Hi Folks,
Not so long ago, I came on Andrew Bee's "Save the FE-103" web site, and finally, following his suggestion, I salvaged an old pair of Fostex Fe 103, made in the 60's I think, and I'll use them (this week!!) in a Zigmahornet TQWT design.
My question is: are there other good full range drivers that can be salvaged and are usually un-noticed?
Good "new" full range drivers seem to be so expensive, and my budget so tight, that I am lookinf for other used drivers to recycle and start new projects.
I see used Isophon and Telefunken drivers in old consoles, from time to time, are they worth something, sonically?
Let's start a new thread.. Save the old Full Range drivers..
Not so long ago, I came on Andrew Bee's "Save the FE-103" web site, and finally, following his suggestion, I salvaged an old pair of Fostex Fe 103, made in the 60's I think, and I'll use them (this week!!) in a Zigmahornet TQWT design.
My question is: are there other good full range drivers that can be salvaged and are usually un-noticed?
Good "new" full range drivers seem to be so expensive, and my budget so tight, that I am lookinf for other used drivers to recycle and start new projects.
I see used Isophon and Telefunken drivers in old consoles, from time to time, are they worth something, sonically?
Let's start a new thread.. Save the old Full Range drivers..
You're right, it seems there is an endless supply of stuff out there to try.
I just finished salvaging two pairs of Yamaha YST-M10 computer speakers. One neat thing is that each pair comes with an amp, so I put those in separate boxes. My project turned some ok computer speakers into something that actually sounds pretty decent in a larger room. I can now hear bass down to 50 Hz instead of 100 Hz, and I got rid of the "tinny" sound to them, plus they look a lot nicer. The drivers are the Yamaha 3" full range that almost all mid to late-90's Yamaha powered computer speakers had in them.
I had to stick pretty close to the original enclosure dimensions because I could not find any parameters on these drivers. I used 3/4 (19 mm) MDF, and the outside dimensions are 5 1/8 x 9 3/8 x 8 1/4 inch(130 x 238 x 210mm).
As I build more speakers, I figure I will eventually use these as surrounds or sell or trade them. If you come across any of these, they are worth looking into. They are also shielded, by the way.
Doug
I just finished salvaging two pairs of Yamaha YST-M10 computer speakers. One neat thing is that each pair comes with an amp, so I put those in separate boxes. My project turned some ok computer speakers into something that actually sounds pretty decent in a larger room. I can now hear bass down to 50 Hz instead of 100 Hz, and I got rid of the "tinny" sound to them, plus they look a lot nicer. The drivers are the Yamaha 3" full range that almost all mid to late-90's Yamaha powered computer speakers had in them.
I had to stick pretty close to the original enclosure dimensions because I could not find any parameters on these drivers. I used 3/4 (19 mm) MDF, and the outside dimensions are 5 1/8 x 9 3/8 x 8 1/4 inch(130 x 238 x 210mm).
As I build more speakers, I figure I will eventually use these as surrounds or sell or trade them. If you come across any of these, they are worth looking into. They are also shielded, by the way.
Doug
Attachments
Hey, that's my page not Andrew's (i have shipped a number of speakers i've salvaged to AB in the caribean thou)
http://www.t-linespeakers.org/drivers/tunnelreflex/index.html
tons & tons... i still find it amazing the drivers i find in cabinets only worth burning.
Not all the cabinets get burnt thou... better ones get used for shelving, benchs and storage boxes... a very rare one gets reused as a speaker cabinet.
I've never actually seen TFK drivers... i have seen lots of Isophones people call TFKs thou. Some people really love the vintage isophons, some find them somewhat romantic. Their resale on eBay precludes me from having kept any and used them for extended periods.
Here is a related thread...
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5904
dave
I'am a big fan of the Isophons. I had a pair of 8"x12" ones with nice alnico magnets. Burnt them out with a valve project. As dave says a nice romantic sound. Personnally they are the nicest drivers I have heard. The only drawback I can think of is that they tend to strain at high volumes. Surprisingly deep bass. Need big cabs to let them breath (they are designed for open baffles).
I also built a pair of speakers with some Canadian Radio speakers I got from Dave, very cheap and fairly ugly looking drivers, but they sounded fantastic until his girlfriend fried them with a bit to much volume.
Dave, I still have a set of 10" Isophons I got from you. Never had them in a cab. When I get round to it, and can afford the woodwork, I will make a nice 7' long transmission line. I think this will be the best speaker I will have built so far.
The thing to remember with these old drivers is that they were only designed for a couple of watts, and if you plug them into a big powerful solid state amp, its only a matter of time before the magic smoke comes out of them.
Shoog
I also built a pair of speakers with some Canadian Radio speakers I got from Dave, very cheap and fairly ugly looking drivers, but they sounded fantastic until his girlfriend fried them with a bit to much volume.
Dave, I still have a set of 10" Isophons I got from you. Never had them in a cab. When I get round to it, and can afford the woodwork, I will make a nice 7' long transmission line. I think this will be the best speaker I will have built so far.
The thing to remember with these old drivers is that they were only designed for a couple of watts, and if you plug them into a big powerful solid state amp, its only a matter of time before the magic smoke comes out of them.
Shoog
Andrew?
Hi Planet!
<<Hey, that's my page not Andrew's >>
Exact!! I wanted to verify if you really follow the threads...
My mistake, sorry. I mixed up your site with Andrew's...
Weren't you supposed to give me details about a Philips driver's specs?
Thanks for being around.
P.S. saw your Foster drivers on Ebay. Are the phase plugs on this model a real improvement? quite tempting. I must build my cabinets first though.
Hi Planet!
<<Hey, that's my page not Andrew's >>
Exact!! I wanted to verify if you really follow the threads...
My mistake, sorry. I mixed up your site with Andrew's...
Weren't you supposed to give me details about a Philips driver's specs?
Thanks for being around.
P.S. saw your Foster drivers on Ebay. Are the phase plugs on this model a real improvement? quite tempting. I must build my cabinets first though.
Sylver300B said:
You might be surprised how they sound with solid state. I use low power solid state and it works better for me than tube gear.
Most fullrange drivers have high inductance. This is the product of the many turns of small wire on the voice coils. This leads to rising impedance at higher frequencies. Transformer coupled tube amps cannot always deal well with this.
Get a nice 10 watt class A amp solid state amp and try it!
George
I would like to know of a really good solid state class A amp design which can beat a good tube design. The first amp I built was a ZenV3 and I was happy with it until I compared it with a Gainclone. It then went into storage and I can't see it ever coming out again.
I know there must be better class A designs. I wouldn't mind trying again, but it would have to be a big step up from the Zen.
The thing that gets me with tubes is not their performance, which is top notch, but the ongoing expense of tube replacement and also the future rarity of said tubes.
Shoog
I know there must be better class A designs. I wouldn't mind trying again, but it would have to be a big step up from the Zen.
The thing that gets me with tubes is not their performance, which is top notch, but the ongoing expense of tube replacement and also the future rarity of said tubes.
Shoog
Shoog said:
Try an Mini Aleph, JLH, Hirega, Aleph 30, or some other type. The boards from a Zen V4 sit in my closet also. It was nice, but did not compete with the others listed above.
Have never built a GC, the parts were rounded up a while back, but it never happened. So many I know were unhappy with the sonics, while others loved them.
I have been playing with the Tripath 2024 and SI circuit boards. These do a lot right, but are a pain to work on.
George
Shoog said:
Try the Zenlight, the Gainclones are what I would call a textbook perfect amp. But the midrange is still very SS ie not so magical... The Zenlight on the otherhand has midrange very similar to that of a good SET amplifer. Actually it's a good idea to have both types of amplifer around.....
The thread spawned by the discussion of amps to drive vintage full ranges is here....
Used Tube Amps, second life..
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57764
dave
Used Tube Amps, second life..
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57764
dave
Tubee or not tubee?
Exactly! and that's why I still have a couple of good SS designs around... but I keep replugging my tubes all the time..
Sure, there are a few magical ss amps too, just like there are some awful tube amps too, but when tubes are in a great amp, gee it's good..
By the way, the Non Inverted Gainclone has been my cheapest and best ss amp around, and a real fun project to build. Beast any high priced amp I've owned so far. Zenlight seems quite promising then.
BTW said:
Actually it's a good idea to have both types of amplifer around.....
Exactly! and that's why I still have a couple of good SS designs around... but I keep replugging my tubes all the time..
Sure, there are a few magical ss amps too, just like there are some awful tube amps too, but when tubes are in a great amp, gee it's good..
By the way, the Non Inverted Gainclone has been my cheapest and best ss amp around, and a real fun project to build. Beast any high priced amp I've owned so far. Zenlight seems quite promising then.
Re: Re: Andrew?
Well, about a visit, you might be surprised... one day. I have a good friend in Vancouver, that I plan to visit at some point.. so beware..
About tweaked and stock, well well, I'll continue my search for a second pair of them, and then I'll perform the surgery. Right now, I am practicing on the burnt Philips..
planet10 said:
Well, about a visit, you might be surprised... one day. I have a good friend in Vancouver, that I plan to visit at some point.. so beware..
About tweaked and stock, well well, I'll continue my search for a second pair of them, and then I'll perform the surgery. Right now, I am practicing on the burnt Philips..
Shoog said:
I have not met many german drivers, but when I meet a Grundig, Saba, Telefunken ect. consoles, I can't let them go without having a look at what's inside..
I have a Nordmende stereo console from the 60's. The usual EL84 Single Ended outputs (2-3watts?) It's nice to look at, with its miror finish, white push buttons, and it has a great FM tuner. Could not scavenge it.. too cute.
But I look for wrecked ones now, just in case..
Sylver300B said:
I run into Normendes most often. They are a good source for Isophon drivers. The EL84 amps come in 2 varieties, one with little OPTs that makes a nice mid/tweeter amp and one with big OPTs. They also made an ECLL800 PP amp. I've a couple that are still in the queue for restoration.
dave
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