Tuesday 8 October 2019

Collection Resolution Part III -– Driver Units and Speakers

Tannoy

Within the years I have collected a variety of speakers and drivers, if they haven't been installed in speakers for myself or for customers. The whole period addicted to serious audio I was some sort of married with the legendary Tannoy Dual Concentric Speakers. I had almost every type of every size, which is 10'' with IIILZ-units, 12'' and 15'' with one exception, I never owned a Monitor Black speaker. When I decided some time ago to start my audio retirement, which means I will stay on with my actual set and will get rid of all other equipment for sale. One exceptional pair of Monitor Red in 12'' size will be offered here. This pair is in almost like new condition, the cones are absolutely perfect like new, only little chips at the chassis paint where the mounting screws did hold the units in their cabinets and one dent at the metal caps, that's all. Otherwise this pair is perfect which is today 60 years after their introduction hard to find. So I will offer it to somebody, who looks to find a amazing pair for stunning audio future! I still have a pair quite small cabinets (in size like the Chatsworth) but with opened backside to work optimized like a dipole. I used this pair for 15 years for my everyday audio listening, till I came up to my own design with front loading horn and 15 inch chassis. I do not anymore recommendations about this exceptional speaker, but recently I had a chance again to listen to my former smaller 12-inch sized cabinets again, now with opened backside to improve into dipole mode. I was just amazed how good even such a small version matched all preferences to perform on a improved level of refinement, musical, realism and integrity. This speaker is able to do everything like my much bigger pair, without appreciable differences.



Of course the original solders crossovers are included. Today such set has got quite rare and everybody who uses these will not give them away, otherwise he is getting old.



Look at the screws of HF-units, these are still secured with lacquer!



Here you can see the Ding in the cap of one unit and as well the scratched screw wholes. Please notice the incredible British attitude with top products tu use high glossy chromed screws!


So if anybody is looking for new partner for the rest of his life, here it might be the rare solution.  Sensible offers are welcome!


Vitavox GP 1 pressure units

On offer is a pair of the legendary Vitavox GP 1 units. These were made in the very early 1950ties and were dedicated to different horn extensions, which were designed to match a frequency ranges between 700 and 12000 Hz with different dispersion attitudes. Their magnet is made from alnico and their coil is designed for 20 watts and 15 Ohm impedance. Their outer case condition looks well used with several ships and some surface stains, rust spots. Unfortunately the previous owner was of opinion to improve the performance of this units by poking the security grids inside their threads. Of course this is not dysfunctional, but could be much nicer when intact.





As you can see inside the diaphragms are original and like new.


The new owner will get a third unit without diaphragm free for spare parts like the magnet, grid, contacts, etc. Offers are welcome on eBay.


Bouyer Bireflex

Quite similar in energy dissipation, frequency range and actual size to the above Vitavox GP1 units, but with phenol diaphragms, the Boyer Bireflex units. I offer these as another set of HF-drive units of the french company specialized into public address equipment Bouyer. As well these show some wear at their cases, some chips and stains, but they are still in a technical perfect state, as the meter shows. They are dedicated to a 15 ohm impedance, power rating is unknown.



These much more common than the Vitavox and I believe they are much younger, so the prices are less.


Jensen A-12 field coil

A single Jensen A-12 field coil driver only usable with a separate power supply. The units work between 150 to 300 Volts. These have been used in the later 1940ties til the 1950ties for different kind applications, like public address, organs etc. The most of them were integrated as chokes in the power supply of their dedicated tube amplifiers. Well known is the 2A3 or 6V6 designs from Hamond.



This unit has a repaired cone, otherwise it is completely functional. Offers are welcome.




No comments:

Post a Comment