Used Full Range drivers, second life..

[Sylver300B]

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..

[Taperwood]

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

[planet10]

Originally posted by Sylver300B
Not so long ago, I came on Andrew Bee's "Save the FE-103" web site,

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/driver...lex/index.html

My question is: are there other good full range drivers that can be salvaged and are usually un-noticed?

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 see used Isophon and Telefunken drivers in old consoles, from time to time, are they worth something, sonically?

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.

Let's start a new thread.. Save the old Full Range drivers..

Here is a related thread...

Frugal-phile(tm)

dave

[Shoog]

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

[Sylver300B]

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]

Originally posted by Shoog
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'm always surprise to come to realise that many "Full Range" fans have not discovered the magic of using an appropriate tube amp, wich these drivers were designed around.. as mates.

Using solid state is, in my view, like missing the best these drivers can deliver.

[planet10]

Originally posted by Sylver300B
Weren't you supposed to give me details about a Philips driver's specs?

Yes... when you come visit, you'll know why things sometimes take a while....

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.

The difference between stock & tweaked is significant.

dave

[Panelhead]

Originally posted by Sylver300B


I'm always surprise to come to realise that many "Full Range" fans have not discovered the magic of using an appropriate tube amp, wich these drivers were designed around.. as mates.

Using solid state is, in my view, like missing the best these drivers can deliver.

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

[Shoog]

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

[Panelhead]

Originally posted by Shoog
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

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