Great deal on bookshelf (Canada)

[ruerose]

Canadian Source by CC stores.

Just a FYI, this particular speaker is quite impressive. Even at $30 it's very good value. $20 is a steal.

It's limited stock end-of-life, so act quickly if you want a set.

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/pr...roduct=4012007

I am not sure who the drivers are sourced from.
They are 4Ohm 85db.

Woofer is a poly and has a sticker on the magnet with WF-0004.
Tweeter is a soft-dome silk with a sticker saying TW-0250.
No other markings are visible on them.

[DcibeL]

Speaking of unnaturally cheap speakers in Canada, just the other day I picked up a pair of Braxton Audio bookshelf speakers from XS Cargo for $40. They're visually appealing, but the build quality is a bit poor (poorly applied veneer). They feature a 5.25" paper woofer with a rubber surround and inverted dust cap, and a soft dome tweeter. They even have proper binding posts on them, not those cheesy spring clip things. XS Cargo also had a visually appealing set of Braxton tower speakers, with better (looking) drivers. They were a woven material (fiberglass or carbon fibre) and had phase plugs.

Unfortunately, I've yet to hook the booksheves up to listen to how good or bad they sound. I did notice that the woofer was quite stiff to move, which (I think) usually translates into a relatively high Q. The tweeter I found to be unnaturaly soft, or at least moreso than the few soft dome tweeters I've encountered. If they do end up to be worthwhile, the first thing I'll do is add some bracing to the thin cabinets.

[ocool_15]

I just bought a the second last pair of the 4012007(The Source) speakers in the city after seeing this post.
My initial measurements indicate there are significant dips at 2khz, 3.7khz, 4.4khz and 14khz. It looks like they could also use some baffle step.

I'll end up using them as is for now while I am working on other designs but it would be interesting how these would sound with some crossover mods.

Their site states 85dB sensitivity but the box says 81dB without stating if thats at 1W or 2.83V

[planet10]

Originally posted by ruerose
Canadian Source by CC stores.

I still call it Radio Shack...

dave

[Elfer]

Heck, I'm only 19 and I still call it Rat Shack.

Anyway, good tip, I'll swing by and pick up a pair of these tomorrow if they're still available. What's the build quality of the cabinets like?

[Elfer]

Hmm, cabinets are fairly nice, although there are minor problems with the veneer on the top of one of them.

Drivers themselves sound a bit muddy, but hey, for twenty bucks, it's still a deal.

EDIT: Also, dips can be a real problem. I have a song with a guitar intro that plays exactly on one of the dips (Stretch - Why Did You Do It), and it's barely audible compared to the rest of the track.

[ocool_15]

I took one apart. The tweeter is smaller then I hoped and does not have a rear chamber.

The terminal mounted crossover has 6 components.
2 5W resistors
2 electrolytic caps
2 inductors(one air core)
drivers are not shielded
rear panel is 1/2" thick
there is a bit of stuffing used.

Is anyone else interested in trying to modify these?

[TheMG]

Yes I know this thread is old.

Anyways, I picked up a pair of those Braxton Audio MA300 speakers from a pawn shop for $50 today, they looked like a good deal at first. Hooked them up and ran them through the usual set of songs I use for testing out speakers.

I quickly came to the realization that:

A) I've been ripped off since it seems you can get em new for as little as $20

B) these speakers are not worth more than $20

C) good thing the pawn shop has a refund policy


At first I though they might make a nice cheap upgrade from my old old Technics SB-S25 bookshelf speaker, which use those crappy piezo disc tweeters. Boy was I ever wrong!

As ocool_15, the Braxtons have a lot of dips, music has a lot of voids in it and the speakers are terrible at mid-range overall sounds very muddy and lacking. Needs a heavy amount of equalization for it to sound ok. Bass sound a bit woody, probably due to the fairly thin cabinets and/or not enough dampening material.

While they may hit lower and reach higher that the Technics, the Technics speakers are better overall. Probably better quality full-range driver, definitely a stronger and thicker cabinet.

Now if only I could stick a decent tweeter in the Technics, unfortunately the cabinet is all glued together and the front grille is not removable.

As for the Braxtons... back to the shop they go!


I need to stop being a cheapass and invest on a set of speakers of known good quality, that has neutral sound and equal response from mid-bass all the way up to the extreme highs.

UPDATE: Well I took the connection block off (which is not glued) one of my Technics and put a light in there so I could have a better look at the tweeter, doesn't look like a piezo tweeter like I first thought.

Not the question is, why am I not getting audio out the tweeter? The multimeter and oscilloscope shall tell. Suspect is either a blown tweeter or a dry crossover capacitor. Hopefully it's the capacitor.

[DcibeL]

Yes, the Braxton's I bought were terrible also. I got rid of them on Kijiji a while back.

[ocool_15]

Originally posted by DcibeL
Yes, the Braxton's I bought were terrible also. I got rid of them on Kijiji a while back.

My other post was about The Sources 4012007 speakers I bought.

XS Cargo had that Braxton brand stuff in there. I was pretty tempted on those too. Visually the drivers looked not to bad and for ~$40 your only paying $10 a driver if you exclude everything else in the MT. The demo MTM were ~$35 and didn't have the regular pushed in domes or anything. "Missl" is the current seasons brand.