Vintage Fullrange / Coax for OB´s or "free-air" mounted.

[tralalalala]

Hello,

I´m just curious.

Any suggestions on cheaper ( low-budget ) vintage speaker drivers to use in OB´s or as standalone speaker driver units just hanged up in a chassis without any plate what so ever.

Size on speaker drives is not yet decided. Any suggestions is more than welcome.

I know OB speakers drivers are as often necessary to have a certain unit above a x-number ( i don't recall ) of a T/S parameter. - If you got anything to share - please fill me in on this one...

I´m so far not necessarily concerned with the lower frequencies. I guess I will only will be needing mid freq and high freq in this "test"-setup.

PS: " free-air" mounted - is probably a wrong term to use. I´m quite sure I have seen pictures on net where the speaker driver unit is hanged from rubber bands... If I`m not day-dreaming here... ;-)

Thank you
Endre

 

[turk 182]

drivers hung from rubber bands are generally being tested for free air resonance.
i'm no open baffle expert but from what i understand the size of baffle determines the low frequency limit so it's size combined with crossover frequency.
if you could elaborate on what your trying to do i'm sure that you'd get more concise info.

 

[tralalalala]

Thanks.

I´m selfcontradicting here- I guess.

Found an old email regarding the subject: Qt= 0.2 gives too little low freq response in OB´s. ( the Qt=0.2 is from my altecs )

Anyway: as I previously noted I will not need a lot of bass from these units.

Still wondering what speakers to be looking for:
Is there anything I should be on the lookout for?

I was not thinking of using rubber bands- but I was thinking of using just the speaker unit ( mounted in a wireframe ).

I guess this is a dead end...

 

[turk 182]

still not sure what your trying to achieve.
why are you thinking it's a dead end?

 

[GM]

You don't even need to go 'vintage' per se as modern PA drivers are cheap to relatively cheap 'vintage' OB designs.

This is basically a many decades old popular Altec co-ax that's one of the more expensive ones at $53/US with specs typical of what has historically been required for a mostly 'full-range', 'free air' app: http://www.electrovoice.com/downloadfile.php?i=1231

For a strictly test set-up though, super cheap car audio whizzer cone or co-ax drivers will probably be good enough.

GM

 

[tralalalala]

still not sure what your trying to achieve.
why are you thinking it's a dead end?

Thanks to you both for answering.

To answer your question:

This speaker unit will be a part of a "non-profit" art-project - a test setup for making a DIY "low-voltage" open circuit with electrical parts that makes sound - going through some sort of amplification - depending on speaker unit used.

My question here is for what speaker unit that can be used in such a "open speaker design"

It will be a part of a project where the factor of using a "vintage driver/unit" is important. The looks of the speaker unit is an equal factor to the sound made from the unit. - especially since everything is going to visible.

- I really hopes this information helps.

 

[freddi]

look for small diameter voice coils, small diameter spiders, small magnets - budget drivers - a lot of cheap vintage speakers had reasonably high sensitivity due to low moving mass and low xmax coupling. The weak motors sometimes gave a qts greater than one which would help in free air or on small baffles. Aesthetics of old designs may look pretty nice in our modern world.

 

[tralalalala]

Thanks freddi ! just read your replay... ! GREAT !


By the way:

Youtube video of vintage drivers that would do the job - very well I guess.

but these two are really expensive: Klangfilm vs. Jensen fullrange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I42ZRzbv4Y

I already have these Goodmans Units: bought for private use - they´re just collecting dust at the moment - cannot buy another pair ; too expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXuciIZwZyI

Then there are the SABA "greencones"- any inputs on this unit?
Greencones

Philips fullrange units on ebay : "so many variations ... I just can't figure out what to go for.... " link to eBay: philips fullrange | eBay



Thats all for now...
Thanks !

 

[freddi]

in the US, we had inexpensive Jensen and Electro-voice sold under the Knight (Allied Radio) - 50 years ago, for my first stereo pair of speakers, I had 12 inch Utah Celesta which can be found in the US real cheap. The coaxial model had a 3 inch post mounted cone tweeter. The frames were very nice. I still remember the sound of those speakers with an Eico ST40. They were also made in an 8 inch version.

 

[tralalalala]

those speaker units were pretty cool looking.... "back to the future" ... haha....

freddi; do you got any other suggestions on vintage US. made speakers?

 

[freddi]

I'd just say keep it cheap - twin cone has less to go wrong than coaxial - maybe some of the collectors or geezers in my age bracket have good recommendations.

 

[GM]

----------you got any other suggestions on vintage US. made speakers?

The problem with the type of vintage driver you're wanting at a low price doesn't exist anymore AFAIK since what relatively few are left are highly prized, ditto European drivers.

GM

 

[tralalalala]

That I should have understood. Thanks.

 

[Rudolf]

What about "vintage style" contemporary "European" drivers? Like Sica LP266.25/280 ER 8 Ohm , Ciare CH250 or Senon (Rockwood) YD 1256 U ?
They all have high Qts values (>1) to give at least an idea of bass.

Rudolf