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I don't yet know the price, but I've been offered the opportunity to acquire a pair of Electro Voice Royal 400 speakers from an estate sale. I think the offer was made because this person has helped me to sort through some old tubes that I'm using for a set of 300B tube amps that I'm building.
I don't know very much about these speakers except for what I've been able to learn from their user's manual that I found online. They seem to have been produced in the early 1960s and feature a 3-way design with an 18" woofer(!), an 8" midbass, and a horn tweeter. They can be bi-amped and the power handling for the mid and tweeter section seems rather low, thus I am surmising that they are relatively high sensitivity, but I don't know this for sure. I think the original price as $250 each. I attached a random image of them that I found online.
Are these speakers any good? I don't really have a place to put them (they are really large boxes) and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake by passing them up. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I don't know very much about these speakers except for what I've been able to learn from their user's manual that I found online. They seem to have been produced in the early 1960s and feature a 3-way design with an 18" woofer(!), an 8" midbass, and a horn tweeter. They can be bi-amped and the power handling for the mid and tweeter section seems rather low, thus I am surmising that they are relatively high sensitivity, but I don't know this for sure. I think the original price as $250 each. I attached a random image of them that I found online.
Are these speakers any good? I don't really have a place to put them (they are really large boxes) and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake by passing them up. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Attachments
dunno a thing about them - but a search finds the manual with graph and crossover details
plus a pair of the rare polystyrene cone woofers for sale
at only 15 inches deep, they are a nice size and look
Gotta love the days of honest sine wave power ratings
https://products.electrovoice.com/binary/Royal 400 Manual.pdf
Rare Electro Voice 18WS 18" woofers Speaker’s used in MODEL SIX & Royal 400 | eBay
plus a pair of the rare polystyrene cone woofers for sale
at only 15 inches deep, they are a nice size and look
Gotta love the days of honest sine wave power ratings
https://products.electrovoice.com/binary/Royal 400 Manual.pdf
Rare Electro Voice 18WS 18" woofers Speaker’s used in MODEL SIX & Royal 400 | eBay
the little lady approves 😀. (those cartoon women in the Frazier ads look real happy too, and with cabinets larger than a refrigerator)
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Ha! Gotta love those classic ads! Maybe my wife will love me *more* for planting two speakers in the living room that are bigger than the table that the 65" TV sits on...
They are a very desirable model over in Japan and for EV fans here in the USA
Jump on them if they are under 1k
Jump on them if they are under 1k
there's a pair of nice looking Karlson at 'bay coming up in a few hours - 1 bid $200. Loaded with Wharfedale Super 12/RS/DD (I would ask the seller to remove the back for pictures - )
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My gut feel is that they would be considered audio trash today.... and I go back to that period.
Stephens drivers, Lansing, Klipsch, and some other stuff can be as good as contemporary gear. But EV not so good (except maybe some of their treble horns) and the cabs function only as detour paths for the rear wave (OK, that's not a bad idea but on the other hand, not the purpose of their box) and real crap absorbents used. Not to mention deterioration of the drivers.
Karlson-15 boxes (which I owned) have nothing much in them that could deteriorate..... except the driver.
B.
Stephens drivers, Lansing, Klipsch, and some other stuff can be as good as contemporary gear. But EV not so good (except maybe some of their treble horns) and the cabs function only as detour paths for the rear wave (OK, that's not a bad idea but on the other hand, not the purpose of their box) and real crap absorbents used. Not to mention deterioration of the drivers.
Karlson-15 boxes (which I owned) have nothing much in them that could deteriorate..... except the driver.
B.
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Take note - these speaker systems of yore were from the "low watts era".
At that time, 12 to 25 watts was the norm, and pushing them with a 100w/per is dangerous.
At that time, 12 to 25 watts was the norm, and pushing them with a 100w/per is dangerous.
I'll beg to differ. The vintage EV units I've heard where all rather nice. And like a lot of big speakers of that era, the boxes can do with some bracing and maybe even some port modifications. But I've always been happy with EV drivers.
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I appreciate the warning. The manual indicates a max of 5w for the mid & tweeter section and 30w for the bass driver. This is what is making me think they're fairly high sensitivity and a decent match to a tube amp. Being an 8-ohm load seems pretty nice as well. I'll give them a listen tomorrow and see what I think.
Please get us a picture of the back side of the drivers if you can. Never seen one and tend to love the better EV drivers.
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It doesn't seem that there are many high-resolution images of these speakers posted anywhere. Here is an image of an open speaker that I found online. This is pretty much what I saw yesterday when I went to look at them. The surround on the woofer is cloth and the crossovers are clearly period pieces. The coils are hand wound, looks like a wax cap and a 1w or 2w carbon comp resistor.
Attachments
A guy I knew once had a couple of EV floor speakers in his setup.
An Aristocrat in the corner, and a Marquis along the wall, both had 12" drivers and horns.
Driven by a Fisher tube receiver, they sounded extremely nice in his living room.
An Aristocrat in the corner, and a Marquis along the wall, both had 12" drivers and horns.
Driven by a Fisher tube receiver, they sounded extremely nice in his living room.
At least with EV, speaker ratings were more honest in those days. The midrange would certainly handle more than 5 watts, and 5 watts, if for a T35 is correct.
I have a couple of Aristocrats in my pile. Great design. The only thing wrong I could hear was some modulation effects from the thin baffle flexing. A new of beefed-up baffle board would improve matters. The Aristocrat could scale nicely for some 15 inch speakers.
I have a couple of Aristocrats in my pile. Great design. The only thing wrong I could hear was some modulation effects from the thin baffle flexing. A new of beefed-up baffle board would improve matters. The Aristocrat could scale nicely for some 15 inch speakers.
That picture looks so shoddy by today's standards. Handfull of screws holding the large back panel. Only the coils will not need to be replaced. 6dB XO?
Freddi reminded me of my tests not long ago of an ancient T35 EV tweeter I had sitting around for decades and which was highly regarded in 1960: moderate amount of distortion (about 1%) but not a lot of high-end. The lines are 2dB apart.
B.
