Newbie trying to identify speakers

joyce069

Hi, I bought these speakers today from a 93 year old man who bought them in the 60's with a Harman Kardon system.
When I opened them I saw one of the cone covers had come off on one speaker.

They way aproximately 40-45 lbs and measure 27" high and 16" wide and have a wood veneer covering. They are
in pristine condition.

My question is are these worth repairing?

Many thanks for any input, Joyce

joyce069

Guess it would be helpful to put the image

mhardy6647

Well... the midrange and tweeter are very nice Philips drivers.
They are not junk; perhaps RtR speakers or one of several other brands which was closely related.
The alternative is that the MR and tweeter were "aftermarket" replacements. In that case, all bets are off - possibly HH Scott or Sherwood, from the days when they were still US companies. Neither originally used Philips drivers, though, AFAIK.

If you pull out the woofer and look on the basket or cone, you may well find the EIA manufacturer's code and date stamp for the actual manufacturer of the woofer. You can find the secret, magic listing of EIA mfgr codes at www.webervst.com/codes.html :-)

joyce069

Thank you so much for replying MRH, checked the web site with the numbers that i found on the ceramic part of the back of the cone
and had no luck with matching any numbers. These are the numbers that were there, 2422 257 31202 then D 1265/W8 335 AH. Any clues with numbers? Thank you again for your help MRH:)

PolkieMan

what does the back new like?

joyce069

Hi PolkieMan, sorry, I don't understand the question, newbie here, lol. Can you please explain, thank you

mhardy6647

The W8 335 AH looks like a Philips number; so maybe all Philips drivers.
Have you listened to them yet: they should be pretty good.

If you feel like investing a little effort into them - the speakers' crossovers could benefit from refreshing with new capacitors... if you dig around at sites like this or www.audiokarma.org you should be able to find information on crossover upgrades (or many of us could 'talk you through' the process).

joyce069

Thanks mrh:)) No I have not listened to them yet as I just got them yesterday.
I have a newer sony receiver and don't know if the speakers are compatible.

I talked to the gentleman who sold the receiver to me and he said if the speakers were 8 ohms i should be
able to use them but can't find the ohms reading on the back of the woofers.

The receiver is for surround sound and i have some vintage bose speakers already, was looking for more speakers to complete the package.

I am concerned that the cone cover on one speaker has crumbled off and probably should have that repaired.

What got me started in vintage speakers is that my father left me some vintage EPI speakers which unfortunately had two damaged
woofers and one tweeters and not cost effective to repair:( But he did leave me with a new hobby:)

Cheers, Joyce

drumminman

Not sure what you mean by cone cover, but if the speakers need tp have the surrounds replaced, it's an easy process. I've not done it, but folks who have say it's not a big deal.

If you do a google search you can find companies that sell the parts.

joyce069

This is what i mean, sorry, I am not very up on the jargon but eager to learn. Thank you for responding drumminman:))

drumminman

Hard to tell, but it looks like from your pic that's a rubber surround. Unless they get a hole poked in them they last just about forever. The dustcap is what's damaged/missing.

That should be even easier to replace than the surround. Just need to be careful when cutting out the remnants of the old dustcap. I believe the new one will be simply glued in place. The outfit you purchase it from should have it, glue and directions.

You might want to connect the speakers first to be sure they work, have no other issues.

Oh, and welcome to CP!

joyce069

Thanks dumminman, well that is a relief, makes me happy:)

Ok, so now I am trying to hook up the speakers, chomping at the bit to install them and see if they work.

On the back of the speaker where the wires are hooked up already there are two screws, one is marked 8 and the other is marked G. So which one is positive and which is negative? And when hooking them up is it crucial that I don't mess up? I don't want to see any smoke. The wires have been tagged for which is the left speaker/right speaker. Sorry if this is sounding novice like,,, but I am a novice, lol

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

Polkersince85

The 8 (Ohm) is positive (Red) and the G is Ground (Negative) Black. Be sure the power is off on the receiver.

joyce069

Ty ty ty:) here i go, wish me luck!!

joyce069

YES!!! They work and they sound great!!! Now I just have work on the crossover phase!

Ty all who answered me and gave me such great advice!!!!

Going to listen to some music now:)))

mhardy6647

Dust caps are readily available from many different sources, e.g., www.partsexpress.com (full collection of speaker repair parts, but they have a minimum order). A product called "Aileen's Tacky Glue" - readily available from arts and crafts stores such as Michael's - is ideal for gluing dust caps to (paper) speaker cones, and also for replacing surrounds. Your rubber surrounds should last essentially forever, though.

http://www.michaels.com/Aleene's%C2%AE-Original-Tacky-Glue%C2%AE/gc0040,default,pd.html


If you're in the US, I'd be happy to throw a dust cap in the mail (with instructions) to you if you wish; just PM me a mailing address and it's yours!

It is worth replacing the missing dust cap - it keeps crap out of the (magnetic) gap! :-)

EDIT: This tutorial on re-foaming speakers will tell you more than you need to know! You can disregard almost all of it :-) just note the steps on removal and reattachment of the dust cap.
http://www.decware.com/newsite/refoam.htm

Because the woofer's properties (Thiele-Small parameters) will be somewhat affected by the weight and porosity of the dustcap, the "best practice" would be to replace both... that said, replacing th missing one will get you most of the value; replacing the other one with a dust cap that matches the "new" one would be incremental.

joyce069

Hi MRH,

Thank you so much for the offer. Unfortunately I live in Canada. I certainly will make it a point to put new dust caps on both speakers, I already have looked at a you tube thing as well as going to karmaaudio.

I hooked up my other speakers, now have four, wow, what a fabulous sound!! Cheers, Joyce

mhardy6647

Yeah, Customs would intercept a dustcap and assume the worst ;-)

Enjoy your new speakers; they look pretty decent to me!

There's a good general hifi parts supply company in Canada called Parts Connexion (they don't have what you need right now, but if you decided to refresh/upgrade your crossover capacitors, they should have an array of choices at multiple price points): http://www.partsconnexion.com/