Vintage Hartley Speakers

Jiminypage

Hi,

I recently nabbed a cheap pair of Hartley 312 speakers. Very nice condition. Appear to be a quality product from another era. They have a very unusual full range driver with a built in tweeter and that's it. Very little information available. There do appear to be some highly collectable Hartley speakers
($2000 plus for some varients but this is a level below those).

Anybody have any experience or knowledge of these. Wondering whether or not they are keepers. From a listening stanpoint. They sound very nice. Not terribly detailed, some things seem to get left deeply in the background but for simple recordings of voice and acoustic instruments, they sound is very full and warm and present.

Thanks....

AudioGenics

I recall a Zodiac was back in school mid to late 70's.
If memory is right they were somewhat inefficient and needed power to get them going.

I'll my Dad if he can remember any more info.

Jiminypage

Hmmmm....quite a bit of time has passed and nobody seems to know much about these odd speakers....I would say it's safe to assume they are not keepers...lol. Glad I didn't pay too much!

Tony M

Whoa.......

You have a very nice!! speaker set there. Made for jazz per owner and manufacturer still in ops still today here in wilmington NC at the Audio Lab on Oleander.
World renown for their handmade woofers!!!!

I own a set and am blown away by their soundstaging and warmth. Try Sade on them..

use the Forums' search box like I just did.vv

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94136&highlight=hartley

Jiminypage

Hey Tony....thanks for the note. The thing is that they seem to be well made...nice cabinets...heavy. And I agree...they are very warm and sounded very pleasing with jazz and vocal performances. Not very detailed for well recorded rock, however. So they may very well be a niche speaker.