Does anyone know these drivers?

[Manimal]

I've just joined and would like to pick your collective brains on the drivers within these old speakers of mine.



They are BL Q2 speakers and I know very little about them. I've owned them since about 1990 and I have used and abused them mercilessly in my yoof - dragging them to parties and moving them from house to house in my nomadic days.

They have lived in the garage for the last few years connected up to a ghetto blaster and a few months ago I brought them in and hooked them up to my system (Cyrus set up). I was shocked at just how open and detailed they are and I want to restore (and if possible improve) them.

I hooked them up when I demoed some ATC SCM19's as I was looking to move to sealed box from my then Dynaudio X32's.


The grills were chewed off by the dog when she was a pup and she managed to tear the rubber surrounds around the drivers in a couple of places so they are not the sealed box that they should be -

I have spoken to Wilmslow Audio and they believe that the tweeters are old SEAS units


The mid/bass are more of a problem - there is only a bit of faint writing on the side but this doesn't give any clues.


The crossovers look fairly straightforward too...


The cabinets are approx 20 litre and I've found these as possible replacements from Monacor as they are the same size and shape and apparently volume requirement.
Monacor SPW-165/4 6 Inch Hifi Woofer ONLY 19.67

I think I'd keep the tweeters and look to replace the woofers (they do shout at volume) unless there are better suggestions out there.

I've recently built myself an IPL transmission line kit and this has had the unexpected effect of making me want to build something else. My new found discivery of iron on veneer could see these finally getting smartened up and getting the the nod from my wife to return to the lounge.

Thanks for reading...

[GM]

Yes, it's a Seas: http://www.seas.no/images/stories/vi...253_1_dome.pdf

With no markings, no clue about the woofer.

GM

[F1 FAN]

Definately a SEAS Tweeter,possibly an Audax woofer?

[Cal Weldon]

Eastech woofer maybe?

[Manimal]

Thanks for the confirmation of the tweeter. The woofer is a problem.

I'm not sure whether to try and get them refurbished or if my hifi pocket money is better spent on sourcing a more modern drivers and building my own cabinets. The cabinets for the BLQ's are very simple - no bracing and just packed with foam. Modern drivers appeal as these have been stored in less than ideal conditions -moisture levels in the garage have led to the hex bolts corroding. I suspect that the internals of the drivers are in a similar state and I could just be embarking on 'polishing a turd' as the phrase goes.

Would you guys be able to recommend some drivers that are known for an open detailed sound that would work well in a 20 litre sealed box. I'm starting out on my DIY journey and a good steer at this early stage would save me lots of trial and error. I'm not looking to spend loads - say £200 tops for 2 tweeters and woofers. Cheaper options always welcome.

The more I read the more complex speaker building from the ground up seems but I'd like to give it a proper whirl.

[Boden]

Manimal,

This might be an Elac (the British driver manufacturer that is) woofer. I do not know whether Elac is still in business. It might be worth measuring the driver, before you throw iit away.

Measuring and putting the .frd (frequency response) and .zma files (impedance measurement files into a crossover optimizer programm (Calsod, Leap,LspCAD, Speakeasy) may yield surprising results with nineteen-80-ties 2 or 3 ways.

The tweeter is probably not much to write home about: from my experience in the past quite a hump at 10Khz.

Kind regards,

Eelco de Bode

[Manimal]

Originally Posted by Boden

Manimal,

This might be an Elac (the British driver manufacturer that is) woofer. I do not know whether Elac is still in business. It might be worth measuring the driver, before you throw iit away.

Measuring and putting the .frd (frequency response) and .zma files (impedance measurement files into a crossover optimizer programm (Calsod, Leap,LspCAD, Speakeasy) may yield surprising results with nineteen-80-ties 2 or 3 ways.

The tweeter is probably not much to write home about: from my experience in the past quite a hump at 10Khz.

Kind regards,

Eelco de Bode

Thanks Eelco
I'm a complete novice as far as the technical side of things goes so measuring the driver (apart from its dimensions of course) is outside my knowledge at present -

I wouldn't throw them away as they are like old friends - its deciding whether to spend money on them that is the difficult thing. Your suggestion of ELAC is interesting - I had assumed ELAC was the German company but a google search shows there was a large OEM operation in the UK in the 80's.

This link about ELAC is from Falcon Acoustics site here in the UK
TDL & IMF Drive Units ELAC Datasheet - The Falcon Acoustics Archive - Archive/Links/History

Falcon are now located in Oxford but at the time they were based in Norfolk not far from where the chap behind BL speakers was supposed to have been based. I'll send an email to Falcon to see if anyone can help.

Your comment about the tweeter not being much to write home about echoes Wilmslow Audio's comments that they would be cheap drivers that could be much improved upon.

Thanks again

Nick

[GM]

Yeah, surprisingly bad........

So the factory plot indicates......... Is it even worse?

GM

[Manimal]

Originally Posted by GM

Yeah, surprisingly bad........

So the factory plot indicates......... Is it even worse?

GM

Hi GM
Funny thing is I like how they sound. Maybe its an old school sound that I lived with for years and I've just got used to bad speakers or more likely I have no taste.

[GM]

Greets!

Well, we are to a great extent a product of our environment, so depending on what type of sound we were most exposed to, it's the one we'll like best regardless of quality/accuracy, same as with food selection/preparation, etc..

Me, I'm blessed [cursed?] with having grown up in an unamplified live music and large cinema environment, so have a fairly narrow focus on what constitutes HIFI, though I spent enough of my adult life at a variety of musical genres concerts to like its presentation too, but it's not HIFI. As for casual listening, a small TV or clock radio's 2" driver suffices since it gets the critical mids, lower HF 'right'.

Anyway, check out a local re-coner, they are typically the best sources for figuring out what you have and whether or not it can be repaired to a 'close enough' sound once the new wears off.

GM