the cabinet and you hear a thud I.E a older Benz door shutting vs a Honda Accord. Those are tests to verify if a speaker is legit. Weather or not you like the sound will be only up to your ears but at least you will have a good baseline.

Nice g series receiver FYI.
 
nolasally said:
Try selling them for 20.00. If a large bookshelf speaker is hard to pick up 40+lbs or you knock on the side of the cabinet and you hear a thud I.E a older Benz door shutting vs a Honda Accord. Those are tests to verify if a speaker is legit. Weather or not you like the sound will be only up to your ears but at least you will have a good baseline.
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I'm not selling them. These are now my mystery babies. Right now listening to John Coltrane - My Favorite Things on them and am starting a relationship with these mystery babies. I'm not really looking for any mass produced hifi name brand speakers anyway. Who knows.....these unrecognized speakers could have very well come from The Bermuda Triangle. :cool:
 
One other suggestion. Post your location and spend 25.00 to join barter town. You might have lots of fellow Akers that will have lots of good speaker offerings for little money.
 
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