Interesting(?) Old Woofer

[DonQuixote99]

OK, I bought for small money these old homemeade speakers, mainly to have fun seeing if I'd get lucky as to what was in them. Opened up one and found a cubic yard of fiberglass, and some pitiful drivers, including this old Oakton woofer marked "12 watts max program material." I felt discouraged, and didn't open the other one.

Until yesterday, and when I did I found a different and better woofer (of course, different strongly implies better in this case....) Anyway, it's a Utah of some weight, see attached pics. It was suggested to me that here I might find someone with sufficient lore to tell me What This Is, and Is It Good, and Where's the Data, etc.

Also, is it worth while looking for another one, and will I ever find one if I do?

[Cal Weldon]

That woofer is a full range unit. Looks like a cast basket for sturdiness, an inverted cloth surround and a small motor allowing it to be used in an open baffle. Too bad they cover the ceramic magnet with a "shield" to prevent you from seeing the real size.

Utah goes way back and is a respected company. Might be hard to find another though. Check the usual places. Is it 12"?

[Cal Weldon]

Look in the upper left corner

utah blue frame speaker full range - Google Search

Utah went on to become Pyle AFAIK.

[DonQuixote99]

Thanks! Mine, like the first ones in the thread you point to, has no sign of ever having the tweeter in the middle. So that just makes it an extended-range woofer. Which just might be really neat....

That pic in the first message in the AK thread of the front of the cone has a fascinating optical illusion to it. Perception can 'switch' and you see it on the left instead of on the right, with a concave middle.

[Cal Weldon]

When it "switches" I see the cut out of the cabinet on the left is now on the outside of the driver and the whizzer cone is now inverted showing the dust cap on the outside. Is that what you see too?

Any driver with a whizzer is most often referred to as full range, wide range or extended range. Without it an extended range woofer is often referred to as a mid bass. Confused yet?

[AEIOU]

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

When it "switches" I see the cut out of the cabinet on the left is now on the outside of the driver and the whizzer cone is now inverted showing the dust cap on the outside. Is that what you see too?

Any driver with a whizzer is most often referred to as full range, wide range or extended range. Without it an extended range woofer is often referred to as a mid bass. Confused yet?

I personally wouldn't call a driver that big/large a "midbass."
In my mind, a midbass is a small woofer doing double duty not only as a woofer but also in the midrange frequencies.

[DonQuixote99]

Originally Posted by AEIOU

I personally wouldn't call a driver that big/large a "midbass."
In my mind, a midbass is a small woofer doing double duty not only as a woofer but also in the midrange frequencies.

That is a 12" driver, BTW, to answer Cal's question.

What I want is a woofer that gets up over 2000 hz comfortably (and of course down to 30 hz too). Doing both is the trick I guess.

I need to hook it up and play with it.

[Cal Weldon]

Fair enough, we all have different names I suppose. I think that one will have no problem at all with 2K. Might be a bit to ask for 30Hz though. Like you say, hook it up have a go at it. With a whizzer it'll probably go higher than a lot smaller mid basses

[AEIOU]

Originally Posted by DonQuixote99

That is a 12" driver, BTW, to answer Cal's question.

What I want is a woofer that gets up over 2000 hz comfortably (and of course down to 30 hz too). Doing both is the trick I guess.

I need to hook it up and play with it.

It is indeed a full ranger, a 12 inch full ranger! I'm sure it performs well beyond 2KHz, but where exactly the whizzer takes over the high frequencies you'd have to listen for or measure.

Some of the better/premium 6.5 inch midbass drivers will do from the low to mid 30's and easily to 2KHz.

[DonQuixote99]

OK, I can report it plays a 30 hz test tone nice enough. I also put it into a quickly-cobbled-together 3-way frankenspeaker, and the result wasn't too awful. Can't really judge bass performance from a leaky acoustic suspension installation in a random cabinet though.

There seem to be several AK threads about speakers a lot like these. Some disparaging remarks noted....

Nearest thing to data on these(?) speakers comes from 1971 Radio Shack Catalog, pg 41 (they branded these the 'Americana,' the names 'Pandore' and 'Celeste' are mentioned i the threads too). Cat entry says it goes from 25-20,000 Hz (but that's with a co-axil tweeter). And gives power handling as 45 watts.