Zenith 3000 Speaker Question

[doctorpetervenkman]

Hi all,

I'll freely admit I'm a new forum member and don't know a tremendous amount of information.

And I'll also admit the thought of what I'm proposing might horrify a few so if that's the case you can ignore my post.

I'm looking to use my father's old Allegro 3000 speakers in my garage without a receiver.

My thought was to attach headphone jacks to each speaker and get a y-connector to attach both speakers to a phone or Echo dot to be able to quickly attach when I'm in there working.

We attached a headphone jack to one speaker and tried it, but the volume was extremely low. I'm guessing that it needs more power to get any decent volume so what I'm trying to do will probably not work?

Thoughts? Maybe the headphone jack wire is to thin and I need to use thicker wire to attach the headphone jack?

 

[AllenB]

Your wire would not be the significant issue, your drive Voltage vs the sensitivity of the speakers most likely, possibly the output impedance, maybe current delivery. Best get an amp.

 

[doctorpetervenkman]

Ah okay, thank you very much for responding. And so quickly. 🙂

 

[doctorpetervenkman]

Sorry one follow up question.

Any inexpensive amp suggestions that would do the trick?

 

[Pano]

There a 100s of little and big cheap amps on the market that will work for you. From what you've said, you don't need many/any features as those can all be handled by your Echo.

If you have the room, or a high shelf, how about a vintage amp or receiver? You might be able to pick up something local from a thrift shop, Facebook, Craigslist, etc. And it will have radio if you like to listen to car ads. 🙂

 

[MAAC0]

If the speakers look Ok, Clean / paint them, replace the caps in the crossover and fit push connectors to the back. I would also replace also the flimsy wire inside with 1-1.5sqmm.
That's what I did on my old Celestions.