What other speakers use peerless tweeters?

Mystery

I got an orphan Infinity 2000 II yesterday and it has a peerless tweeter in addition to the Walsh tweeter on the top.



What other brands have the same peerless tweeters? Of course besides Polk monitors.

halo71

ADS, Infinity, Cizek, Design Acoustics, AR, some KLH come to mind. Though there were MANY other brands that used them.

mhardy6647

halo71 wrote: »

ADS, Infinity, Cizek, Design Acoustics, AR, some KLH come to mind. Though there were MANY other brands that used them.

many, many indeed (although I am unaware of ads or Braun ever using them... but they may have).

I assume the question is focused on the Peerless 1" silk dome used on the early Polk Audio "Monitor Series" speakers. That tweeter (KO10DT) was also sold to the DIY market, and was available well into the 1990s (wish I had stocked up back when PartsExpress still had 'em in their catalog).

Peerless made some fine drivers (still does, although I believe the brand/name now belongs to a larger Asian conglomerate) including other fine tweeters. The Peerless AlNiCo cone tweeters are widely considered to have been the best ever cone tweeters, and were very widely used, too.

Of KO10DT users, two more that spring to mind:

bang & olufsen


source: http://www.oaktreevintage.com/web_photos/Speaker_Parts/BO_S75_Sal_Collage.jpg

Tandberg


source: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=112664

halo71

Mark, perhaps a different model tweet in the ADS speakers. Pretty sure they used Peerless. With you not knowing they used Peerless makes me doubt myself!


Guess they were a different model tweet....

mhardy6647

The early ads loudspeakers were all essentially US-made Brauns, with drivers made by Braun. The tweeters in your photo aren't the Peerless KO10DT -- they were probably made by Braun, or maybe ads made 'em under license, or perhaps by that time they were made to ads' spec, "inspired" by the Braun dome drivers, by who-knows-whom (even Peerless).

Note that the voice coil wires exit behind the dome 180 degrees apart, instead of on an angle as they do on the KO10DT.



vs.

Polkmonitor7Asn4900 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Fine tweeters in the ads/Braun speakers -- all in all, they're among my favorite 1970s "monkey coffins". Danged smooth, musical, detailed enough, and easy-to-listen-to.

This is an ads L-710. This is one of a pair that I found on the swap pile at the Harvard, MA town dump (gad, I miss that place!) :- ) Dandy loudspeakers. They were considerably more expensive than the Polks at the time, though.

P1020547 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Mystery

Yes the ones with angled leads.

Most popular ADS models' tweeters are not peerless AFAIK but ferrofluid filled tweeters.

boston1450

Congrats on your new speakers. Those look well made n sturdy. How do they sound Mystery ?
..
Those other pictures above look interesting. Vintage speakers sure are attractive to the eyes

leftwinger57

Even my long gone KLH #331s had a Peerless tweeters. I sent s pix of them to Mark and he said they were keepers so I trsansplanted them into my ADC 303ax which had a tweeter blow and it was a great match. He also said they were Peerless w/ Alnico mangets the older square type.

Mystery

boston1450 wrote: »

Congrats on your new speakers. Those look well made n sturdy. How do they sound Mystery ?
..
Those other pictures above look interesting. Vintage speakers sure are attractive to the eyes

Haven't tested it yet.
Woofer needs refoam first.

boston1450

AHH I just now zomed in. I see. Project keep us posted how they come out

Mystery

Interesting that I found these speakers today with the peerless tweeters.
Never had this brand so it may give you guys some hint on what these are.

So who's up for the challenge?

Mystery

Don't they look almost same as monitor 7's?
Except these are three ways with active woofer and smaller mid.
But size wise, these are more like monitor 5's.

7A's:


Mystery speakers:

mhardy6647

My guess is that neither the MR nor tweeters are the original drivers.

Mystery

mhardy6647 wrote: »

My guess is that neither the MR nor tweeters are the original drivers.

I think they are all original.
More guesses?
Anyone?
Bueller?

Hint: They are small local US company.

halo71

Didn't Peerless make those tweeters without the angled leads? The horizontal ones like ADS used?

[Deleted User]

American Greetings?

Mystery

halo71 wrote: »

Didn't Peerless make those tweeters without the angled leads? The horizontal ones like ADS used?

May be but Polks don't use those so not in context of this thread.

rednedtugent wrote: »

American Greetings?

No.

More hint: They are local in Colorado.

I just tested them and initial impression is that these have one of the best mid tone I've heard.
They sounded so good that I'm tempted to finish refoam today.
Let's see what else is going on today.

halo71

Guess Avalon Acoustics is out! lol

Mystery

Okay looks like none here will guess them so here they are:
Harms Labs, Model 1.

Company is Harms Sound Labs in Fort Collins, CO.

[Deleted User]

So if you fix them up you are married to them?

Mystery

Few things.
The bottom woofer are passive so these are two ways, not three ways.



Mid woofer: This is the 1st time I've seen inductor coils directly connected to mid woofers. The red wire is inductor coil.


Side by side with Polk Monitor 5A's:


Crossover:
Very interesting as I see two very big inductors compared to speaker size but no capacitor/resistor.
Also no batting, no sponge nothing inside...

rednedtugent wrote: »

So if you fix them up you are married to them?

???

Mystery

I see one capacitor there now.
The other cabinet had glue covering the 8uf capacitor for the tweeter.
I should have replaced that as well but will listen as is first.



Waiting for glue to set:

Mystery

Refoam done on the passives...

These sound very good.
Much smoother, cleaner and easy on ears than the Polk Monitor 5A's.
These both use same tweeter so it must be the mid that's little too forward/peaky on the Polks.

However, I blew a fuse on the Harman Labs.
I didn't realize my usb mixer had the microphone connected at high level and it just squeaked and one fuse blew.
There is no value on the fuse so I guess it's 1 amp.

[Deleted User]

I believe the IMF speakers used them, here's a nice looking pair for sale:

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/ele/4770735959.html

Mystery

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

I believe the IMF speakers used them, here's a nice looking pair for sale:

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/ele/4770735959.html

Yes, those IMF TLS 50 look very nice.




When I searched for that model, looks like it uses more than one type of tweeters.
Interesting:


Same tweeter with foam for dispersion...

[Deleted User]

Bud Fried was known to change things around quite a bit. A long time ago he was invited to our store in Silver Spring to meet some local audiophiles. While I'm greeting people and serving wine and cheese, he and his son are, in another room, busy soldering new parts on our demo speakers.
Wild day.

mhardy6647

The IMF speakers were wonderful in my experience; I owned a pair of SuperCompact II and they were absolutely excellent and capable little loudspeakers. The tweeter is interesting. The ones I had definitely didn't have Peerless tweeters -- it is possible that at some point IMF used the Peerless silk domes, but I don't know.

I'll dig up a photo of mine later; I never pulled out the tweeters to ID them.

The tricky part on the smaller IMFs is the foam surround on those little coated MR drivers... I traded mine to an AKer in partial trade for some Nikon camera equipment (and because I didn't want to have to deal with the eventual failure of the MR surrounds)... it is one of the hifi deals I did that I sort of regret. My son & I have much enjoyed the Nikon hardware immensely... but I do miss the IMFs.

Much recommended loudspeakers if'n you ask me :- )

[Deleted User]

I agree about the IMF speakers, they were the first product we carried beyond the modified Dynaco amp and preamp. Bud had been the original importer for Quad and Decca in the US and knew what a musical speaker should do and not do. As I understand things his speakers are still being produced under the Fried name. His sub was the best.

mhardy6647

Of course, the connection between Irving M. "Bud" Fried and the IMF loudspeakers was... kind of complicated (at least according to Internet lore).

http://www.imf-electronics.com/Home/imf/imf-people
http://www.nax.com/product-solutions?id=46

[Deleted User]

so how do the speakers sound mystery?
oh, just read back far enough. nice job.

Mystery

rednedtugent wrote: »

so how do the speakers sound mystery?

They have very nice mid tone.
Vocals are smooth and instruments are easy on the ears.

I compared them against 5A switching back and forth.
5A's sound peaky/forward in the mid range like vocalist is slightly screaming while the Harms Labs are smooth and open.
At louder than normal listening volumes, 5A's become harsh and uneasy to listen to.
5A's are more efficient (louder) and have more bass but noisy compared to the Harms Labs.
I already ordered new 8uf poly capacitors for the Harms Labs so that's next along with some polyfill.

Listened to about 1/2 hour before I blew the fuse so now they are just sitting there.
I had my Alesis USB mixer connected as a preamp that had a mic connected as well.
I heard loud squeak from the mic feedback and one side is dead.