Woofer ID

[alteclipsch]

Looking for id or guesses on this woofer, I believe it's a 10" and looks like it has an inverted surround. The tweeter must be a CTS.

 

[GordonW]

Comparing the size of the tweeter to the woofer, and the fact that the woofer only has four screw mounting holes- I'm thinking that's probably an 8" woofer.

Is the cone paper or plastic? Also, is that a fabric, or a rubber, surround?

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[alteclipsch]

Supposedly from the 1960s, I don't have any other info. They've been offered to me from an estate and they look interesting, more to come...

 

[NH-MAN]

Front Baffle has been replaced, pretty sure that type of material was not around in the 60's and even if it was it would be darker by now.

 

[bowtie427ss]

That's funny!

Not true, but it's funny.

Tweeter is a CTS for sure.

Woofer might be a GEFCO. Regardless, the woofer is original, as is the baffle it's mounted to. You can see the sealant used to permanently mount it to the baffle oozing out the screw holes. We have seen this before in other speaker ID threads.

Pretty sure the speakers are Allied/RS or similar house brand.

Optimus 2(not 2B) uses a very similar woofer.

 

[jlh3rd]

if it's a gefco it'll have red numbers on the backside. My gefco's are also black..

 

[crazy-in-az]

Front Baffle has been replaced, pretty sure that type of material was not around in the 60's and even if it was it would be darker by now.

They didn't have particle board in the 60's?

 

[NH-MAN]

They didn't have particle board in the 60's?

I do not remember seeing particle board with the more flat chips until later.

 

[NH-MAN]

Looks like more like OSB which came later.

 

[NH-MAN]

An Evolutionary History of Oriented Strandboard (OSB)

An Evolutionary History of Oriented Strandboard (OSB) (fs.fed.us)

 

[alteclipsch]

Picking up this afternoon, could be interesting.

Or not.

 

[NH-MAN]

Good luck

 

[alteclipsch]

I brought them home last night, they are Sylvania AS 81W, made late 60s to early 70s, and must have been part of a system since they have RCA connectors in back. CTS 8" paper-cone woofer, with nice cloth surrounds that are still sticky, and the ubiquitous 3" CTS tweeter, of which there must be a billion in existence. 5 uf capacitor, woofer is wide open.

Cabinets are thick walled, sealed, with walnut veneer, solid walnut front trim (similar to KLH Model Five but smaller scale), and are in great condition.

I hooked them up briefly to my little Kenny and put on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen CD. Wow. For what they are, they sound great, almost have an AR 4x vibe to them (I used to have a pair). Tweeter is a bit shrill, I think, but I'm going to re-cap them and if needed I'll do the layer of fiberglass trick from KLH Thirty Twos, which have the same tweeter. I'll also do some new connectors.

These seem to be real nice, middle of the road speakers which will do duty on our summer porch. Nice deal for free and a save from the dump.

 

[alteclipsch]

A few more pics, FWIW. Both speakers have the same serial number, adding to my assumption they're part of a system.

Can't wait to recap!

 

[alteclipsch]

Finished the capacitors yesterday and put a thin coat of RoyC's surround goo on the cloth since they are acoustic suspension speakers. Stuffed with new fiberglass after the rock wool disintegrated. Rotated the woofers 180°. I did a light sand and Howard's beeswax oil. The veneer is beautiful. They really do look like little KLH model Fives. Listen tomorrow when the goo has set. Last step will be grill cloth, I have some 18 count cloth left from another project.

 

[audiojones]

Very nice save!