I saw an interesting post from KevinR from about 3 years about regarding his EV SP12B, if I recall properly. In his post he asked a question that was not answered, if anyone knew of a material you could coat an old surround with to make it more plaint. I'd love to know that too. But, on to the main course!
I have a pair of vintage EV speakers in excellent condition, that have the Alnico Sp12, and a T-25A compression driver/horn. The woofer is fairly dynamic, but does not play low. I believe EV says about 50-55 hz. It is very efficient.
Currently, either the crossover is suffering, or the tweeter phenolic membrane is bad, or both. Numerous people on-line comment that the tweeter is crossed over too low from the factory, and recommend crossing it higher, at 4.5k, or even 5-7.
I have NOS JBL 2404 butt cheek tweeters here, and thought about simply cutting the existing wires, and hooking it up with an active crossover, and bi-amp to see how it sounds. The 2404H can be crossed as low as 3500, but it is better to cross higher, say 5-7 khz.
Both drivers are roughly in the same efficiency range at about 100 db with 1 watt.
If this makes an improvement, it might be worth looking at adding a mid-range driver later. I already have the crossover and lots of amp channels to spare.
Thanks for suggestions!
I have a pair of vintage EV speakers in excellent condition, that have the Alnico Sp12, and a T-25A compression driver/horn. The woofer is fairly dynamic, but does not play low. I believe EV says about 50-55 hz. It is very efficient.
Currently, either the crossover is suffering, or the tweeter phenolic membrane is bad, or both. Numerous people on-line comment that the tweeter is crossed over too low from the factory, and recommend crossing it higher, at 4.5k, or even 5-7.
I have NOS JBL 2404 butt cheek tweeters here, and thought about simply cutting the existing wires, and hooking it up with an active crossover, and bi-amp to see how it sounds. The 2404H can be crossed as low as 3500, but it is better to cross higher, say 5-7 khz.
Both drivers are roughly in the same efficiency range at about 100 db with 1 watt.
If this makes an improvement, it might be worth looking at adding a mid-range driver later. I already have the crossover and lots of amp channels to spare.
Thanks for suggestions!
Well, a 12" to me likes 1200hz crossover (dispersion and detail), but i find a whizzer may extend that by an octave.
High sensitivity woofs don't usually do much below 100hz without porting, even then, never subwoofer territory below 50hz (to me).
For home use, i bet the 2404 could cross at 2khz, but i don't know if on the 2342 horn it would measure flat to 2khz.
Doing a search on lansingheritage may find much on this.
But this advice is for an active setup, add even a cheap 10 band eq, should be fine.
Perhaps the drivers could be sold here or on ebay.
Some people crush over alnico
High sensitivity woofs don't usually do much below 100hz without porting, even then, never subwoofer territory below 50hz (to me).
For home use, i bet the 2404 could cross at 2khz, but i don't know if on the 2342 horn it would measure flat to 2khz.
Doing a search on lansingheritage may find much on this.
But this advice is for an active setup, add even a cheap 10 band eq, should be fine.
Perhaps the drivers could be sold here or on ebay.
Some people crush over alnico
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(mine are like below and surrounds kinda dried out) I would let the EV12 run fullrange then bring in the T35 maybe around 5-7KHz with a small capactor - perhaps 1uF if 8 ohms, 0.5uF if 15 - then adjust to taste. That will let the very top octeve run without attenuation.
are yours like these ?
are yours like these ?
EV SP12
Freddi:
Those are very similar to mine. Mine have the basket plated in chrome, and the white Alnico magnet. They would look really good in an open baffle.
My tweeter is the T25, which is not as good as your T35. Neither are anywhere near as good as the T-350. I'll try to get some pictures of my drivers posted. There is a spot in the Marquis model with a board to blank out where the 8HD mid would go. I have zero intent to try to find one of those, or to pay the huge bucks for a T350.
I do like the snappiness of the SP12. The speaker styling matches our vintage house really well, and is destined for a vintage stereo, along with a restored Crown reel to reel.
Crites has crossover replacements for these speakers, and parts for some of the drivers too. But, I'm a lot more interested in using the JBL 2404 tweeters. I have 4 brand new ones sitting here.
If these can sound better with some changes, I do have a line on another vintage EV cabinet that I can put a sub driver into.
If I wanted to roll the woofer off at say 5000-5500, what would I need to wire in with it in lieu of a regular crossover?
Thanks!
Freddi:
Those are very similar to mine. Mine have the basket plated in chrome, and the white Alnico magnet. They would look really good in an open baffle.
My tweeter is the T25, which is not as good as your T35. Neither are anywhere near as good as the T-350. I'll try to get some pictures of my drivers posted. There is a spot in the Marquis model with a board to blank out where the 8HD mid would go. I have zero intent to try to find one of those, or to pay the huge bucks for a T350.
I do like the snappiness of the SP12. The speaker styling matches our vintage house really well, and is destined for a vintage stereo, along with a restored Crown reel to reel.
Crites has crossover replacements for these speakers, and parts for some of the drivers too. But, I'm a lot more interested in using the JBL 2404 tweeters. I have 4 brand new ones sitting here.
If these can sound better with some changes, I do have a line on another vintage EV cabinet that I can put a sub driver into.
If I wanted to roll the woofer off at say 5000-5500, what would I need to wire in with it in lieu of a regular crossover?
Thanks!
EV SP12
Norman:
The JBL 2404H tweeter is normally crossed over well over 3000. I believe JBL crosses it in some cases at 3500, but people I know that actually use it generally go for 5k or higher.
Isn't the 2342 you mention the smaller size mid-range bi-radial? I have nearly mint condition 2344A too, which is what I originally bought the 2404H to pair up with. Very interesting driver. If my cabinet was a bit bigger I'd try to shoe horn them in, but at 3cf, they just are not big enough.
Sadly, these speakers are worth more parted out, than kept together. But, I won't do it personally.
Norman:
The JBL 2404H tweeter is normally crossed over well over 3000. I believe JBL crosses it in some cases at 3500, but people I know that actually use it generally go for 5k or higher.
Isn't the 2342 you mention the smaller size mid-range bi-radial? I have nearly mint condition 2344A too, which is what I originally bought the 2404H to pair up with. Very interesting driver. If my cabinet was a bit bigger I'd try to shoe horn them in, but at 3cf, they just are not big enough.
Sadly, these speakers are worth more parted out, than kept together. But, I won't do it personally.
sorry - I didn't see the "2". For a $40 outlay (sans shipping) a pair of JBL/Selenium buillet tweeters should keep up with the wideband 12
Selenium ST200 Super Tweeter
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/264-348--st200-spec-sheet.pdf
Its a shame Selenium discontinued their slot tweeter variant as that made a really good "helper" tweeter with broad horizontal dispersion.
Selenium ST200 Super Tweeter
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/264-348--st200-spec-sheet.pdf
Its a shame Selenium discontinued their slot tweeter variant as that made a really good "helper" tweeter with broad horizontal dispersion.
Not per se, but recently learned how to soften some types of surrounds though: cab options for coral beta 10
GM
Is it really T25A?
Homebuilder:
Something seems off in the discussion about your HF driver. EV's T25A is actually a midrange driver: 1 lb. Alnico V magnet, 3-3/4" diameter, 4-1/2" deep, net weight 4-3/4 lb. (has a 1-3/8"-18 threaded throat), to be used with the 8HD Diffraction horn. Response: 700-10,000 Hz., recommended crossover point: 800 Hz. with an appropriate crossover network such as EV X8. (Spec's quoted from a 1972 EV brochure)
Are your HF drivers as described above, or are they integrated units with driver & horn in one, such as the T350 & T35 models? I've also seen versions of the latter form factor labelled as T35B and - iirc - T10A, as well as un-labelled OEM versions. Is it possible that your T25A's are assembled with some other horns in place of 8HD's?
Yes - please post pictures of your drivers, if you can!
Homebuilder:
Something seems off in the discussion about your HF driver. EV's T25A is actually a midrange driver: 1 lb. Alnico V magnet, 3-3/4" diameter, 4-1/2" deep, net weight 4-3/4 lb. (has a 1-3/8"-18 threaded throat), to be used with the 8HD Diffraction horn. Response: 700-10,000 Hz., recommended crossover point: 800 Hz. with an appropriate crossover network such as EV X8. (Spec's quoted from a 1972 EV brochure)
Are your HF drivers as described above, or are they integrated units with driver & horn in one, such as the T350 & T35 models? I've also seen versions of the latter form factor labelled as T35B and - iirc - T10A, as well as un-labelled OEM versions. Is it possible that your T25A's are assembled with some other horns in place of 8HD's?
Yes - please post pictures of your drivers, if you can!
correction to my post #8 above:
Sorry - the T10A is actually another thread-mount mid-range driver, physically similar to T25A, just with somewhat lower performance spec's.
Sorry - the T10A is actually another thread-mount mid-range driver, physically similar to T25A, just with somewhat lower performance spec's.
Sp12 surround
GM: Thank you for that very interesting tip! I think I will try that. I may experiment on a driver less valuable to start with.
Oswald: Hey, no problem! These EV speakers had many options, several of which allowed owners to pick and choose their drivers. Who knows what could end up in a box? Many of them were built as mono speakers, and then a second one was added later. Often, with drivers that did not match. At least mine are the same.
GM: Thank you for that very interesting tip! I think I will try that. I may experiment on a driver less valuable to start with.
Oswald: Hey, no problem! These EV speakers had many options, several of which allowed owners to pick and choose their drivers. Who knows what could end up in a box? Many of them were built as mono speakers, and then a second one was added later. Often, with drivers that did not match. At least mine are the same.
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