What speakers are these?

Gavin.Wright

Hey Guys,

I just picked up a pair of speakers from goodwill over lunch - I had a hunch they might be old polks because of the "doped" woofer but there is absolutely no name or model anywhere on the cabinet. They looked quite nice to me and I liked the felt around the tweeter - used to help cut down on HF reflections? Can anyone help me identify these speakers? If I need to I suppose I could open them up... Please see the attached photo. Thanks!

Joe08867

For some reason that woofer reminds me of IMF. But I don't remember them making a bookshelf like that.

Gavin.Wright

I pulled the woofer - it is made by polydax - model CN103TN. Maybe this helps?

Joe08867

Polydax or Polydax/Audix as they are usually known were used in a bunch of speakers. Spica, RA Labs & Rega to name just a few.

mhardy6647

I am thinking... possibly... 3D Acoustics (from Rhode Island) - they had a sub/sat system (mid-1980s); these could be the satellites. You can find a thread or two on them at www.audiokarma.org I briefly had the set, but gave it away. Not bad stuff.

The IMF speakers, AFAIK, were all aperiodically loaded (damped port) or TL loaded, not sealed. I could be wrong though. Terrific loudspeakers, were most of the IMFs.

Joe08867

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I am thinking... possibly... 3D Acoustics (from Rhode Island) - they had a sub/sat system (mid-1980s); these could be the satellites. You can find a thread or two on them at www.audiokarma.org I briefly had the set, but gave it away. Not bad stuff.

The IMF speakers, AFAIK, were all aperiodically loaded (damped port) or TL loaded, not sealed. I could be wrong though. Terrific loudspeakers, were most of the IMFs.

That is what confused me. But the shape and inverted surround on the woofer made me think IMF, Fried, TDL.
But since they are Polydax that adds like thirty speaker manufacturers.

I do know that Audix had to use Polydax in the US because of a copyright or legal issue. So more than likely the speakers were built in the USA.

mhardy6647

And indeed my ever-hazy memory suggests that the 3D woofers had extroverted :-) surrounds. Definitely rubber, though.
I don't even have a photo of the satellites AFAIK. I do have photos of the subwoofer - but that won't help bugger all, now, will it? :-P

EDIT: FWIW, my one-and-only pair of IMFs (SuperCompact II) had normal surrounds, not inverted. They also sounded absolutely superb. They were dump finds, I wasn't using them, and so I traded them for a bunch of Nikon camera stuff for my son the mathematician **** photographer.

EDIT^2: my original post on the ones I had, at AA back in 2001... got some replies; worth a look?
http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=vintage&n=1138&highlight=3D+acoustics

Joe08867

This thread is going to drive me nuts.

I hate when I recognize something and can't place the name.

Gavin.Wright

When I opened one up to get the info I noticed that the entire crossover it mounted piece by piece to the inside of the back panel - everything direct wired and glued into place. There are 3 fairly large inductor and a bunch of smaller resistors, caps, etc. The tweeter is also made by polydax. Woofers appear to be 6.5" - total cab dimensions are 17" tall, 8" deep, and 10" wide.

Joe08867

I am starting to think it is a kit form of the Rogers Ls3/5a.

Does the crossovers look like either of these?

Gavin.Wright

Hi Joe -

The crossovers do not look like the two pictures you attached, inside these speakers there is PCB but just components mounted to the inside of the back panel, glued to it for the most part, and then direct wired together.

Gavin.Wright

*correction - inside these speakers the is NOT a pcb

Gavin.Wright

nobody knows what they are...

I listened to them last night and they sound quite nice, good bass extension for their size, nice imaging, very easy to listen to.

mhardy6647

You might want to ask on the speakers forum at AK or on the vintage forum at AA

Joe08867

And please tell us when you find out. The suspense is killing me.

mhardy6647

Joe08867 wrote: »

And please tell us when you find out. The suspense is killing me.

you need a hobby ;-)

George Grand

I love it. You live at the dump for audio finds, and HE needs a hobby.

mhardy6647

Exactly. I've got a hobby.

EDIT: Do you... do you think they'd let me live there?! That'd be cool...

Gavin.Wright

posted over at AK - no answer yet, I will keep you guys posted!

mhardy6647

help me remember not to try to answer over there, too, 'K? :-)

Gavin.Wright

well, nobody has been able to identify them yet - I do like the sound of them though! It's just going to bug me not knowing who made them... thanks for all the responses.

Gavin.Wright

anyone heard of black acoustics? they look similar to some I have found but information is scarce...

ambiophonics

New SN - Ambio = Gavin

After further investigation this speaker is a "homemade" kit of what appears to be an audiomaster design. The cabinet dimensions are slightly altered as the homemade version is assembled from thick, solid, wood. The driver compliment is the same as the Audiomaster MLS-1 I believe, polydax HD17B25J8 mid-woofer and HD100D25A tweeter. The crossover has about 12 components and the speakers are very ineffecient.

Here is some info about the possible maker http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=58025

I just had a tweeter go out the other day, I found a replacement on ebay but replacement parts are scarce. There was also one mid-woofer for sale, quite pricey at $200+

ambiophonics

I thought I'd dig up this old thread and post a few crossover pictures as I recently had these speakers apart.

ambiophonics

Anyone have any ideas about this crossover? Maybe a kit version of some other speaker?

zingo

Seems like a complex crossover for a 2-way speaker, but I doubt it was a kit. If you want to upgrade it, the parts are laid out easy enough to swap stuff in without much fuss.

steveinaz

Harbeth also uses an inverted surround similar to that...I'm thinking they are a Rogers knock-off.

ambiophonics

You're probably right, I'd just love to know for sure. I keep buying new speakers as an "upgrade" to these but nothing so far has sounded as nice to my ears.