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Western Electric 555 receiver (Horn Driver)

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lukerandall

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Joined 2014
#1
Hi - Last night my friend and I found an old Western Electric 555 receiver , meant to drive the big old wooden theater horns, in the attic of our local theater. I put an ohm meter across the pins- The field coil reads about 5 ohms but the voice coil was open and did not give a reading.....I think it should have read 13 +ohms. My heart sank...I think this means the voice coil is burned open. These units, in working condition, are very valuable and are going for anywhere from $3K-6K ON EBAY. We are hoping to hook it up to one of my small single ended amps ( after we figure out the power supply of 7 V. DC @ 1.5 amps for the field coil.) But now all the excitement has dwindled due to the results of this sad test of the voice coil. I did not want to take it apart for fear of messing something up, although I saw many pictures of these units disassembled on the internet . My questions are : Can a burned out voice coil be repaired?.....Does anyone know who could do this type of work? Will it lose it's value if it is repaired? What is this unit worth in its present broken condition? Should I take it apart and look at the diaphragm?
 
#2
Assuming that you prefer to sell the driver and not use it for yourself, I would not open it unless you are competent with doing things like this. Because no matter how careful you are you will leave tiny tell tail signs that you've been in there. You could contact a professional speaker repair shop like Simply Speakers in Florida and ask them about repairing it. Or you could just list it for auction as it is. If you do that, configure your auction to end around 8PM Japan time.
 
#3
Thanks for this tip. I have dealt with Simply Speakers before. They rebuilt some woofers years ago for me. I am still wondering about it's value in it's present condition.

I am surprised no one else has chimed in with advice, I thought the 555 driver was something a lot of people knew about.
 
#4
lukerandall said:
I am surprised no one else has chimed in with advice, I thought the 555 driver was something a lot of people knew about.
Click to expand...
One of the best people to work on old drivers like this is Don Davis who also goes by "Dr Field Coil". When I got a single Altec 755a with a lot of rust in the gap leading to bad rubbing, I was pointed in his direction. He restored the driver and got it working well for a very reasonable price. You can find information about him here: About | DrFieldCoil.

---Gary
 
#6
I believe (perhaps erroneously) that new 555 diaphragms are available in China and Japan. (Someone in Asia is currently manufacturing an extremely expensive replica of the 555) I'd not touch this unit, photograph it carefully, describe it fully and put it on eBay as is. Timing things so that the auction ends around 8PM JST is good advice.
 
#8
Yes, this is a valuable driver.

If you are going to sell it, ebay is certainly one option.

Is the driver clean and dry or does it show signs of some rust and/or corrosion?
There is always the possibility of corroded connections causing an apparent lack of continuity for the internal connections.

Also, 5 ohms seems low for the field coil, I have not measured one, but you can likely find this information online. So, you may have the FC and the VC connections reversed??

_-_-

How about a picture of the item?
Also how did it come to be in the attic? Any idea?
 
#10
bear said:
Yes, this is a valuable driver.

If you are going to sell it, ebay is certainly one option.

Is the driver clean and dry or does it show signs of some rust and/or corrosion?
There is always the possibility of corroded connections causing an apparent lack of continuity for the internal connections.

Also, 5 ohms seems low for the field coil, I have not measured one, but you can likely find this information online. So, you may have the FC and the VC connections reversed??

_-_-

How about a picture of the item?
Also how did it come to be in the attic? Any idea?
Click to expand...


I will post a picture soon. We found it under the floor of the projection booth. Which is up in the attic of the theater. The theater was built in 1926. We had found a wooden W.E. box marked "555 Receiver" a few weeks ago and I was wishing it had the original contents in it. And then two weeks later, on the other side of the room, under there metal grated flooring, we found the driver. This booth has not been used since the 1950's. There are now two other more contemporary projection booths in the theater. The old carbon rod projectors are still there as well as the instruction manual for the complete W.E. 41, 42 , 43 system....the wires are all hanging there where someone took this precious sound equipment out. I found an old W.E. 242C tube which was one of the power tubes and also a New in box 264 tube which was one of the pre amp tubes. There were also four more metal caps for the aperture of the 555 drivers. Unfortunately the big 15 A horns are long gone. There are many hug heavy rectifier units up there and a large W.E. no. 700 projector motor control box and a "Compesarc" lamp power supply 220 volts at 100 amps. This thing is beautiful. This system must have used a lot of current because all the wires are huge. There is still a large wooden "Voice of the theater" Speaker there with an Altec woofer and driver and a beautiful big crossover and this speaker sounds great driven by my little 8 watt 6L6 single ended amp. I can't believe that little amp powers that huge speaker and fills the theater with sound. We tried a 20 watt amp but it didn't sound very good. I am getting off track now.

I have contacted Dr Field Coil about repairing the broken 555 unit. Thanks for all the input and help. I will keep you posted. Luke
 
#12
HI- I found a source for replica voice coils in Germany...they are $625.00 each. I haven't had time to start on this project yet but I want to repair the broken 555 we have (Voice coil is open) and build a horn. Do you have the 15A horn? I would like to come up to your house and see the horn. I need to measure an original and figure out how to construct a replica. Would this be possible? Have you ever listened to these drivers? I am so excited to hear one. I live in Rhode Island. The speaker my friend and I found in the attic of an old theater in Providence. They have a recording studio there and want to build a W.E. horn to pay homage to the original theater sound in their recording studio. This is so exciting. Do you have any Western Electric Amplifiers? I really want to hear one Please give a call if you can my number is 401-295-8211. My name is Luke Randall.
 
#14
I bet that's the theater with the clock on the top of the building. No?

If it is, I was there about 10 years ago, but didn't get invited to poke around.

What I have are the 12a & 13a.

The things are snow bound at this time, so it wouldn't be easy to see them at this time. Later, I can scan a couple of photos. They are not assembled.

I'll keep your number.

I don't have any WE amplifiers.
 
#15
Yes, it is the theater with the clock. It is called the Columbus Theater. My friends are running it right now. I just looked up the 12A horn online and it is similar to the 15A but much more complex in terms of the construction, like you said NOT plywood...a kind of virtuouso cabinet makers task. We want to build a 15A out of plywood. The 12A looks way too hard.(Not that the 15A is going to be easy) I am curious about the metal throat that goes between the driver and the wood sections. That is something that I would like to make a template of in order to construct it. I wonder if the metal throat of the 12A is similar to the metal 15A throat.?

I am no rush to see them. May be when it warms up a little......April . I really would like to come up and visit, if you are willing. I would love to hear one. Have you had them hooked up so you could hear what they sound like? As you probably already know this stuff is very valuable. I never thought I would ever even see one because of the cost but one lucky night a couple months ago we found the 555 under the floor of the projection booth. (Unfortunately someone took the original Western ELecrtric 41,42,43A sound system out. We found the instruction manual, all the sad wires disconnected, and a couple of the tubes.)

My friend and I have not begun the 555 restoration and the 15A project yet but it is on a back burner. I am excited about this but don't have time right now.

I would like to talk on the phone. Can I call you sometime?


Sincerely , Luke Randall
 
#16
gvasale said:
I bet that's the theater with the clock on the top of the building. No?

If it is, I was there about 10 years ago, but didn't get invited to poke around.

What I have are the 12a & 13a.

The things are snow bound at this time, so it wouldn't be easy to see them at this time. Later, I can scan a couple of photos. They are not assembled.

I'll keep your number.

I don't have any WE amplifiers.[/QUOTE

Hello, You have one pair WE 12A and 13A, so Lucky, wath is your choice for amplifiers. Be Happy to speak about
Click to expand...
 
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