Philips speaker kits vintage

Dutch Philips company had very popular loudspeaker kits in 1960-70s. They produced drivers for all purposes and were active in developing eg. dome tweeters. http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/WWDT.htm

My Philips AD2525 kit from 1972 - 50th Anniversary

My diy hifi started at age of 12 with this speaker! Actually this one is the second speaker I assembled in 1974, to make a stereo pair. I used them until 1988 at my parent's house in my room, in corners. I had to set bass level to max, and now I know why. I have had them stored since, but now I'll get rid of them! I made bigger 3-way kit speakers for my own apartment in 1882, which are now at my son's apartment! DiY hobby re-incarnated around 2007, after busy family years.

Please, tell about your own Phips kit memories in this thread!

More pictures and measurements here https://photos.app.goo.gl/7SpdVrRZknaJF9Ah8
 

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It's a very recent memory, but i did get some old Philips AD1065 fullrange drivers saved from being trashed and i put them in an old subwoofer box (150L ported) to be used in my workshop as speaker. And it's actaully a great fullrange speaker like that, with real bass. I knew these drivers were great, but not that great in a "not designed for the driver" cabinet...
 

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Well, I don't know much about your newer devices from the 1960's, but I had a wonderful "Norelco" 12-inch full-range speaker (with a whizzer cone on the dust cap) installed in a Karlson-15 box in 1957. Great sound - perfect simulation of a cello, better than anything since.

I still have one of those drivers although in bad shape after 65 years in my workshop.

B.
 
I'm too young to have direct experience with the kits offered back then, but did come upon pairs of AD 9710/M8 and AD 7060/M8 in homemade (awful) and Norelco-branded cabinets, respectively. I took these home for lunch money.

Given both pair's parameters, low-mid Fs, middling Qt and high Vas, waxx's choice of a large enclosure makes a lot of sense to me.

The treble was hot on both pairs - hardly a need for a tweeter - and better listened to off-axis, or 'tamed' by a Karlson, much like bentoronto did. I had the 9710 in a K12 and it did fairly well.

I also had a quad of AD2700M AlNiCo, from a tube console, but I never gave these much of a chance. They had very high Qt (understandable in that application) and a somewhat more nasal quality.

I'd still love to get my hands on a pair of AD 12202/M8.
 
That brought back memories! In about 1982, I owned a Saab 99GLE 5-door (kombi) with a removable, plywood shelf covering the rear hatch area. I bought a pair of Phililps speaker kits (woofers, 2 midranges, tweeter) and installed both sets in the rear shelf along with an early A/D/S power amp. Quick disconnects made it easy to remove the shelf when necessary. The whole setup was covered with knit grille cloth and was completely invisible from the outside.
 
Philips advised 40 to 50 liter for the AD5210S/77 and AD5201A (the 800 Ohm variant of the AD5201S/77).

See page 26 & 27 of this book for a construction plan:

Luidsprekerbehuizingen voor Zelfbouw (Philips 1966)

Attached is an other construction plan from a Dutch electronics magazine.

I made enclosures for my two AD5201A. I combine them with the 9710AM in open baffles, using bi-amping (2 x 2 channels). There are many reports on Dutch forums of the three brass bolts that run through the magnet breaking (and by doing so, destroing the coil). So that is why I supported them with an additional wooden structure. A link to some photo's on my site:

Philips Bombardon
 

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Please, tell about your own Phips kit memories in this thread!
The loudspeakerboxes you DIY'ed were the first loudspeakerboxes in my own room (not the kit version but the 'normal' version). I have good memories of them. At some point I upgraded them (or atleast that is what I thought I was doing) by changing the squawkers to the AD0211 (which have a dome).

By now I regret that I gave them away to a friend when I bought a pair of KEF Carlton III (which I still have).
 
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Hi PFL200! Thanks fo the files! So you have combination with 9710, which is screaming on high tones (3-10kHz is +10dB peak). I have it also but never like it because of that..
Is it possible to have balanced sound with bombardon (lets say more or less flat)?
 
Philips advised 40 to 50 liter for the AD5210S/77 and AD5201A (the 800 Ohm variant of the AD5201S/77).
. There are many reports on Dutch forums of the three brass bolts that run through the magnet breaking (and by doing so, destroing the coil). So that is why I supported them with an additional wooden structure. A link to some photo's on my site:
i dont understand the quoted, what does it mean? speaker has some problem with the excursion? so i need to remove bolts? can you share more details about?
 
I never did measurements on them (or on any other loudspeaker enclosure that I made) but because of the bi-amping, with the active crossover before the amplifiers, I can influence the balance a bit with the volume controls. I mostly use them at a crossover frequency of 800 Hz (18 dB/oct.). In that way the differences in level stay under about 5 dB. I like their sound but the highest highs are missing (from about 15 kHz going). I regret that Philips never made a dedicated tweeter with 800 Ohm impedance.

I'm still planning to combine this set with a third loudspeaker that reproduces the highest highs better. But by now there are so many projects waiting in line...

About the problem with the AD5201: There are three brass bolts running through the magnet. They are there to attach the magnet to the spider/rest of the loudspeaker. These brass bolts tend to break in time (for instance when the enclosure the AD5201 is in is being moved). If all three bolts break (or even when only two bolts break), the shifting/falling of the magnet will cause damage to the coil/conus. So these bolts should either be replaced by stronger bolts or the magnet should be supported, like I did in my enclosures, so that the full weight of the magnet doesn't bare down on the bolts anymore.
 
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I don't think you need to touch the cone at all. There's just one possible caveat: If the three bolts don't end in threaded holes, but with nuts instead, which I don't know, replacing them is either impossible or will lead into some major surgery (dissolving the outer spider glue and lifting the spider to get access to the nuts, removing the dust cap/whizzer cone to allow for centering the VC during re-glueing the spider...).

Best regards!
 
thanks PFL for such a valuable information! mine speakers are still in great shape, after so many years. i was running them last year shortly and they are still ok. i will try to do the same or try to remove at least one bolt to see it how will go, thx again