White Van Syndrome seems to be a fairly common occurence.
In fact, if you buy them at a good enough price (say $200) these White Van speakers can represent good value for money.
It occurs to me that we could work out some modifications that would really make these beasts sing - cabinet reinforcing and bracing, crossover reconfiguration using better components, maybe new tweeters.
Then for the couple of hundred spent on the speakers and a couple of hundred more for bits, you could end up with beautiful speakers and the hi-fi bargain of the century.
Just a thought. Apologies if it's already been suggested.
In fact, if you buy them at a good enough price (say $200) these White Van speakers can represent good value for money.
It occurs to me that we could work out some modifications that would really make these beasts sing - cabinet reinforcing and bracing, crossover reconfiguration using better components, maybe new tweeters.
Then for the couple of hundred spent on the speakers and a couple of hundred more for bits, you could end up with beautiful speakers and the hi-fi bargain of the century.
Just a thought. Apologies if it's already been suggested.
I was confonted with one of those white van guys years ago. A girlfriend of mine bougth a pair from them. I wasn't aware of the "white van" thing.
They demonstrated one speaker by ripping a cable from their car radio out the door of the van
and connecting it to the speaker.
We could imediately hear it was high end
well, she says she's happy with them...
They demonstrated one speaker by ripping a cable from their car radio out the door of the van
and connecting it to the speaker.We could imediately hear it was high end
well, she says she's happy with them...
Without hearing them?
I don't think I could part with my precious greenbacks without some assurance that there was something worth trading them for. I don't recall any parking lot auditions. Perhaps if I could pop the backs off and look at the drivers I might be inclined. Otherwise, I'll pass.
I don't think I could part with my precious greenbacks without some assurance that there was something worth trading them for. I don't recall any parking lot auditions. Perhaps if I could pop the backs off and look at the drivers I might be inclined. Otherwise, I'll pass.
These are the infamous Dynalab speakers(aka JamAudio, aka a few dozen other names), sold in organized groups in many metropolitan areas around the world from the back of cars and trucks. The story is usually that they are delivering an order of >$2k speakers and they got an extra unit, then they try to get rid of it for as much as possible, generally from $150-$500.
required reading.
required reading.
A work colleague and I were walking down the street in Granville, and had a guy pull up in the middle of the road and yell out the window you want to buy some speakers, they are really good quality blah blah blah. Looked really dodgy so we said no. (we have also had people approach us and try and sell us bulk toilet paper among other things!
A week or so later I read an article in the paper written by an audio reviewer, who simmilarly got approached with the story about how they were for somene who pulled out of the deal, and now they were selling them for the relative bargain of a few hundred dollars, even though they were worth $2500. The first thing he commented on was how light they were (ie flimsy cabinets, and small magnets). I think among other things they claimed they were 4 way speakers, but in reality they were 3 way with a passive radiator. Anyway the reviewer said they were basically junk, and the you wouldn't want to pay more than a couple of hundred dollars for them. I guess psycho accoustics could be comming into the equation with the happy purchasers, where they actually beleive that they are listening to a $2500 pair of speakers, so they obviously sound like a $2500 pair of speakers.
Interesting that it isn't a phenomenon that's just restricted to Australia!
Regards,
Tony.
A week or so later I read an article in the paper written by an audio reviewer, who simmilarly got approached with the story about how they were for somene who pulled out of the deal, and now they were selling them for the relative bargain of a few hundred dollars, even though they were worth $2500. The first thing he commented on was how light they were (ie flimsy cabinets, and small magnets). I think among other things they claimed they were 4 way speakers, but in reality they were 3 way with a passive radiator. Anyway the reviewer said they were basically junk, and the you wouldn't want to pay more than a couple of hundred dollars for them. I guess psycho accoustics could be comming into the equation with the happy purchasers, where they actually beleive that they are listening to a $2500 pair of speakers, so they obviously sound like a $2500 pair of speakers.
Interesting that it isn't a phenomenon that's just restricted to Australia!
Regards,
Tony.
Re: Can we steer this back on topic?
Hi Steve ,
I'll try ! A friend brought a pair over for me to repair which were badly thrashed . 'Acoustic Reference Made in London' or some sort of nonsense like that . 3 way bass reflex thingies . The woofers were chunky looking doped cone 8 inchers with large magnets . One measured open circuit , the voice coil leads needed resoldering , the other had intermittant voice coil leads which I had to replace with some stranded wire . There were no crossovers for the bass units and the voice coil rubbed slightly on one driver . The tweeters on the other hand were complete crap , nasty far eastern stuff , very cheap and nasty ! Both had blown voice coils , simple 1st order crossover . There were also some 4 inch closed back cone midrange drivers drivers which were of horrendously poor quality and looked about 25 years old , again these used a 1st order crossover (cap slightly larger value than that on the tweeter) . These actually worked . Strangely the bass units were 8 ohm , tweeters and midrange 4 ohm , must have been a pretty horrible load for any amp to drive ! Overall I considered the speakers not worth saving , the boxes were low quality 1/2 inch chipboard . What we did in the end was to junk one of the cabinets and make one cabinet a clamshell isobarik type box with the bass drivers which he used as a subwoofer in his car . He paid 150 pounds for the pair under the pretence '...the speakers were left over from a studio delivery and were worth 1500 quid' . Highly dubious and probably only worth 20 pounds for just the woofers alone . It would be a better idea visiting your local Maplin and seeing what bargain basement chassis speaker deals are on offer
316a
7V said:
Hi Steve ,
I'll try ! A friend brought a pair over for me to repair which were badly thrashed . 'Acoustic Reference Made in London' or some sort of nonsense like that . 3 way bass reflex thingies . The woofers were chunky looking doped cone 8 inchers with large magnets . One measured open circuit , the voice coil leads needed resoldering , the other had intermittant voice coil leads which I had to replace with some stranded wire . There were no crossovers for the bass units and the voice coil rubbed slightly on one driver . The tweeters on the other hand were complete crap , nasty far eastern stuff , very cheap and nasty ! Both had blown voice coils , simple 1st order crossover . There were also some 4 inch closed back cone midrange drivers drivers which were of horrendously poor quality and looked about 25 years old , again these used a 1st order crossover (cap slightly larger value than that on the tweeter) . These actually worked . Strangely the bass units were 8 ohm , tweeters and midrange 4 ohm , must have been a pretty horrible load for any amp to drive ! Overall I considered the speakers not worth saving , the boxes were low quality 1/2 inch chipboard . What we did in the end was to junk one of the cabinets and make one cabinet a clamshell isobarik type box with the bass drivers which he used as a subwoofer in his car . He paid 150 pounds for the pair under the pretence '...the speakers were left over from a studio delivery and were worth 1500 quid' . Highly dubious and probably only worth 20 pounds for just the woofers alone . It would be a better idea visiting your local Maplin and seeing what bargain basement chassis speaker deals are on offer
316a
Steve Eddy said:
Yep that's pretty much what I was getting at. The interfering too much comment should be taken in the context of having a black and white (clinical) definition of a good speaker. I think that the subjective aspects make it impossible to have a black and white, good/bad definition for a particular speaker. There are just too many variables, it may be good in one context, but bad in another, I don't think you can say this speaker is inherently good (unless good is simply defined as being not absolutely awfull
)....... and even then............ I wonder what tone deaf people think a good speaker is?I know I thought I had some good speakers until I heard some $35,000 Aus speakers at which point I decided that my speakers were crap (I'm still listening to them by the way, the inferiority wore off after a while). So maybe we can say that all speakers are equally good just some are more equal than others
Regards,
Tony.
wintermute said:Yep that's pretty much what I was getting at. The interfering too much comment should be taken in the context of having a black and white (clinical) definition of a good speaker. I think that the subjective aspects make it impossible to have a black and white, good/bad definition for a particular speaker. There are just too many variables, it may be good in one context, but bad in another, I don't think you can say this speaker is inherently good (unless good is simply defined as being not absolutely awfull
Hehehe. Ok, we seem to be pretty much on the same page here. Thanks for the clarification.
Hehehe. Couldn't tell ya about tone deaf people, but I can say that my friend who is literally completely deaf loves his JBLs.
I know I thought I had some good speakers until I heard some $35,000 Aus speakers at which point I decided that my speakers were crap (I'm still listening to them by the way, the inferiority wore off after a while). So maybe we can say that all speakers are equally good just some are more equal than others
Hehehe. Is that from Audio Farm?
But until you actually heard those $35,000 AUS speakers, they were like a tree in the forest that fell and no one was there to hear it.
se
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3054911670&category=14993
These are the speakers my brother bought. I heard them once, and they didnt sound bad, and from a distance they look pretty good. He got what he paid for imo
These are the speakers my brother bought. I heard them once, and they didnt sound bad, and from a distance they look pretty good. He got what he paid for imo
54 posts and still no hope
Keltic says that they've tried to address the issue of making speakers that look better but are actually cheap (1/2" chipboard). Good. At least they look reasonable. That's a start.
Can't they be lined with some dedsheet or similar damping and then a skin of 1/2"MDF? There would be some internal volume lost but the cabinet could then be reasonable.
Are you all saying that nothing can be done with these speakers to make them better? If so, fine. I'll get back into my box. I just thought that there must be thousands of these things out there and something could be done.
So far we've had 54 posts and not one on the topic that I started. I was wondering whether there could be anything on the positive side.kelticwizard said:
Keltic says that they've tried to address the issue of making speakers that look better but are actually cheap (1/2" chipboard). Good. At least they look reasonable. That's a start.
Can't they be lined with some dedsheet or similar damping and then a skin of 1/2"MDF? There would be some internal volume lost but the cabinet could then be reasonable.
Are you all saying that nothing can be done with these speakers to make them better? If so, fine. I'll get back into my box. I just thought that there must be thousands of these things out there and something could be done.
steve, read post 16, and my first post here also.
there is really nothing of any worth in those things. if you buy them for $200 a pair, MAYBE they would be worth just keeping as is for a party speaker, but beyond that, they are worhtless. why spend $$ dampening 1/2" chipboard?
pardon the expression, but its like trying to shine a turd.
there is really nothing of any worth in those things. if you buy them for $200 a pair, MAYBE they would be worth just keeping as is for a party speaker, but beyond that, they are worhtless. why spend $$ dampening 1/2" chipboard?
pardon the expression, but its like trying to shine a turd.
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