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Visonik David 502

maxhifi

maxhifi

Addicted Member
Local record store had a yard sale event, and besides records there was a ton of equipment, dozens of speakers, record players, and tape decks. Nothing really caught my eye, until I was about to leave, I saw two little brick shaped enclosures on top of some giant wood grain sony speakers. Picked them up and thought there was some heft, and was surprised to see made in West Germany on the back. The $10 price tag completed the deal, and I brought them home.

They seem to me like superior quality minimus 7s, although a touch smaller. Info online is very hard to find, I can't find even basic specs. They sound quite good, although obviously quite bass shy. I think maybe the crossover capacitors could be past their best before date, but haven't tried to open them up.
 
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You're right- very little on the Internet. However I did find a bit of info in a 1978 Audio Equipment Directory.

D502 air suspension, 4" woofer, 3/4" tweeter, 45 Hz - 30 kHz ( frankly I don't buy those specs, esp. the low frequency limit, but then no tolerances given), min. amp power 20 watts, crossover 1.4 kHz, 4 ohm impedance, 4.25" x 4.25" x 6.75" , black metal cabinet, 5 1/2 lbs, $115 USD ( probably each)

I seem to remember they had magazine ads talking about Davis vs. Goliath showing the visonik against a standard sized loudspeaker.
 
I did try them out and they sound good! They definiitely don't do 45Hz, but I do feel I got my $10 worth. 1.4khz is pretty low for a 3/4" tweeter, I should open them and check out the crossover.
 
I rescued 4 of the Visonik David 50's a couple years back. Tried (like you) to do a little research, but there is little out there regarding them. Yep, they are little "bricks" and sound pretty good for the size--I'd say even better than a stock Minimus 7 in an even smaller package.
 
Visonik Davids were first used with the David and Goliath system by M&K until they developed their own satellites.
DavidGoliath1359x900.jpg


I still own two Sub 1's from Visonik, along with David 5001's and 602's

recap the crossovers with film caps and see how good these little speakers are.
 
Nice, that looks like a proper second order crossover! Hopefully the 502s have the same. I agree they do sound better than the minimus 7, although I think the minimus has slightly better bass extension.
 
Just stumbled across this forum and this discussion of the Visonik David 502 speakers. I bought a pair of these on spec in a trade-in centre around eight years ago for NZ$30. I measure the woofer at 3.5" (88mm) including the rubber surround, 2.75" (70mm) across the paper cone. The tweeter is a 19m soft dome. Impedance is 4-8 ohm. I wasn't expecting much when I hooked them up to my NAD 3020e amplifier with good quality speaker cable but was very pleasantly surprised. They do take some driving so a 'grunty' amp is required. Having had previous experience with doping paper cones with PVA wood glue I decided to take the risk. I slightly diluted some PVA and painted a thin even layer across the whole area of the paper cone including the dust cap and gave it 24hrs to dry. I was gobsmacked at the improvement. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The PVA dried to a tough plastic skin which stiffens the cone and dampens resonances. This made the speakers sound much more open and the bass seemed to get deeper with tight transients. In the past I had a pair of Celestion SL6 speakers on custom steel stands, driven by an 80W dual-mono Plinius amp and they were astonishing for shoebox sized speakers but these 502s are just as astonishing for their size. I upgraded the NAD 3020e to a Cambridge Audio Azure 340A SE (45W) amp with slightly better bass extension and more refined. Bass slam combined with detailed open sound is astonishing. Imaging is pin-point accurate, the speakers doing the 'disappearing act'. Very musical too. The sound is much 'bigger' than it has any right to be for the size. In the past eight years I still get astonished at what they can do, listening to good soundtracks from DVD and Blu-ray.

But they do take a lot of driving as mentioned. I have been pondering what to upgrade them with, keeping to similar small size. I am considering a pair of Monitor Audio R90 Radius speakers which are slightly bigger, ported, modern design. I don't think anything less will do.

Click on image to see the PVA doping.

Visonik David 502 doped.jpg
 
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I have several German Visonik and US Visonik Mini -Euro models. All need refoaming as either surround is crumbling.. or wrong surround installed. One has Bose 901 surrounds.. and one mystery surround has been installed inside out. I have searched for 7000, 8000 or 9000... but no luck finding them. Were they ever imported to the US or Canada ? Is there a US or Canadian based supplier for Correct measurement Visonik surrounds.. either foam or lightweight butyl. The generic 4" or 3.5" ones available from most suppliers do not account for Visonik using the same basket assembly.. but changing the cone to basket clearance (roll area) on some models.
 

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I have a pair of 502s I purchased new back in 79 I think. I lost the plastic ring holder that keeps the mesh grill in place. Does anybody have any they would like to sell ? Also could Australis send me more details on the pva glue he used for doping the paper cones . What does pva stand for is it a certain type of wood glue or would any good quality wood glue work also what water to glue ratio did you use to get a good result? Thanks Ledbailey
 
ledbailey said:
I have a pair of 502s.. I lost the plastic ring holder that keeps the mesh grill in place. Does anybody have any they would like to sell ? Also could Australis send me more details on the pva glue he used for doping the paper cones . What does pva stand for is it a certain type of wood glue or would any good quality wood glue work also what water to glue ratio did you use to get a good result? Thanks Ledbailey
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@ledbailey

A couple of things;

@Australis joined back in 2018 posted 4 times in one day and hasn't been seen or posted since then.

PVA stands for Polyvinyl acetate which is a type of wood glue

Asking for someone on this forum to sell you something is a no-no per AK rules unless you're a subscriber in which case you could ask that question in "Bartertown" which again is for subscribers only.

https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/audiokarma-rules.301366/
 
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Ledbailey,
Do not have PVA info... but Aleene's Fast Dry Tacky Glue works well to seal new surround to cone and surround to frame.

Visonik cones are very good quality and pretty stiff as-is... especially since less than 4" diameter. If they were 12" or 15"... then doping might reduce waves and distortion of the cone. Of course there would be a very slight increase in weight of the cone.

I look forward to the results of your experiment.

Btw... if you pull woof from 502.. could you post a photo of back with 502 driver info. I'd like to compare with my same size Visoniks... someone should develop and post a chart of W&T driver #'s for all the David models. I had planned to.. but no longer have the time necessary to research all David models... and have shifted focus from 502's to 9000's.
 
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Rapide said:
Ledbailey,
Do not have PVA info... but Aleene's Fast Dry Tacky Glue works well to seal new surround to cone and surround to frame.

Visonik cones are very good quality and pretty stiff as-is... especially since less than 4" diameter. If they were 12" or 15"... then doping might reduce waves and distortion of the cone. Of course there would be a very slight increase in weight of the cone.

I look forward to the results of your experiment.

Btw... if you pull woof from 502.. could you post a photo of back with 502 driver info. I'd like to compare with my same size Visoniks... and would like to develop and post a chart of W&T driver #'s for all the David models.
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I have a pair of 502's. Here's mine with the massive chunky magnet.
20220707_233811.jpg
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Same with the tweeter.
20220707_232555.jpg
20220707_232551.jpg
 
SmitterDave said:
Visonik Davids were first used with the David and Goliath system by M&K until they developed their own satellites.
DavidGoliath1359x900.jpg


I still own two Sub 1's from Visonik, along with David 5001's and 602's

recap the crossovers with film caps and see how good these little speakers are.
Click to expand...
I just found one of these in my move to my new house. Sounds REALLY good! Either I need to buy another one or sell this. any suggestions?
 

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Today I installed new capacitors in the crossovers of my David 502's. Under the crossover was a date stamped 1977. Its was kinda tricky getting the circuit board out if the box but I got the job done. I've been wanting to renew the capacitors for some time because I thought they were sounding a bit harsh and I figured nows the time. After hooking them up I can't believe how good they sound! Massive improvement compared to before the recap. For speakers which are almost 50 year old they kick. They have a very punchy quality to them while being highly detailed.
 
I had ADS Master Richard So rebuild the woofers and tweeters on my Visonik 50’s, also recapped the crossovers. They sound great for a small speaker.
 
Bassman79 said:
Today I installed new capacitors in the crossovers of my David 502's. Under the crossover was a date stamped 1977. Its was kinda tricky getting the circuit board out if the box but I got the job done. I've been wanting to renew the capacitors for some time because I thought they were sounding a bit harsh and I figured nows the time. After hooking them up I can't believe how good they sound! Massive improvement compared to before the recap. For speakers which are almost 50 year old they kick. They have a very punchy quality to them while being highly detailed.
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One question; how did you get the crossover board out of the cabinet? Mine is stuck tight to the back of the cabinet, is it glued?
 
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