Richard Allan speakers - any comments on this old find?

[DanDini]

I've had these old Richard Allan speakers given to me and just whipped the baffle off to see what the drivers are. I've attached some terrible pictures of them from my broken phone!

They appear to be a 460T 15 Ohm tweeter
'Module' 15 Ohm mid/bass driver
CD54 15 Ohm two-way crossover.

They are date stamped 1 Jan 1969.

The enclosures are ugly and white painted with a sort of silver hammerited metal baffle. The bass driver doesn't have it's own basket, but relies on the mounting to the baffle and the suspension of the cone is glued to that. I think the tweeters sounds quite nice. Has anyone got any experience of any of these components?

[a.wayne]

Wow, it's been 35 yrs since I have had a pr of those ......

[DanDini]

Originally Posted by a.wayne

Wow, it's been 35 yrs since I have had a pr of those ......

Were yours made like this with a metal baffle etc? They wooden enclosure looks home made. I wondered if they were a kit or something?

Thanks!

Dan

[system7]

This is a very interesting find, Dan. I love this old engineering, which worked within severe technology limitations to get an acceptable result.

See if you can analyse that crossover, maybe even guesstimate or measure some values. Is that woofer or tweeter centre-tapped? 3 terminal is unusual by modern standards. How does it work?

You are possibly the only person in the world who can answer these questions, and give an insight into the engineers who built this.

[flyingtele]

What I find interesting is that it appears the baffle is the frame for the woofer itself, with the magnet assembly held in place by four bolts with long spacers. It may not be but its hard to tell from the photo. The centre terminal is probably earthed, it looks like a piece of the terminal strip used in old valve equipment for point to point wiring, where the centre contact has a lug on the other side that was usually riveted to the chassis.
I can only but wonder what the dispersion pattern of that tweeter would be!

[DanDini]

Originally Posted by system7

See if you can analyse that crossover, maybe even guesstimate or measure some values. Is that woofer or tweeter centre-tapped? 3 terminal is unusual by modern standards. How does it work?

You are possibly the only person in the world who can answer these questions, and give an insight into the engineers who built this.

The crossover seems to be available on ebay every now and again but most often in 8 Ohm form.

The 'centre tap' you mention is just the way the speaker terminals are secured on the baffle.

[DanDini]

Originally Posted by flyingtele

What I find interesting is that it appears the baffle is the frame for the woofer itself, with the magnet assembly held in place by four bolts with long spacers. It may not be but its hard to tell from the photo. The centre terminal is probably earthed, it looks like a piece of the terminal strip used in old valve equipment for point to point wiring, where the centre contact has a lug on the other side that was usually riveted to the chassis.!

You've got it. It does make quite a strong basket though. The big shame is that the thing relies on the suspension begin glued to the baffle so it's a bit of a 'one time ting'.

Originally Posted by flyingtele

I can only but wonder what the dispersion pattern of that tweeter would be

I dare say it's not achieving the sparkliest of highs, but it does sound pretty good to me! I am interested to know if anyone thinks that they were a kit of some form. The enclosure just seems home made. I'm tempted to re-finish them and make them look nice(r).

[system7]

Yes, it IS a kit! About 1968, as you say. You build a box, and use the supplied wadding, grille and box instructions. 15 ohms was fairly standard in the 50s and 60s.

Partner it with the 1968 Richard Allan A21, and you've got a sweet sounding system. The A21 was the predecessor of the Sugden range of Class A amps. This one is not disimilar to John Linsley Hood's respected 10W Class A amplifier, which got good results on fairly primitive output transistors. The circuit and component values are readily available, because in those days manufacturers supplied it.

Richard Allan A21 - Vintage - Integrated amplifiers

[a.wayne]

Originally Posted by DanDini

Were yours made like this with a metal baffle etc? They wooden enclosure looks home made. I wondered if they were a kit or something?

Thanks!

Dan

Hello,

I had RA drivers purchased back in the early 70's , i had purchased them to replace my 10kg vitavox , I had 12 inchers with dual cone, home built enclosures

Blue in colour if memory serves me correct ......

[system7]

Amazingly, you can still get these Richard Allan items reconed and serviced!

RA Technology, Projector mounts and cages

The facility is being renovated right now, but they say they will accept new orders again soon.