HPM100's - opinions?
JayMX
Posts: 446
Picked up a pair of ratty Pioneer HPM100's and made them pretty again. Cleaned the l-pads. Have not recapped, but they only have one electrolytic... Hooked them up to every amp I own. Really am not digging them. Why are they so desired? They are cool looking, is that the draw? Any input or experience? Thanks all!
Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩
Comments
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The HPM-100 has an interesting backstory -- but yeah they're... how to put this diplomatically?... not great.
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My first set of real speakers were HPM40's, bought many years ago as a teenager. Loved em, but now I can say that I'm enlightened!
Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
The aforementioned backstory (well, sort of):
https://audiophilereview.com/affordable-speakers/the-most-famous-speaker-in-the-history-of-rock.html
Where this gets really interesting is to look at the backstory of the JBL L100
http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/l100.htm
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?1389-L100-and-43XX-Monitor-Legacy&highlight=70\'s monitors
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I picked up a little matching Pioneer set a bit ago that I’ve been playing with. Planning on pairing the HPM's with it and putting it up on the local classifieds or maybe eBay but I'm not excited to ship. Maybe some rich dude in Dubai needs the rig...
Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩 -
Too bad you didn't get it with one of these racks --
I am sure you know that all of those components are low to middlin' end of the Pioneer line of that era (ca. 1977, give or take) -- nothing terribly special there.
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You did a great job refurbishing those speakers! Wow!
I'm sorry to hear that they don't sound as good as they look. -
HPM
High performance mylar. Loved the pair i used back in the day, now I know what I didn't know....
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FWIW, my recollection was that HPM stood for High Performance Molecular [Film]... but it was the Seventies... things were a tad hazy...
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You did a great job refurbishing those speakers! Wow!
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Yes, he did indeed; I forgot to mention that!
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mhardy6647 wrote: »
I am sure you know that all of those components are low to middlin' end of the Pioneer line of that era (ca. 1977, give or take) -- nothing terribly special there.
Yeah not the good fancy stuff, but since it all matches I hope to turn some hipster vinyl lover on and make a little ca$h!!mhardy6647 wrote: »
Thanks guys. I really enjoy the refurbishing process. Kinda become a hobby. Fun stuff!
Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩 -
My HPM 100's , the 200 watt edition, sounded very good to me. VERY GOOD. I was very impressed! The guy who bought them was as happy to get them as I was to get the Tritons. Seriously. The guy got to hear them before buying them too. I also hated to see them go.
Another one of those sets I regret......selling.
There is a funny story about how I got mine at a church fund raiser. 40.00 for the pair. MINT too.
I saw them in a lawn mower trailer behind an SUV. I asked if they were for sale still. Yes sir...40.00. I'll take them, great! Mam, can I leave them there while I go looking around since I just got here? SURE, I'll watch them, she said. Great, about an hour or less went buy and I drove my car to the front of their SUV since the other direction was 50 ft. deep of sellers.
I go to the trailer and grab a HEAVY speaker and walk it to my car. My wife has the rear door open and I put it in the back seat. I turn around and there's this Lady staring like you wouldn't believe, at me! If eyes could kill, I would've been wounded pretty good.
What in the world do you think you're doing?
What?
Your stealing my speakers!
What?
My wife speakes up: We paid for these speakers earlier.
No you didn't!
Yes I did, mam. At about 7:15.
OK...who did you pay?
A young woman.
What did she look like?
My wife has got a great people memory and described the young woman down to the color of clothes she was wearing.
OOOOHHHHH, that's my daughter. She had to leave about 8:00 to go watch her son play soccer in the field behind the church.
Well, would it be OK to load the other one then?
Sure...I'm sorry. She said.
No problem, I was ready to buy them again if I had too. ( I would have too! in a heart beat )
Her daughter showed back up just as we were done loading. We told her the story with her mom there.
We all got a big laugh out of the short stand-off we had over those speakers.Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
Had a pair for a minute. I liked them when paired to my Marantz & Bob Carver gear. PLENTY of oomph and got decently low.
Like you I went through a refurbish with them sanding, stripping, sanding, stripping and repeat. Took about two weeks but brought them to new condition. First project so I took my time allowing each stripper/sanding to dry 24 hours. Man, did I blow up the garage with the fumes! That's with the garage door open! One lesson I'll take from that. Wear goggles. Geeze that lacquer remover & stripper is serious stuff on the eyes.
Hey, well done on refurbishing those & congrats. -
Beryllium tweeters????
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Beryllium tweeters????
What, on the HPM-100?
Heck no. All cone drivers except for the High Polymer Molecular Film (super) tweeter.
Weird graphite/paper woofer, somewhat fragile.
The next series of "HPM" loudspeakers had even more fragile (in some respects) graphite cones, at least on the woofers.
Full disclosure: I do have a pair of HPM-1100s. Freebies. They're actually not bad driven by, e.g., a push-pull EL84 amplifier (e.g., Dynaco SCA-35).
HPM1100 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
There were certainly some TAD drivers with beryllium diaphragms, and maybe some post- HPM era Pioneer branded loudspeakers' drivers as well.
EDIT: Here's one: https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/307piosex/index.html
oh, and another:
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The HPM100 was "inspired" by the L100 (Century) in that they were both a 3 way speaker with a white woofer cone. The similarity pretty much ended there. The HPM100 had the polymer tweeter that mimiced an electrostatic design without being one upsers portal
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. . . . . .
oops
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I just walked away from a seemingly good condition HPM-60 today for $150.Stan
Main 2ch:
Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.
HT:
Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60
Other stuff:
Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601 -
Bloated bass2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
Plop plop fizz fizz, Ron.
That refurb was great. Love the process and photos.I disabled signatures. -
I just walked away from a seemingly good condition HPM-60 today for $150.
I have a friend who has both the HPM 100's and 60's. I had the chance to hear them both head to head last weekend. I preferred the HPM 60's to the HPM 100's. If I had to make a choice between the 2, I would take the 60's. The 60's did not seem as bloated or bright to my ears.
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Didja'll notice that the post that reanimated this thread was spam?
I mean, even I did... although it took me three edits to get there on Friday
I will note -- since this thread's chugging along again -- that 1) the HPM100 never, ever had white woofer cones (they had delicate carbon-fiber cones) and 2) they were a little more than just an homage to/copy/ripoff of the JBL L100* -- Bart Locanthi of JBL jumped ship to Pioneer and bore substantial responsibility for both of those 'century' loudspeakers.
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*The L100 itself being an homage to/copy/ripoff of the venerable Altec Duplex -- meant to be a drop in, albeit higher-sensitivity replacement for the Duplex. The L100 was the tip of the JBL iceberg that ultimately helped put the 'real' Altec out of business Altec's own bevy of missteps did the rest of the damage. 
http://www.audioheritage.org/html/history/jbl-pro/1960s.htm
http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/l100.htm
604E by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
