Weekend Speaker Grab bag find -- Long Winded

mentalmonkey

Active Member
A couple of weeks ago, I had met a Lady who had some old stereo stuff from her late husband she wanted to get rid of. I ended up with a nice Pioneer SX-950, a MDS CD player, a Dual CD-515, Pioneer integrated, tuner, and tape player plus a sracthed up, but well working set of AR3a's all for a very good price.

In her garage she had what she called her husbands "Klipschorns". Bout made my heart stop. In the corner was a very old and worn Altec corner speaker. In the other corner was a decent looking blond wood Heathkit corner speaker with a matching rectangular box on top. :scratch2:

The speakers were both on 4 foot shelfs in the corners and I could not turn them around to check them out. She said she wanted $40 each. As I have been burned by too many "speaker deals". I thought I better pass.....



A week goes by, and I get to thinking about that Altec. Mmmmmm.....
Check google and find the great Altec heratage website. lots of info and a check on the Asylum board confirms what I was thinking. The cabnits might have Altec 604s in them. A purusal through e-bay shows silly high prices for a pair of 604s ($1000 a pair with crossovers being the norm!). I try to call her back. No answer. I call a couple of days later. No answer. Leave polite (non desperate sounding) message. A couple of days later, she calls, says she was out of town, and yes I could take them for $20 each! OK need friend with truck and four days later arrive at her house.

Lug speakers off shelves (hernia alert!) and get in friends truck. Give her money for speakers and she ask me if I want an old Marantz (2245) for $90, she's throw in a Teac cassette player in for free. Could not resist.

Drive across town to my home. My bud's truck's rear brakes are dragging all the way (255,000+ Toyota), and its lightly snowing. LOL What we do for our hobby. LOL

We put the speakers on the front portch and have some pizza for lunck. The rest of the day was too windy and cold for me to open up the cabnits.



That evening, I cant wait and open up the smaller top speaker on the Heathkit. Jensen RP-103 horn and a yet unknown midrange speaker. Mmmmmm.. Not Altecs, but pretty good I guess.

Today in the morning, I open up the big Altec. NO ALTEC 604's!!!!!!!!........





but.....






a nice big (giant) black Tannoy 15" Dual Concentric L.S. speaker and crossover. Ouuoooooo!! :banana:
Quickly check out Google and E-bay, great Tannoy site found and my God the Tannoys go for more than Altecs! At least the newer gold and red Concentrics. Open up big Heatkit and find NO Altecs or Tannoys. Big 15 inch speaker Looks to be an old Jensen? P15-LS, and a tweeter P15-LS

:scratch2: :scratch2:


Very intresting Says me.


The saga continues tomorrow.


Pics tomorrow after I rezize them.
 
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Yeah, that pair was (IIRC) the Heathkit SS-1 and SS-2. The 'satellite' speaker is a vented box with a Jensen P8RX (nice AlNiCo extended range driver) and RP-103 AlNiCo horn tweeter. I have a pair of those, but not the "subwoofer". The sets show up occasionally on eBAY and go for pretty good money. Don't know what sort of woofer's in the corner cabinet (but I'll bet you do by now!).

I have the manual for the 'satellite' speaker system if any info in it would be of any value to you.
 
Thanks for the info MRH. I would indeed be intrested in the manual. Here are some pictures.
 
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mentalmonkey said:
Thanks for the info MRH. I would indeed be intrested in the manual. Here are some pictures.


:yikes: Major score!
RE: the Heathkit: I just picked up a single grab bag speaker the other day with that same exact Jensen 15" in it. It also has a Jensen horn and a Utah midrange.
My cabinet is a bit different, but from what I can see in your pics, the electronics look to be very similiar. Takes up the entire back panel of the cabinet, has one set of terminals with a pot and 2 sets of terminals with a 2 position rotary switch. I think they were set up for Bi-amping.
Do you have a picture of the horn and midrange?
The mid in mine is an 8".
 
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Bookasan, Your right about the back panal. I'm at work now and can't upload any pics tonight. I'll see if I can put some more pics up tomorow. The smaller Heathkit box has an RP-103 S horn, and an 8" mid, the larger box has the Jensen P15-LS and a R-104 supertweeter. The last few days have been hectic, and I haven't had a chance to listen to them in the house yet. They worked well in the lady's garage though.

Got to love those "grab bag" speakers!
 
The same only different...

Here's the first 'real' page of the manual I have. This speaker is called the AS-51 but is extremely similar if not identical to your 'satellite' speaker. PM me with an e-mail address and I'll send the balance :-)
 
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