Vintage Sonics Speakers

[pezza89]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever heard of SONICS speakers? I have a pair of them - they are 4 way approx 80 watts MADE IN JAPAN..i couldn't find anything online about them? Any feedback would be great! Cheers, Andy

[Geoff H]

I'm winding the clock back! IIRC Encel was the distibutor or at least a retailer mid 70s. Probably Coral OEM drivers.

We didn't realise the potential of many Japanese speakers in those days as they were coupled to budget amps, as they didn't need a lot of power. They were better on 10 y/o tube amps, or wait till about 1980 when they improved TID.

Can you post pictures of the drivers?

Geoff.

[jamikl]

Pezza89, if you are referring to the Sonics which have four speakers per box, arranged in a square pattern, box size about 16" X 20 inches, speakers size about 6.5 inches, I too have a set which I picked up from a hard rubbish collection. The boxes are about 3 - 4 inches deep and the back has a cuircular cutout about 4 - 5 inches in dia, behind each driver. Some time ago on the vintage speakers thread Planet 10 said that he had some National 6 drivers which he had pit in a box and sold to somebody who was very happy with them. The speakers he showed in the trhead are very similar to what I have in the Sonics box. I will be trying them as open baffles soon.
jamikl

[pezza89]

Hi All

Interesting that you mentioned that these speakers could have been coral drivers - they boxes and drivers look identical to a coral pair of speakers i had last year. Also, i bought these speakers from the original owner, whom also had a vintage pioneer SA-500 amp, which i also bought from him. This amp is very sweet and detailed, but low powered, approx 10 watts a channel....and it sounds great! the Pioneer SA-500 is a true David and Goliath story, proves that you do not need a lot of RMS power to achieve a sweet detailed sound. I'll take a photo of the speakers and post them tomorrow!

[Geoff H]

Hi jamikl, the drivers Dave spoke about are very similar to some I have here. I'm happy to answer any questions.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...95#post1282395

Hi Andy. The SA-500 was a nice amp. I think it was the last using discreet components in the output stage. The SA-5500 which followed used a hybrid IC. Not as sweet.

[jamikl]

Hi Geoff H, the drivers on your baffle are different. Mine have pressed steel frames but the arms are arranged like steep Vs. This gives two marrow gaps and two wide gaps through to the rear of the cone. The cones appear to be lightly ribbed all the way from the surround to the centre. They are only rated 1.5 watts! They carry the number P651G. The magnet is a small slug and the rear pole piece is a U shaped piece of bent iron. They sound quite good. I have some old 12 inch speakers of chinese manufacture, not any class at all, and I will try these in a baffle with two of the above mentioned speakers and a cone tweeter. I might even try the speakers above in an arrangment of four, close together as possible in a diamond shape but will have to find a tweeter that comes much lower down if I do this.
jamikl

[jamikl]

If you go to the full range pics thread, Post 256, mine look like those Denons except they have yellow cones and mine are black.
jamikl

[pezza89]

Hey all, here is a pic of the sonics speakers i was referring to....interesting to see if anyone has seen them before? Cheers, Andy

[jamikl]

These are different to mine pezza89. I wish I had these!!!
jamikl

[pezza89]

Heya Jamikl, too bad we dont have the same speakers! i think the original owner i purchased them off said he bought them from encel's new! they are in near mint order, drivers like new. The sound is well balanced - not as nice as my JAMO's which i use for my main vintage hi fi setup...currently i have a pioneer sx-850 connected to the sonics and run mp3s from the pc through it! Cheers, Andy