I've got my hands on a couple of Rola "Hi-Fi 12UX" speakers from the fifties or sixties. Made in Australia, and probably unknown outside of this country and New Zealand, they were the top of the line from Rola for a long time.
They have a large 4"/100mm alnico magnet housing on the back of them. They were originally rated from 40hz-14khz. For those that can do things with such figures, the air gap flux density is 14,000 gauss and the gap flux is 150,000 lines. That's the only specs I have.
Now, the problems: One speaker is open circuit and doesn't work at all. Both have been reconed at some point and have a different to original cone that (judging by the brochure I have) seems to turn them into a Rola 12UEG, a model for electric guitar. The speaker that does work has a cone rub that only goes away if I push firmly on two particular sides of the basket. Rotating the points where I push by 90 degrees makes the buzz worse.
The good bits: The working one sounds surprisingly good for something sitting on the carpet. Real bass even in free air. Seriously efficient, happily does very uncomfortably loud, in free air, at about 2 watts.
So I'm wondering whether or not these would be worth getting repaired. What can I expect in terms of performance if I get them reconed? There is a local speaker repair mob so that is no problem to get to. My main thought is that the magnets should not go to waste.
Any thoughts?
They have a large 4"/100mm alnico magnet housing on the back of them. They were originally rated from 40hz-14khz. For those that can do things with such figures, the air gap flux density is 14,000 gauss and the gap flux is 150,000 lines. That's the only specs I have.
Now, the problems: One speaker is open circuit and doesn't work at all. Both have been reconed at some point and have a different to original cone that (judging by the brochure I have) seems to turn them into a Rola 12UEG, a model for electric guitar. The speaker that does work has a cone rub that only goes away if I push firmly on two particular sides of the basket. Rotating the points where I push by 90 degrees makes the buzz worse.
The good bits: The working one sounds surprisingly good for something sitting on the carpet. Real bass even in free air. Seriously efficient, happily does very uncomfortably loud, in free air, at about 2 watts.
So I'm wondering whether or not these would be worth getting repaired. What can I expect in terms of performance if I get them reconed? There is a local speaker repair mob so that is no problem to get to. My main thought is that the magnets should not go to waste.
Any thoughts?
Not.
Unless you can get a full recone and have proper gear for testing. Otherwise, it's a fools errand- no guarantee they'll sound decent.
Unless you can get a full recone and have proper gear for testing. Otherwise, it's a fools errand- no guarantee they'll sound decent.
I was afraid someone might say that. By full recone do you mean with the originally specced cone? I can check what the repair people can offer, I know they can do a full replacement of the cone etc, but I'd be surprised if they had original parts.
Here's a quad for probably less than a recone/repair:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1967-VINTAGE-12"-dual-cone-plessey-ROLA-speakers-x-4-_W0QQitemZ250511705161
Cheers!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1967-VINTAGE-12"-dual-cone-plessey-ROLA-speakers-x-4-_W0QQitemZ250511705161
Cheers!
Yep, that's them, though mine don't have the wizzer cone. They don't come up that often. I'll keep an eye on them.
A recone won't fix the driver with an open circuit. Geek's option seems best.
A whizzer can always be removed - but there are other ways to tame whizzers...
Cheers,
Alex
A whizzer can always be removed - but there are other ways to tame whizzers...
Cheers,
Alex
Um.... yes it will Alex.... unless you're thinking of a replacement of the cone assembly without replacing the voicecoil. That is an exception rather than a rule in reconing, I've only rarely heard of replacing just the cone itself.
Well of course that's true, but the issue would be finding proper recone kits for such a relatively obscure 40+yr old driver, and I personally wouldn't consider not doing both at the same time. If they are known to be something special like vintage Altec, JBL, EV, etc., that's one thing, but ... well, you see where I'm going with this.
Hence why I suggested just grabbing that quad
Rola made great speakers. Probably 1/2 the vintage ones I have in stock are Rola (Thanks Dave!
). But they also made a lot of speakers. Having recone kits on hand for all was impractical even during their heyday.Cheers!
I spoke to the speaker repair place yesterday (Total Recoil, for any Melbourne people). They have cones in stock for these drivers, they had a heap custom made back in the 80's, apparently. A full recone is $200/driver though, which is way too steep for me. They may be able to fix mine cheaper with just the repairs they need, rather than a full recone, we'll see how that goes.
I've always been curious about the relationship between Rola Australia (later bought out by Plessey, I think) and the Rola of England or the Rola of the US. They don't seem to have any models in common.
I've always been curious about the relationship between Rola Australia (later bought out by Plessey, I think) and the Rola of England or the Rola of the US. They don't seem to have any models in common.
Never really thought about it 😕
I know the Rola in US/Canada/UK made some great inturment speakers. Probably why Celestion bought them out over here.
Cheers!
eek, at $200 each, these would need to be pretty damn special indeed. Your biggest problems trying to choose from current full/wide range drivers in that price range is the embarrassment of riches, and of course the fact that they're not necessarily easy to audition everywhere.
Pretty well my my thoughts. I think they are asking a bit much, particularly as no real specs exist for these drivers, so designing boxes is fun/difficult in any case.
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