How do my speakers compare?

[ThSpeakerDude88]

I was wondering what anyone here thinks of Marantz ( the old stuff by them)


I've got some SP1200's from 1978 a friend gave me, I replaced the surrounds on them. When I got them they were practically mint...untill I ran an allen wrench through a tweeter cone trying to take it out. I fixed that though.

They boast a responce of 25hz to 20khz,
Sensitivity of 91 db 1w/1m.
crossover points at 800 hz and 2,300 hz.

Reccomended RMS amplifier power 10watts RMS min, 165 watts RMS max. Liquid cooled midrange and tweeter yadda yadda etc.

Whats the actual power handling on these?? It says Max reccomended AMP power 165 w RMS, is that the speakers Max input or will they really handle 330 watts on a peak each?

All in all they are beautiful speakers, I've hears so many new ones with massive power handling capabilitys and they just don't compare. We used to use these in our band.. as mains.. with my fisher studio standard ca857 amp. they are LOUD too.

The only problem is I blew a tweeter one night. We had the amp pretty much maxed out on the power meter and suddenly "pop!" one channel went out. I guess its "overlaod protection" was initiated...ie a 125v 5 amp fuse. Anyways, I guess when it did that it sent a very distorted high freqency signal at high power to that tweeter and it was gone. I opened it up ( loosened the glue and used an exacto to pry the cone away from the edge without damaging it) and BOTH of the leads from the terminals to the coil had fryed. I soldered them back together, only to have the tweeter blow 2 days later when I was running them very loud. Anyone know where I can get a replacment for this, or if theres even anything close to it?

oh, one other problem I'm having. One of them has a resonancy thats really annoying. Up in the 100-300 hz range I think? It's coming from the woofer and it kinda has a buzz to it. I dont get it if its just low notes, just when it goes up there. I havent been able to determine weather or not its the cabinet trim ring or something in the room. Could the voice coil also be bad?


heres a pic of one of them

[DonoMan]

I never did like vintage tweeters, personally.

[carlosfm]

Originally posted by ThSpeakerDude88
oh, one other problem I'm having. One of them has a resonancy thats really annoying. Up in the 100-300 hz range I think? It's coming from the woofer and it kinda has a buzz to it. I dont get it if its just low notes, just when it goes up there. I havent been able to determine weather or not its the cabinet trim ring or something in the room. Could the voice coil also be bad?

Yes, it can be bad.
Seems like your amp made some damage there...
With the amp disconnected, touch each woofer with your hands, press it down and release (gently).
Do they move the same way?
Does one make more force, does it have more resistance to movement, does it make a noise?
If it does, it's bad.
It may have gone off-center and the coil is touching the magnet.

[ThSpeakerDude88]

nope none of that, and no the coils not rubbing.

[carlosfm]

Tighten all the screws.
Old speakers tend to have loose screws, don't be surprized if you have to give 2 or 3 turns on some screws.

[ThSpeakerDude88]

Ive had everything in and out of both cabs several times, all the screws are nice and tight..

[carlosfm]

Switch the speakers left to right.
If the problem persists on the same channel, it is not the speakers.

Otherwise... dunno. It's too hot in here, can't think...
People on the beach at 10 PM.

[ThSpeakerDude88]

haha ok. I just downloaded a tone generator, the resonance starts faintly at about 130 hz, gets the loudest at 136-139 hz, starts to lessen at 140 hz, and gets fainter untill 150 hz when its totally gone, and this is only out of my left channel.

[carlosfm]

Originally posted by ThSpeakerDude88
...and this is only out of my left channel.

Did you change the speakers?
Is it still on the left channel?

[ThSpeakerDude88]

let me try it real quick