I’m always keeping my eyes out for interesting vintage hi-fi speakers from the ’60s-’70s, and found a nice set of Sansui SP2500s on Craigslist. Produced between 1960 and 1974, these beautiful walnut speakers are solid and very heavy – definitely high quality. I’ll share some photos below, and then dig into reconditioning them!

Here are the vintage ads for the Sansui speakers. Click on the image for the full-size version!  The web site is down apparently, replaced with a placeholder park page redirecting to a spam site. Sorry, no vintage ad anymore! I should’ve hosted it here instead.

Unlike newer speakers (including a pair of Sansui SP7500X that are still waiting to be refurbished), these are very easy to remove. Six screws to remove the crossover panel from the back, disconnect the driver leads from the spade terminals, and pull out of the back. Like all older electronics, speakers also have components that can fail inside. The crossover network, distributing and filtering the amplified audio to the different drivers, contains capacitors which can fail with age just like the capacitors in an antique radio or in your modern electronics. It’s easy to forget speakers have parts that can degrade inside, when they’re almost always treated like a single box unit.

If you’re buying speakers from Craigslist and they have adjustable crossovers, make sure to check them on all settings to help assess their condition.

With the crossover removed, it’s easy to see the components that need replacing. The three blue cylinders are the crossover capacitors, in 2.2uF, 4.7uF and 10uF varieties. These are bipolar electrolytic capacitors, a special type that is slightly more expensive than standard electrolytic models, but they are required because speaker current is AC and must flow both directions across the capacitor. A polarized capacitor would be likely to explode if used in the same application.

Parts Express sold me everything I needed for these speakers, and a few others:

The old capacitors are glued to the board and I didn’t want to damage it, so I snipped the leads as close to the end as possible and bent them into terminals, then attached the new capacitor to the wire and soldered together.

Repeat for the other capacitors, and after trimming the leads, much nicer:

Two speakers means two crossovers:

Reinstalled and ready to rock:

My only complaint now is the diffusers send the high-frequency audio straight into my carpet, when placed on the floor. I suspect these were meant to sit on stands somewhat. I’ll experiment with different positions for the speakers in my living room, but if it ends up not helping, the hole is symmetrical so I can just rotate the top assembly and now the speaker will send its sound up, towards my ears.

I have several more pairs of speakers – Sansui SP7500X, Bose 601 Series 1 and Cerwin-Vega D-5s. I’ll post photos of refurbishing their crossovers when I get to it.

My parts list:

• 2.2uF 100V Non-Polarized Capacitor
• 4.7uF 100V Non-Polarized Capacitor
• 10uF 100V Non-Polarized Capacitor

I used 100V capacitors both because that’s the lowest voltage in this type my supplier offered, but also because they’ll last longer if they’re intentionally de-rated and with any luck, this will be the last time I’ll need to work on them.

Total cost: $1.38 + $6 shipping to restore these speakers to original working condition after 40 years of service.

It’s been a little while since I’ve gone on my rounds through the salvage and recycling centers in Seattle, so I went out for an hour this afternoon to see what I could find. There wasn’t much out there today, but I did find a very good condition pair of Sansui SP1500 speakers. I already own a pair of Sansui SP2500s and a pair of Sansui SP7500Xs, maybe I’ll find the whole set one day. These were made between 1960 and 1974, widely regarded as the best years of Sansui speakers.

I found a thumbnail, but no full size, of the original spec sheet.

This particular set is a 3-way design with 5 drivers (the midrange stage uses two different sizes), 8 Ohm impedance accepting 50W of power with an efficiency of 97 dB (1W*1m) and frequency response from 40Hz-20KHz. They’re quite heavy weighing in at 47 lbs. each, give a good “thud” when rapped with their walnut and pressed board construction.

They’re in great shape, for having been found at a recycler. I noticed them in the back of the loading dock in an area that’s normally off-limits, and convinced the worker to bring them out front for me. Normally they won’t sell out of the back room, but it didn’t take much convincing. With rated power handling of 60W into 5 drivers, these should be solid performers in my system.

I’ve had this idea for quite a few years but haven’t put much time into it, between everything else I’ve been going on. Once or twice a year for the past five or so years, I’ve posted on Craigslist seeking a broken cello to turn into an art project. Finally, the ad hit and I think I can make it happen.

Verve//Remixed 3 has an incredible album cover. You should buy their music for that reason alone.

I’m hoping to make my own version of the Cello Boombox on the cover…and this will be my starting point, a cello with a broken neck the owner wasn’t interested in repairing. The neck snapped off, the bridge is missing, and there are quite a few cracks (although they aren’t visible unless you look closely) and it needs to be re-glued.

I doubt I’ll do anything with this until next year at least, but now it’s a possibility. I’m just glad I was able to find a broken cello, I wasn’t willing to destroy a functional instrument for this. Not to mention, a working cello costs a lot of money.

There are a few things to consider:

Speaker size and placement. How many drivers will I use, and what types?

Cabinet volume and phase cancelling. If I configure this as a stereo boombox, I’d need to isolate the enclosures internally from each other or the out-of-phase parts of the left and right channels of the audio could cancel or introduce distortion.

Audio source. The Verve Remixed album cover is concept art, not a real product, so the knobs and panel meters and a floppy disk drive aren’t things I could realistically include. Do I mount a small music player in the center – maybe an iPod Touch, or a small Android tablet? Or should I just make this into an artistic speaker without its own audio source?

Power. If this is going to have its own amplifier, how am I going to power it? An outboard power pack? Rechargeable batteries inside?

If anyone has suggestions on those design topics, I’d love to hear them, or from anyone else who has attempted a project like this.

I’m working on a Bose 901 Series 1 equalizer for a friend. The 1970s-era film capacitors have failed (like I’ve seen before) and the equalizer has begun to introduce distortion instead of remove it like it’s intended. As expensive, top of the line audiophile speakers they definitely shouldn’t sound like that, but fortunately it’s a pretty easy fix.

The Bose 901 Series 1 equalizer was offered in two production runs, which can be interchanged and either will work fine with a pair of Series 1 speakers, but they have slightly different components. I spent some time with the circuit schematics and identified how to tell the two apart – it’s extremely simple!

Along the back wall you can see the row of silver capacitors used in the power supply filtering. These are all 100uF 25V electrolytic capacitors, which help ensure the preamp transistors have clean power. On the Second Production of the Series 1 equalizer, there are 7 of these 100uF capacitors. On the First Production, there are only 3 of these capacitors. See schematic snips, and click through for full sized images:

Both models of equalizer also use different signal capacitors. The First Production run uses a total of 18: (.1 x 2, .047 x 2, .015 x 6, .01 x 4, .001 x 2) while the Second Production run uses only 12: (.1 x 4, .047 x 2, .015 x 6).

The equalizer is a necessary component of the Bose 901 speaker system, Bose’s highest-end hi-fi equipment. The speakers are specially designed in a way that requires the signal to be equalized and pre-amplified, and if you don’t use the Active Equalizer they’ll really sound pretty bad. It’s surprising how many people have forgotten this fact about the 901-series speakers over the years, but the lack of using an equalizer might be where derogatory slogan “Bose: No Highs, No Lows” came from.

With these very obvious circuit differences, it should be easy to tell which model you’re servicing and which parts to replace. Keep in mind, though, this article only applies to the Series I Active Equalizer. The Series II equalizer is compatible with the Series I speakers, but has a different circuit schematic.

(See other Bose 901 Series 1 Active Equalizers I’ve fixed, and get info about your own repair: Bose 901 Active Equalizer Repair Page)

While some other projects have been pending information and parts, I’ve had a chance to work on the Bose 901 Series 1 equalizer that’s been on my bench for a couple of weeks.

The equalizer is a necessary component of the Bose 901 speaker system, Bose’s highest-end hi-fi equipment. The speakers are specially designed in a way that requires the signal to be equalized and pre-amplified, and if you don’t use the Active Equalizer they’ll really sound pretty bad. It’s surprising how many people have forgotten this fact about the 901-series speakers over the years, but the lack of using an equalizer might be where derogatory slogan “Bose: No Highs, No Lows” came from.

This particular model came to me from a client complaining about distortion and eventually signal loss in one channel, and general sub-par sound. He had the equalizer for about a year after purchasing the set from a collector, and it never sounded quite like it should and rapidly degraded from there. The capacitors in the unit had probably been going bad for a while but only crossed the threshold to completely dead after some time in use.

The Active Equalizer offers 30-some combinations of curves to select and enough pre-amp gain to maximize the speaker’s output.

The equalizer is fairly simple construction, using a single-sided PCB, ten low-noise 2N5088 transistors (five per channel) and an assortment of capacitors and resistors and a few inductors to do the work of changing the frequency curve of the audio signal.

With the top cover off, you can see inside clearly. This particular equalizer came to me with reports of distortion and low gain. Obvious immediately are the large orange and red capacitors. The red models especially have visible discoloration at the very top – exactly like I saw in the 1951 Farnsworth K-262P last month. This is both good and bad: it means the problem was easy to diagnose, but unfortunately, it also means that even 1960s-70s era metalized film capacitors can be nearing the end of their service life and that doesn’t bode well for  a lot of other equipment from similar and slightly later years. I also noticed that many of the resistors are the original carbon composition type, which is known to absorb moisture and change values. As the resistors in the signal path, any drift can change the equalizer’s effectiveness. I spot-checked a sample of the resistors, and found that 30% of them had drifted past their stated tolerance and were also going to need replacement.

The filter capacitors. 2x500uF and 7x100uF @ 25V.

The EQ is easy to service. The board is secured with four screws and lifts up.

The back of the board is the business end. This is a simple, single-sided etched PCB common to the era. Very easy to work on with my Hakko desoldering tool. Since both capacitors and resistors have begun to fail, it’s only inevitable the rest of them won’t be far behind so I elected to replace most everything on the board, filters included.

On to the metal film signal capacitors, I’ve replaced them with identical capacitors with a higher voltage rating, between 400V and 630V. These should be more durable and last longer before requiring service again. Miniaturization means these beefier parts occupy the same footprint as their lower-rated vintage predecessors.

Next up, resistor replacement. I made a checklist to follow as I replaced each channel pair of resistors. I’m using high-precision metal film resistors instead of carbon composition resistors, all rated at 1W (versus 1/2W for the originals) and a maximum of 5% tolerance with many coming in at 1% to ensure long-term precision and stability. The original resistors were rated at Metal film resistors are less subject to drift in the first place, and selecting precise values ensures a long life and stability.

Some of the wiring had become brittle with age and needed to be re-soldered to the board after being flexed a couple of times. No big deal.

This project required about 5 hours of touch-time for the re-work and a couple more hours of research as it was my first 901 equalizer on my bench.

Quite a few replacement parts:

With brand new capacitors and high-precision resistors, this Bose 901 Series 1 Active Equalizer should be good to go for many years.

It’s likely that all the Series 1 and Series 2 equalizers could benefit from a rebuild at this point, and possibly even the Series 3 equalizers. (If you need yours repaired, I can help. If you’re looking for a parts kit to fix your own, I can offer that too!)

A client recently engaged me to repair his Bose 901 Series 1 equalizer. This second one was in a bit worse shape electrically than the previous one I’ve written about, with one channel entirely dead and scratchy switches. I received the equalizer and got right to opening it up to check out the internal components. It shows evidence of having been serviced a couple of times in the past, with several of the electrolytic and output capacitors replaced as well as some of the .015uF signal capacitors (the white rectangles near the center and center-right of the image.)

Right away, one problem is immediately visible – one of the output capacitors (C12, near the top right) has split down the side and shows visible leakage from the positive lead. The originally fitted capacitors are the silver cans; the black cans were fitted some time later. They must have been lower quality replacements, as it’s one of the previously replaced units that’s failed most obviously.

My client requested I replace all resistors outright, so I didn’t spend extra time testing the carbon composition resistors before getting straight down to replacement. In the past example I discussed, many of the resistors had drifted far beyond their printed tolerance markings, and as all carbon resistors are going to behave similarly, it would have been a purely academic exercise to see drift figures on these resistors which were going to be replaced anyway.

The circuit board is very easy to remove. All connections, except one set, are along the far side of the board. I de-soldered and cleaned the terminals of the output connections to make it easy to remove.

The underside of the board. Not visible in the photo, but visible when closely looking, I could see where flux had flowed on the board during previous rework. This is normal during rework, and if you know what you’re looking for it can give away previous service if you’re not sure if a board has been worked on before or not.

I started off with the electrolytic capacitors. The two primary filter capacitors were replaced with Sprague Atoms capacitors. Sprague has been around for many, many years and these were manufactured in the USA. I frequently find Sprague capacitors in the vintage equipment I service, it’s great to see they’re still being produced right here at home. The rail filter capacitors I replaced with high quality USA-made CDE capacitors.

Then on to the resistors and signal capacitors. All resistors were switched with metal film replacements which are temperature and time-stable with precision tolerances of 2% or better, with the overwhelming majority being replaced with 1% or better. My supplier sent some with a different body style, so several are physically larger but specified identically. The signal capacitors were replaced with polymer film models at 400V or 630V tolerances, the up-rating ensuring they’re being run well below their tolerance and so should be stable for longer than the life of the speakers they’re attached to. Finally, the output capacitors were replaced with Japanese production Nichicon capacitors which are frequently found in high-end audio equipment.

Fortunately, all 10 transistors (2N5088) were good and didn’t require replacement, but I do stock new replacements just in case.

Ceramic disc capacitors such as the 10pF model in the center of this shot aren’t subject to failure the same way the other models were, and so the originals were retained.

I used control cleaner followed by repeatedly cycling the switch positions to clean their contacts. The Tape Monitor switch remained a bit touchy, but the others cleaned up nicely. My client preferred to preserve the originality of the appearance, and the switch works fine with just a couple seconds of extra touching to make it connect, and so it was left original.

With these repairs, the equalizer should last nearly forever barring some unfortunate outside circumstances. Only the highest quality parts were used to ensure perfect sound reproduction and long life.

(If you need yours repaired, I can help. If you’re looking for a parts kit to fix your own, I can offer that too!)

I generally write about the 901 Series I equalizers which come into my shop for repair. That’s natural – the Series I is the oldest, and as such, its components are most likely to have failed. Series II, III and IV are all getting up to that age, though, with a tapering failure rate as you head towards newer technology. The Bose 901 Series I and 901 Series II Active Equalizers are substantially similar: in fact they can even be interchangeably used with either Series I or II speaker sets, as both models use the same curves. The main changes are some modifications to the power supply, and an improved equalizer network which eliminates the 22mH inductors in favor of some different resistors. With a few years advances in electrical engineering, Bose was able to slightly reduce the parts count.

Some differences should be immediately obvious. One of the 100 uF capacitors has been replaced with a 500 uF capacitor; there are two fewer signal capacitors, no inductors, a prominent ceramic cap across the AC input for additional noise elimination, shielding around the transformer and neon bulb, and the notable lack of a power switch. The Bose 901 Series II equalizer is designed to be connected to the switched outlet of your hi-fi stereo receiver or amplifier and have its power controlled from the single switch.

Otherwise, it uses similar carbon composition resistors which drift with age and conditions. In this case, about a quarter of the resistors I tested were exceeding their marked tolerance. Many repair services for the Bose 901 Series I and Series II equalizer only focus on capacitor replacement (or even worse, only on electrolytic capacitor replacement) and leave resistors outside their tolerances alone, which can change the curve applied by the equalizer and result in sub-optimal performance.

Replacement is quite straightforward. De-solder the old components to de-populate the board, replace the components, re-solder. In this case, I moved through the process in a couple of stages when I found time to work on the equalizer. There are around 80 parts to replace , it is fairly time-consuming.

I have an inexpensive but accurate digital multi-testser which can evaluate and auto-detect diode, FET and transistor characteristics as well as measure capacitance, inductance, ESR, and loss of various components. I applied it to some of the removed capacitors, which were very clearly dead:

This one is supposed to measure 5 uF – which is the equivalent of 5,000,000 pF. Its actual value less than 1/20,000 of its expected value. That’s not good for that output channel!

Another output capacitor didn’t fare much better.

And same for a power supply capacitor, measuring lossy with high ESR and registering capacitance of only 7.9 uF when it should read 100 uF. Bad power filtering in a hi-fi system is a guarantee of bad sound! Fortunately, replacing the tired parts will fix everything.

This Bose 901 Series II equalizer returned to its home and hi-fi, and after this complete overhaul, will continue to serve faithfully producing beautiful sound for many years to come.

If you need your Bose 901 Series I (or Series II, Series III, or Series IV) Active Equalizer repaired, please contact me.

I got this Bose 901 Series II equalizer in for repair recently and have finally had a chance to send it back out! It’s going back to its home on the East Coast to be the centerpiece of a Bose 901 Series II system that’s being brought back to life.

This one arrived in what looks to be all original condition.

It’s showing its age, though. The filter capacitors have started to leak visibly. The seals on the ends of the electrolytic capacitors can wear out with age and let the electrolyte out and moisture in, which will lead to failure.

The smaller filters, and output capacitors, look like they’re starting to seep a little bit as well.

I set about replacing the capacitors as is standard on all of my repairs; I tested the pulls to see some of their health.

I also replaced the film capacitors with brand new units:

It’s time to test the transistors; I’d hate to get further down the line. The same multi-tester has mini-grabbers which are perfect for gripping the transistor legs in circuit.

This tester automatically identifies ECB and characteristics; I’m checking to make sure they’re all showing about the same.

Next up, replacing the resistors with precision, low-noise metal film models.

I tested some of the replaced resistors, too. I’ve seen as bad as +35% in other Bose 901 equalizers. The Series I seem to have the worst drift, but this Series II had some significant drifting as well. Drifted resistors can throw off the carefully designed equalizer curves and keep the 901 system from reaching its potential.

As it turned out, the neon indicator lamp had also burned out – the metal-glass interface where the leads exit the envelope frequently gets loose and the neon leaks out over time. Unfortunately, a camera mishap deleted the “pre” photos of the replacement process. The neon lamp and leads can introduce interference; at the time these were invented, LEDs weren’t available but a low power, low heat light source was required. To get around this, Bose used aluminum shielding tape over the light. I removed this tape, slid the housing off, removed and replaced the NE-2A neon bulb, coiled up the leads, reattached the bulb in its housing and placed it back on the panel.

This did, as expected, produce interference – so it was time for replacing the shielding. I opted for copper shielding tape; this is commonly available and is period-correct (in fact, the power transformer is already shielded with copper shielding tape from the factory.) I shielded the entire length of the leads as well, so there’s a bit larger. This tape is both solderable and has a conductive acrylic adhesive for a variety of shielding options.

All in all, it’s looking pretty good – and burn-in testing with my set of 901 speakers proved it sounds great, too!

This equalizer will return home for many more years of faithful service! One more back to its full potential, but there’s plenty more out there to fix.

If you need your Bose 901 Series I, Series II, Series III or Series IV equalizer repaired for a low flat rate, please contact me.

I take questions from readers often, but they don’t always make it to a Mailbag segment. I’ve got this one a few times lately, though, so I figured I’d answer this one publicly.

Jim from Ohio writes,

I bought a set of Bose 901 Series II speakers on base back in the ’70s, and have had them in storage for the past 20 years. Somewhere along the way the equalizer got lost, but I have an old Kenwood equalizer. Can I use that instead? Is the Bose equalizer really that important?

Thanks for writing, Jim! This isn’t actually as straightforward as it looks at first glance. Short answer? No. Long answer? Maybe. 

Bose used a really interesting design concept for their 901 speakers. Each contains a set of nine, 4 1/2″ full range drivers wired in series-parallel. There’s no crossovers or other passive components inside – just a bunch of individual speakers wired together to give the right impedance. About 11% of the sound is radiated from the single front-mounted speaker, and the remaining 89% of the sound is radiated from the back. Designed to be placed in corners of rooms, the Direct/Reflecting design produces a ridiculously wide, lifelike sound field which packs more of a punch than you might think from speakers that size.

When you think about the speaker design, the equalizer makes a lot of sense. These are full-range speakers, but are only loaded with 4 1/2″ high-excursion drivers whereas a normal speaker might have an 8″, 10″ or 12″ (or even multiple!) subwoofers, a midrange, and a tweeter. The 4 1/2″ drivers are very midrange sized; to achieve the highs and lows, you need to apply some serious curve shaping to the incoming signal to make up for the physical limitations of those drivers.

Enter the Active Equalizer. Without it, you’re left with the sardonic description, “Bose: No Highs, No Lows”, and for good reason. The Active Equalizer applies a pretty serious amount of emphasis to the low and high ends – as much as +18 dB to the low end. Obviously, this requires a pretty powerful amplifier to drive that power – +18 dB corresponds to a 63x increase in required power at that frequency. But that’s beside the point.

There’s no published curve for the Bose 901 equalizer, but you could use your own equalizer and tweak the levels to make it sound good. I’ve never seen an equalizer which offered more than +12 dB of gain – which represents only a 15.8x increase in level at that frequency. If you use an off-the-rack equalizer, you’re just not going to get the boost you need for it to sound right. It’d certainly sound better, but not like Amir Bose intended. No Highs, No Lows.

The Bose 901 Series I and Series II equalizers are interchangeable as they both produce the same frequency response curves, but if you really can’t come up with one, it is possible to use two equalizers daisy-chained together. You’d have a range of +/- 24 dB in each band which would cover the full range of the 901 Active Equalizer. On the extremes, you’d have both equalizers gained up; in the middle, you’d only have the first gained up slightly and the second left flat. (Decibels add arithmetically: +12 dB on one equalizer and +6 dB on the other gives a total of +18 dB.)

So, in conclusion, you could use something that’s not a Bose 901 Active Equalizer instead of the original. Two somethings chained together, in fact. I wouldn’t recommend it though. You can pick up an authentic model which needs to be rebuilt on eBay for about $100, and I rebuild them for about the same in parts and labor. It might seem like a little bit of money, but for speakers like this, it’s worth it to get it right rather than trying to rig something up that’s just not going to be as good as they deserve.

I’m happy to announce Rain City Audio can offer classic speaker refurbishment!

Classic speakers are always a delight to work on, and speakers have capacitors and other parts which require service, too. Over the years those components can fail and result in poor sound and even potential speaker damage.

In this case, the speakers on the bench are the Ohm Acoustics Model D. Ohm is more well-known for the Walsh speakers which produce an interesting omnidirectional sound from a vertically oriented cone; these Model D speakers were a more economical version that still offers warm and rich sound, especially known as being great for rock and roll music.

Ohm is still in business making boutique hi-fi speakers, and these speakers which originally cost $400 a pair in the early 1970s are still worth a $400 trade-in credit towards a new set today. They feature a 10″ woofer and a CTS phenolic ring tweeter packaged in a solid hardwood cabinet with a resistive (aperiodic) port. A resistive port is half-way between an acoustic suspension enclosure and a reflex enclosure, it’s not the most common design. Inside, there’s a 2 uF and a 20 uF crossover capacitor, an inductor, and a rheostat to adjust the tweeter level.

These speakers were used for only a few years in the ’70s, picking up only the tiniest of nicks and dings, before they were put back in their original boxes and stored for the next 40 years. Even with such careful storage, though, the woofer foam had degraded and was due to be replaced – so the first order of business was new foam surrounds.

Then it was to address the crossovers.

Bad capacitors mean bad sound! And this one certainly was bad. It’s supposed to measure 20 uF, but instead is measuring 0.0013 uF. That’s no good at all.

And this one’s showing more ESR than I’d like:

Beautiful classic speakers like this deserve nothing but the best, so I used brand new audiophile grade film crossover capacitors which are exceptionally stable and have a low dissipation factor for unmatched performance.

It was rather interesting – these were purchased as a pair, but inside, used slightly different capacitors. Both of the same value, but one used a single 20 uF bipolar capacitor and the other used a pair of 10 uF in parallel.

Now, it’s time to put the woofers back into the cabinets after cleaning up the gaskets:

Finally, time to package it all back up!

These speakers are for sale! $225. Please contact me for more information.

If you’d like your speakers reconditioned, I can help.

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page!

Do click through each of the titles – each of the postings contains a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information.

JBL S109 Aquarius 4 Speakers – $499 in Gig Harbor

These beautiful hardwood columns from the early 1970s have an interesting baffling and porting arrangement to give an especially wide sound stage. I’m sure they’d do well as room-fillers on either side of a couch, or as a part of a full vintage system.

JBL Hartsfield 1 Speaker Enclosures – $5865 in Tacoma

It looks like these cabinets are now being reproduced for loading with your own drivers. I’m sure this cabinet sounds incredible when properly loaded – it’s interesting to see another large corner-horn design other than the Klipsch version.

JBL Apollo C-51 Speakers - $2050 in Edmonds

That’s a massive woofer, and a big horn hidden behind that diffuser. I’d love to hear what these sound like paired with a nice amplifier.

Speakerlab Auricle Planar Speakers – $1200 in Bothell

These wouldn’t work with every decor, but they sure are interesting looking. I’d love to hear how these sound with the 52″ full-range drivers and 8″ midbass in each enclosure.

Speakerlab S40 Speakers – $675 on the Eastside

Speakerlab speakers always interest me both because they’re local to Seattle and are still in business, and because they seem to design innovative speakers with very interesting driver pattern. These have a 10″ lower woofer and 8″ upper woofer, cone midrange and the ribbon tweeter.

Altec Lansing Santana II Speakers – $425 in Shoreline

It’s unfortunate that Altec Lansing is known for mediocre computer speakers and iPod docking stations these days; these classic Altec Lansing Santana II are from another lifetime entirely when they were a high-end speaker manufacturer. These are very understated and I’m sure sound great.

Pioneer HPM-100 Speakers – $400 in Kirkland

These Pioneer speakers have a pretty complex looking 4-way design with a film supertweeter which kicks in from 12 kHz up to the top of its frequency response at a whole 25 kHz. That’s well beyond most people’s hearing ranges.

New Old Stock Pair of Vintage Pioneer PAX-30E Coaxial Speakers – $340 in Bothell

These vintage coaxial speakers are new in their original boxes from what might be the early 1950s. That can’t be a common find! There used to be a set of Electro-Voice Regency cabinets on Craigslist earlier with room for a 12″ driver; these would’ve gone perfectly with those cabinets.

Klipsch Cornwall Floor Speakers CD 15′s Concert Series – $700 in Pioneer Square

I’ve never seen Cornwalls with this driver configuration before – typically they’re centered and the horns are horizontal. They’ve got an original Klipsch product tag, though!

Klipsch Heresy II Speakers – $550 in Woodinville

There’s some cosmetic damage, but I like to see through minor cosmetic damage to the inner beauty of a pair of vintage speakers. Heresys in particular strike me as a kind of speaker that appreciates being well-loved and builds a little bit of character with every mark.

1958 Klipsch S-M2-12A Shorthorn Pair – $1600 on the Eastside

You sure don’t see these very often. 1958 Shorthorns. Loaded with similar drivers as the Klipschorns, I’d love to listen to a pair from this far back in the history. Did Paul Klipsch inspect this set himself?

Klipsch KHorns – $3500 in Orting

Even the full, later version doesn’t turn up on Craigslist very often. I own the Speakerlab clone; I wonder how much better still the original Klipsch sounds!

Follow the linked titles to the original ads! They’re likely to be deleted when they sell or the ad expires, so if you’re interested, contact the sellers!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work.

This issue of the Speaker Spotter covers both interesting finds in Seattle and Portland since last week. And so:

Vintage Allison One Speakers

I bet these have a very wide sound stage from the bipolar angled design.

Bose 601 Series III Speakers – $700

Bose 601 Direct/Reflecting speakers produce a very wide, warm, rich sound that’s very life-like. The 601 speakers feature a pair of 8″ woofers and 4 tweeters arranged in a reflecting pattern. When properly set up in a room they sound excellent.

Used Speakerlab K-Horn DIYs – $250

These speakers started out as the flat-pack kit Speakerlab K-Horns, but the builder took some liberty with the designs. Instead of the same driver compliment usually found on the Klipschorns, with the pair of Electro-Voice mid and high horn drivers, they seem to have elected to build the bass cabinets and use alternate mid and high frequency drivers in separate enclosures. This would make the base of an interesting frankenhorn system, perhaps paired with an Altec or JBL multicell horn on top?

Vintage Fisher XP95B Speakers – $50

From before Fisher went a bit downmarket, these look pretty interesting and might perform well. The seller reports the woofers (12″ or 15″) have been refoamed, and the phenolic ring tweeters typically appeared on higher end equipment, including speakers made by Altec Lansing and Marantz.

Infinity Kappa 8 Speakers – $300

Vintage Infinity speakers aren’t especially common in my experience. These are shallow 4-way designs featuring a pair of Emit planar tweeters (one in front, one on the rear) with dome midrange drivers. The Emit tweeters are bright and crisp, I bet these have a lot of definition in the high end.

Vintage Infinity RSe – $140

With what looks to be 8″ woofers and horizontally mounted Emit planar tweeters, these vintage Infinity bookshelf speakers probably sound great for near-field listening.

Two Pair Vintage Kenwood Speakers – $180

I rather like the vintage wood lattice grille Kenwood speakers. In this case, this is a pair of KL-777As, 4-way/6-driver, and a pair of 333D 3-way/3-driver speakers. These are known for being very lively and musical and would make an excellent, affordable vintage quad system.

Marantz Speakers LS-20 – $300

I don’t run into Marantz speakers very often and haven’t heard a set myself, but I know they have a reputation for being able to thump and in general sounding excellent. These look like they’re from the ’80s, a bit flashy, but worth checking out!

Sonab OA-14 Speakers Made in Sweden – $850

These are pretty rare vintage hi-fi speakers from Sweden. They have an interesting reflecting design that reminds me a bit of the Bose 601, with angled upward-firing woofers and four tweeters. It’s a very interesting design, I’m curious how they sound!

Speakerlab Corner Horns – $1600

These have been on Craigslist a few times in the local area in the last year. It looks like they’ve changed hands since the last time, and the price is considerably higher. These have the 15″ woofer inside the folded horn and an Electro-Voice tweeter, but feature a 6.5″ midrange driver instead of a midrange horn. I believe this was the last year Speakerlab sold the corner horn design, which had moved away from the Klipsch-inspired design of the Speakerlab K.

Speakerlab Six

You don’t see these very often, the Speakerlab Six is one size down from the Super 7s. The main difference is the Six lacks the 10″ passive radiator found on the Seven, and accordingly different driver placement.

If one of these speakers looks interesting, click through to Craigslist and contact the seller!

Previous issues of the Speaker Spotter.

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

It’s a good week for rare and unusual speakers in Seattle this week – several Electro-Voice vintage speakers, and the Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater!

Bose Speakers and Amplifier – $300 in Port Orchard

This looks like a ready-to-go kit of Series IV or V speakers, Active Equalizer, and an unknown amplifier with two very large power meters. These also sound fantastic. Series III+ speakers used a design with resonant acoustic cavities as opposed to the acoustic suspension enclosure of the Series I/II and also sound fantastic. It’s worth double-checking the foam on Series III+ Bose drivers, though.

Bose 901 Speakers with Equalizer – $250 in Port Orchard

This is a great price for a set of Bose 901 Series I/II speakers with a working equalizer, and of course Bose 901s are a very musical and life-like speaker to buy. Series I/II have cloth rubber surrounds on the drivers, as well, so you don’t have to worry about refoaming 18 drivers.

Electro-Voice Regenecys – $400 in East Wenatchee

E-V speakers are pretty rare, they stopped making consumer gear in the ’70s. They made some of the finest speaker drivers and their finished speaker products are incredible as well. These feature 15″ woofers, T25 mid horns and T35 tweeter horns. Very similar driver compliment to a Klipsch Cornwall, for example. I bet these sound fantastic!

Electro-Voice Hi-Fi Speakers – $250 in Bellevue

I haven’t seen these before, but they look very interested. It looks like they have the SP12 extended response 12″ woofers, the T-25A midrange (same as on the Regency), but are missing what was likely a T-35 tweeter. You’d probably need to spend $100-200 on the missing drivers, but I bet these would sound very good complete.

Klipsch KG4 – $120 in SeaTac

Despite some water damage, these speakers are a bargain – featuring an exponential horn, two 8″ active woofers and a 12″ passive radiator on the rear. They sound great and are very efficient – my pair sound fantastic. The water damage on these looks like it’d be pretty easy to refinish, too.

Klipsch Speakers – $600 in Granite Falls

Always a good find, these black Heresy II speakers look like they’re in great shape. They’re one of my favorite little speakers.

Pair of Vintage Wharfedale Speakers – $100

These look like they’re from the 1960s, possible a little earlier. I’ve never heard any Wharfedale speakers, but being a high-end brand from the golden age of hi-fi, these are almost certainly worth listening to and the price seems pretty fair.

Sansui S-1117 Tower Speaker System – $100 in Tacoma

These get a listing because they’re “interesting”, although they don’t have a reputation for good sound. With a pair of 12″s in each cabinet, though, they probably can deliver a decent amount of bass and they sure look very visually impressive. It’s unfortunate one has a replaced woofer.

Speakerlab SKO Speakers – $750 in South Seattle

I think this is the late-generation Speakerlab Corner Horn after they moved away from the Klipschorn-inspired design. These have been mounted angled slightly back on speaker stands. I’m not sure what to make of the whole thing, personally, but given the 15″ woofer inside the folded horn and the T35 tweeter, I’m sure they can deliver.

Electro-Voice “The Duchess” Speakers (1962) – $900 in Lynnwood

Very rare speakers, but these are missing some parts, and I’m unclear from the description whether they are functional with the modification. Might make a good, if somewhat expensive, project to have a very desirable vintage speaker.

Vintage Akai SW 177 Speakers – $40

I’m sure these would make a great garage speaker – a 15″ woofer, mid, dual tweeters, and durable butyl rubber surrounds on the drivers.

Vintage Sansui SP-100 Stereo Speakers – $55 in Edmonds

I just love the look of Sansui vintage speakers with the scalloped wood grills and solid wood cabinets, often with heavy dampening inside. These are a very early series with a woofer, mid-range, and a horn tweeter. The crossover will certainly need to be rebuilt for best performance, but you’d have an inexpensive vintage hi-fi setup with warm and rich sound.

Vintage Wharfedale W-35 Speakers – $400 in West Bremerton

A bit smaller than the other Wharfedale speakers, and a bit more expensive, I’d love to know more about the features and differences of those two models.

Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater Speakers – $50,000 in Redmond

“A better investment than a Porsche” these holy grail speakers out of Redmond, home of an unlimited amount of tech money, aren’t for everyone but they might be right for you. Originally these were high-end PA Hi-Fi speakers for movie theaters, etc. they feature large an powerful woofers mounted in flared horn enclosures and enormous multi-cell horns coupled to compression drivers. They’re known as being incredibly efficient, absurdly powerful speakers and might actually be a better investment than that sportscar.

If you’re interested in any of these speakers, click on the title to visit the original Craigslist posting to contact the seller!

Do you know anything about those Wharfedales? Or own a pair of the speakers listed here? Leave a comment!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

Today we have several unusual boutique hi-fi speakers, plenty of vintage JBLs, and an interesting set of Klipsch La Scalas designed for stage use.

Cerwin Vega Speakers – $125 in Olympia

Cerwin Vega speakers are known as great rock speakers that can handle a ton of power and pump out a lot of bass. I’ve owned a pair and they are great performing, general use speakers. The iconic red foam surround and solid wood grain are very attractive and eye-catching, too.

DCM TimeWindow 1A Speakers – $200 in Ballard

I understand DCM Time speakers to be nice and accurate, if a bit understated, but I’ve not heard them myself. Based on the cabinet design I expect these might be bipolar speakers? Looks worth investigating!

JBL 4330 Custom Studio Monitors – $3000 in Eguene, OR

If you’re into music production, or just like an extremely accurate listening experience, these might be for you. They feature the iconic biradial “butt cheeks” horn and what looks like it could be a 15″ woofer. I’m sure this is both powerful and great sounding.

JBL LE-8 Vintage Speakers – $299 in the Renton Highlands

A throwback from the modern reference quality JBL above, these are very vintage JBL bookshelf speakers with a single full-range driver installed. I’m sure they’d sound very warm with a matching vintage tube amp or low powered transistor amp up to a couple dozen watts, but might not have the same clarity and definition you’d get with a slightly newer, multi-driver speaker system.

Klipsch La Scala LSI – $1500 in North Bend

The Klipsch La Scala is another of their high-end folded horn speakers; these are the LSI variant which are designed to be stage speakers with detachable treble horn cabinets. The seller claims these were never hauled around to gigs, though, and are in great shape. The same great sound from a Klipsch folded horn, but in a bit more industrial of a package.

Revox AX5-4 Speakers – $295 on Seattle’s Eastside

From 1977, I’m not familiar with this brand, but they’re reportedly using high-end German manufactured drivers; a 3-way design with dual woofers can probably offer plenty of bass. The mid driver resembles the Infinity polymer dome, too. Rated for 100 W power handling at 4 Ohms, 91 dB efficiency these seem like they’d be worth checking out. I’d love to listen.

Snell C IV Speakers – $399 in the Renton Highlands

These Canadian hi-fi speakers have some interesting engineering in them, including a zero diffraction grill which is designed to be more sonicly transparent, and an interesting dual tweeter design with a front-firing tweeter on a fourth-order crossover, and a rear-firing dome tweeter on a first-order crossover. This combination apparently delivers great accuracy from the front while the rear – which can be disabled – fills out the volume lost due to the steep crossover slope.

Totem ARRO Speakers – $800 in Auburn

These no-frills 2-way audiophile speakers look like as much of a decor statement as a music piece. They’re “wife friendly” and yet regarded for excellent bass response and well defined imaging. I’m not sure it would match every decor but it’s very pretty.

Universal CX-300 Hi-Fi Speakers – $140 in Everett

These early ’60s drivers throw back to the coaxial design which was more common at the time. With 25W of power handling and meeting the DIN Hi-Fi spec of 40-18,000 Hz frequency response I bet these sound great with a period tube amp like they would’ve used originally.

Vintage JBL L88 Nova Loudspeakers – $400 in Tacoma

These are beautiful speakers which look to be from about the early ’70s. I’m sure they sound fantastic like most JBLs, especially vintage JBLs, and would make a perfect vintage hi-fi bookshelf or desktop system that would look great in almost any room.

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Here’s a selection of especially notable vintage speakers and other audio products for sale on the local Craigslist. I’m not affiliated with any of these sales, but if you’re interested, you should contact the seller through the respective Craigslist page! Do click through each of the titles – the original postings contain a lot more information and many more photos, along with the seller’s contact information to request more information. If the ads are removed, the speaker probably sold, so don’t be alarmed if some links don’t work. Try searching for the keywords as sometimes they expire or are reposted.

Today, we have some vintage speakers including some vintage electrostatic panels by Magneplanar, several great vintage sets including some early production Klipsch Heresys, several high-end boutique speaker sets, and a pair of back-loaded horn speakers by Cain and Cain with small full-range drivers in an incredibly efficient cabinet.

Updated 11:10AM: It looks like a lot of these posts have expired or sold overnight before this posted – I’ll check for updated links; otherwise, just enjoy the photos!

Cain and Cain Abby Speakers – $750 in Mill Creek

Rear-loaded horn designs are popular for designs featuring very high efficiency and surprising performance from full-range drivers. I’d love to hear a set of these – I bet the imaging is great but I’m curious about the bass performance.

New Large Advent Speakers – $140 in Burien

Actually called the New Large Advents, to distinguish them from the regular, smaller Advent speakers and from the first production run of the Large Advents, these would make a great vintage system and look good in most any room.

Vintage Magnepan Magneplanar Electrostatic Speakers – $399 in S Everett

I’d love to hear a pair of these. They combine some of my favorite things – vintage speaker designs, and intriguing technology. I understand that these older Magnepans might start to show some issues with mylar delamination, though, but an audition would reveal that pretty easily.

Talon Raven Speakers – $2100 in Snohomish

Piano-black and imposing, these big and heavy speakers look pretty intriguing and definitely make as much of a statement in a room as I’m sure they’ll make for your ears.

Thiel CS 3.6 Award Winning Tower Loudspeakers – $1395 in Bremerton

Stereophile Magazine’s 1995 Speaker of the Year, these are very understated with an interesting driver assortment including a 10″ active woofer, 10″ passive radiator, 4.5″ midrange and 1″ metal dome tweeter. They’ll handle up to 500W as a 4 Ohm load – I hope you have a big amplifier!

University Altec 1964 Speakers – $200 in Woodinville

The seller doesn’t offer much information, but I know both Altec and University Sound were very well regarded hi-fi manufactuers back in the day. These look like they might have a 12″, 6″ and a tweeter in an aperiodic enclosure. Probably sounds fantastic. I can’t tell if that might even be a coaxial 12″ full-range driver, or if it’s just a woofer, but either way I’d love to hear these.

Nice Pioneer CS-63DX Speakers – $299 in S Everett

I just love the lattice-grilled large vintage speakers. These 4-way/6-driver speakers would be an impressive vintage system – perhaps paired with a vintage Pioneer SX-1280 or other big dog receiver?

Vintage 1966 Klipsch Heresy Speakers – $700 in Everett

These beautiful oiled walnut, solid hardwood cabinets have been previously repaired with a new set of original-year drivers and the purchase price includes the functional but in need of reconing original woofers. The grille cloth isn’t original but I like this one a lot and it includes a second set of badges, too. Fantastic.

Vintage Klipsch Heresy Speakers – $450 in Everett

I suspect this pair is owned by the same gentleman above. They’re a little dirty with age but would probably clean up nicely and of course, they’re skill Klipsches. I’d be interested myself if they were a bit closer!

Wilson WATTPuppy 5 Speakers – $5000 in Snohomish

Similar looking to those Talons above, these are even larger and more imposing. These look like they could use the biggest amplifier you can throw at them, and sound incredible at the same time.

If you’re interested in any of these speakers, click through to Craigslist and contact their sellers!

More Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Do click the titles to see the original postings with more photos and additional information if you’re interested – otherwise, enjoy the virtual window shopping! Rain City Audio is not affiliated with any of these sales; contact the respective sellers for more information. If it’s deleted, it’s probably sold already.

Today we’re featuring some speakers which are rare and nothing short of exotic – very interesting stuff!

Greybeard Audio KB22 Speakers – $800 in Renton 

Weighing in at an astonishing 115 lbs. each and with an interesting tiled case, these Greybeard Audio speakers feature a 7″ woofer and 1″ dome tweeter and handle up to 300W at 6 ohms. At that weight, these must really have next to no resonance. I’d love to hear how these sound! I know these actually sold just a little while ago, but they’re so unique they deserved including anyway.

Duntech Soverign 2001s – $6500 in Poulsbo

These astonishingly massive speakers are reportedly regarded as some of the most accurate loudspeakers in the world, with 7 drivers in a time-aligned arrangement stacked vertically and weighing in at 325 lbs. each. With such a commanding presence, these make a serious statement.

Empire Royal Grenadiers Speakers with Marble Tops – $800 in Edmonds

These are a rare collector’s item from the 1960s and feature large cylindrical cabinets with marble tabletops. In addition to the visible drivers, there’s a 15″ downward-firing woofer in the bottom. The only trouble is, if these speakers sit without being used for many years, the woofer cone can sag out of alignment with the magnetic field and and cause poor performance. Reportedly, it can be fixed by reversing the polarity on the woofer, turning it upside down, and playing it for a while to shake the cone back into alignment although there are mixed reports of success with this approach. As long as the speakers are continually used they won’t suffer this issue but sitting for many years can cause the sag. The seller reports they don’t have a way to test them; as a part of an estate sale, I’d expect the woofer is probably suffering from sag and will need to be adjusted or replaced.

Pair of Modular Component Systems MCS 8320 Linear Phase Speakers – $65 on Vashon Island

MCS was the JC Penny house brand, but in the ’70s even house brand speakers could be pretty decent. These 3-way MCS speakers feature time-corrected driver alignment.

Pair of Wharfedale PPX-1 Speakers – $60 in Northgate

These are a bit of a mystery. The seller doesn’t have much info other than they take 70W at 8 Ohms, and are 22″ x 20″ flat speakers. Are these electrostatic panels? Or a proprietary short depth speaker? Difficult to tell the date, too.

Petroff Labs Reference 3-way Speakers – $550 in Bremerton

Featuring 12″ woofers, 6″ midrange and a 2″ ribbon tweeter, I’m sure these interesting trapezoidal oak speakers sound as good as they look!

Polk RTIA9 Tower Speakers – $1100 in Issaquah

These beastly tower speakers by Polk Audio have an interesting driver compliment – three 7″ woofers, two 5.25″ midrange drivers in their own tuned internal enclosure and a 1″ dome tweeter, these speakers are flat from 30-26,000 Hz and accept up to 500W of input power. These would be great front channels for a powerful home theatre system!

Vintage JBL C35 James B. Lansing Speakers – $1800 in Burien

These JBLs look to be from the late ’60s, possibly early ’70s, and seem to have a large single full-range driver installed in the cabinet. JBL’s vintage speakers are all known to be pretty fantastic and I assume these are no different.

Vintage Kenwood KL-8080X Speakers – $500 in Bremerton

These mammoth late ’70s, possibly early ’80s Kenwood speakers, feature a 5-way design in a ported enclosure with a 15″ woofer, 6″ mid, tweeter, super-tweeter, and horn with level adjustments. I’m very curious how these sound – Kenwood’s vintage products tended to be pretty well designed but I’m not familiar with these ones specifically. I do think the price is a bit high, but these have been up on Craigslist for months, the seller might be a little flexible now.

Like what you see? Check out more back issues of the Speaker Spotter.

A new one for the shop, I recently worked on a Bose Active Equalizer model 800. This is very similar to the Bose 901 Series II active equalizer; the 800 series were Bose’s PA speaker series from the same model years. They featured the same cabinet design with an iconic “BOSE” grille cover, and the same 8 aligned drivers as the rear side of the 901 series. Unlike the direct/reflecting design of the 901 series, though, these are designed to face forward and the speakers are 4 Ohm instead of 8 Ohm.

Like the Bose 901 Series II Speakers, the Bose 800 speakers need their Active Equalizer to shape the incoming signal to match the frequency response characteristics of the drivers – and same as their consumer counterparts, the capacitors fail and leak, and resistors drift out of tolerance and need to be replaced. This equalizer came to me with no output from one channel, and a strong buzz over the signal in the other channel – definitely not right.

Stage equipment frequently suffers an even harsher duty cycle than consumer gear and wears out that much more quickly. These Model 800 equalizers are rare as a result – I keep a regular eye on sales and postings, and this is only the third one I’ve ever seen.

Externally and internally, it resembles a Series II equalizer with no external controls. It has stripped out components which would otherwise have been needed for the adjustments. The curve is slightly different from the 901 series on account of the slightly different driver configuration, but realistically they could be interchanged and you’d probably never notice the difference in practice. Both have a very wide and lively sound stage.

Inside nothing looks obviously failed, but most failures of this sort happen without a lot of external evidence – especially in a low power device such as this one.

I used all Nichicon capacitors for the electrolytic replacements.

In total I replaced all the resistors and capacitors in this equalizer.

After thorough testing with a stereo analyzer and listening on my own set of Bose 901 speakers, this one was ready to go! It will serve for a long time producing the needed signal for a pair of Bose 800 or Bose 901 Series II speakers.

This restored Bose 800 Active Equalizer is for sale! $239.00 includes free shipping in the United States. Please inquire if you would like to purchase.

Bose 800 and Bose 901 Active Equalizer Repair

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Do click the titles to see the original postings with more photos and additional information if you’re interested – otherwise, enjoy the virtual window shopping! Rain City Audio is not affiliated with any of these sales; contact the respective sellers for more information. If it’s deleted, it’s probably sold already.

Today’s selection has several interesting Infinity speakers, Speakerlab 7s, and several others worth checking out!

Bose Pair of 501 Series II Direct Reflecting Speakers – $180 in Renton

These look like they’re in pretty good shape for their age. Basically half of a Bose 601 speaker, these have a front-firing woofer and pair of angled rear-firing tweeters to produce that wide, direct/reflecting sound vintage Bose systems were known for. They’re known to be sensitive to room placement, but when set up properly are a great small floor speaker system.

Dahlquist DQ-10 – $400 in Seattle

Wide and hefty, these vintage Dahlquist speakers have a very interesting time aligned driver array and crossover network designed to maximize sonic accuracy. They’re nearly 4″ wide and weigh 62 lbs. each, delivering a flat frequency respnose 37 Hz – 27 KHz. Freshly re-foamed, too, so they should be good for a while!

Infinity Modulus Speakers – $350 in Woodinville

These Infinity speakers are in a beautiful piano black finish and feature a 5.5″ woofer and EMIT-K tweeter in a non-resonant cabinet. The EMIT-K goes all the way to 45 khz, almost double the range of human hearing, so if your favorite music benefits from the presence of ultrasonic harmonics, these might be the speakers to get. They’d likely work well as near-field monitors, too, with the fantastically accurate planar tweeter.

Infinity Reference RS 625 Speakers – $190 in Poulsbo

These feature Polycell dome tweeters instead of EMIT planar tweeters, but would still make a fantastic surround sound system for your home theater. Quintessential 90′s look to them would match many decors, too – and a decent price!

Infinity RS 5000 – $100 in Monroe

From the late ’80s, these Infinity RS 5000 speakers feature a 10″ woofer and 2.5″ mi-range, both made of semi-transparent polypropylene for exceptional cone stiffness, and an EMIT-K tweeter up top. With response from 42 Hz – 45 KHz, I’d love to have a pair of these as bookshelf speakers in my office.

Legacy Audio Signature III Speakers – $1800 in Bothell

Fantastically high-end audiophile speakers, these each feature 3 x 10″ woofers, dual 7″ mid-bass drivers, a 1.25″ dome midrange, and a 4″ electrostatic ribbon driver, flat from 20 Hz – 30 kHz. With that response, and weighing in at 130 lbs. each, you wouldn’t need a subwoofer with these! Beautiful natural wood grain finish, too. I’d love to hear how these sound.

Realistic Mach One Speakers – $175 in Seattle

From back when Radio Shack produced something worthwhile, these Realistic Mach One speakers are collectible and well regarded today. With a 15″ woofer, multicell exponential horn midrange and horn tweeter these speakers have a fantastic presence in the room and will reproduce 25 Hz – 20 KHz. The grilles cover the lower cabinet but leave the top multicell horn exposed, making a very interesting presence in the room. These were freshly re-foamed and re-coned, so should sound great and last for a long time.

“Set of Two Stereo Speakers” – $39 in Bellevue

These look like they could use some TLC, but are intriguing. The multicell horn reminds me of the Pioneer CS series from the ’60s and ’70s, and I don’t recognize anything else. They could be Pioneers which have seen better days. Might be an interesting project?

Speakerlab 7s – $499 in Tacoma

The Speakerlab 7s were made right here in Seattle, and feature a large and highly efficient 12″ woofer, 10″ passive radiator, and use Electro-Voice drivers for the mid-range and treble horns. The vertical midrange horn will produce a fairly narrow sound field, but otherwise, these are known as thumping hard and delivering exceptional clarity. Truly a fantastic rock speaker from the classic hi-fi era.

If you’re in the market for some new speakers, please click through to the sale ads and contact the sellers! Good luck!

Other Issues of the Speaker Spotter

There’s always something interesting for sale on Craigslist, especially in Seattle. Do click the titles to see the original postings with more photos and additional information if you’re interested – otherwise, enjoy the virtual window shopping! Rain City Audio is not affiliated with any of these sales; contact the respective sellers for more information. If it’s deleted, it’s probably sold already.

Avid Corporation 100 Speakers – $60 in Auburn

Made to compete with the Advents out in the same era, these 1974 speakers feature a 10″ woofer in an acoustic suspension cabinet and a CTS phenolic ring tweeter for the high-end. That’s a pretty common driver configuration on early/mid ’70s high-end speakers. The woofers on these feature a butyl rubber surround, rather than foam, so it will never rot. They’re likely due for a crossover refresh after 40 years, though.

Dynaco A25 Speakers – $175 in Edmonds

These Dynaco speakers are from the very early ’70s and have a very understated styling. They feature a 10″ woofer and 1.5″ tweeter in an aperiodic enclosure. These are towards the entry level of Dynaco’s model line, but are very well regarded. Here’s a great page with some information about that speaker family.

Bose 601 Series III Speakers – $650 in Everett

I have a set of Bose 601 Series I speakers, and the design is virtually unchanged between the Series I and the Series III. The port is moved and the cabinet styling is slightly different with the sloped top, but the basic configuration is identical – two 8″ woofers and four 2″ tweeters in a direct/reflecting array mounted on top. These speakers are sensitive to room position, but are very life-like and musical – almost as good as the 901s.

Klangbox/Telefunken RB66 Speakers – $225 in Edmonds

I can’t find much info about these on the Internet. They’re 4 Ohm speakers that will accept up to 20W of input power, and looks like there might be a 6″ or 8″ round driver and a 6×9″ driver under there. Telefunken equipment is interesting and fairly well regarded; these 1967 Telefunken speakers might be worth something. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s only a few pairs of these around this country.

Fisher 15″ Speakers – $50 in Bonney Lake

The Fisher name had a good pedigree at the beginning of the hi-fi era but were trending downwards by the ’80s. These were a high end model, though, with 15″ cloth/rubber woofers for good bass response. The pricing is realistic and they can get pretty loud – great garage or man-cave speakers. I do like the styling of the high-end pedastal cabinet Fishers like these.

Dahlquist M-905 Speakers – $275 in Everett

These bookshelf/satellite Dahlquists are a bit smaller than the massive DQ-10s but can deliver great sound nonetheless, and these come with their original packaging and a set of 16″ speaker stands to sweeten the deal. These would make a good desktop speaker system, or compliment your home theater.

Vintage Heathkit AS-18 Speakers – $200 in Redmond

From the late ’60s or early ’70s, these speakers were produced by Heathkit for the hi-fi enthusiast who also enjoyed DIY projects. Visually, they look similar to most other early ’70s speakers – but this model is special as the drivers are all Electro-Voice drivers. These are occasionally compared with the EV-7 speakers. Definitely unusual, and they probably sound great, especially when paired with a tube anp!

Vintage Pair of Realistic Nova-6 Speakers – $30 in Belltown

Another speaker from the mod ’70s, back when Radio Shack/Realistic did make good hi-fi products, these Nova-6 lattice grill speakers take up to 45W. They’d go great with a period amp like a Harman/Kardon 430 and would make a killer vintage system.

Technics 7000A Speakers – $650 

Technics is usually made a lot of low-end gear – but they produced some very interesting and innovative top-of-the-line models like these 7000A speakers. They’re a 3-way design with a 14″ woofer and time-aligned mid-range and tweeters and level controls on the top end. They look pretty impressive, too. I’m not impressed with their frequency response curve, but I’m very curious what these sound like.

Seeburg Discotheque DDS1 Speakers – $500 in University Place

From the late ’60s, these Seeburg speakers – from the company more well-known for jukeboxes – were used in live sound environments. They’re basically Altec Lansing VOTTs in a different cabinet, with two 15″ Altec woofers and the exponential multi-cell horn and driver. Extremely accurate and efficient, I bet these sound absolutely fantastic – and that’s a killer price. I’d buy them if I didn’t already have enough speakers!

If you’re in the market for some new speakers, please click through to the sale ads and contact the sellers! Good luck!

Other Issues of the Speaker Spotter

It’s back – the Speakers of Craigslist, a periodic round-up of what’s interesting on my local Craigslist these days. Sorry for the hiatus, putting these together is a bit of work! As always, I am not affiliated with any of these listings, and you should contact the poster of the add with questions or to make a purchase. Craigslist moves quickly, so if the ad is gone, it’s probably already been sold but the info is still good for getting a feel for the market. And so without further introduction…

1. Pioneer CS-88 Lattice Grille Speakers

Down in Tacoma there’s a decent set of Pioneer CS-88 speakers for sale. Pioneer’s vintage speaker line is known to sound quite good when fixed up, and this would be a perfect pairing for an amp or receiver like the Marantz 2245, for example. They could use a quick shot of blush remover, Howard’s Restore-a-Finish, and some wax (about the most basic refinishing you could do)  but look like they’re intact and solid. They’re asking $100.

2. JBL L220 Vintage Monitors

Old-school JBL sure commands a high price sometimes, and these L220s are no exception. They just received new foam, and the veneer looks to be in good shape. They even have the original grilles, although those look a little discolored. If you like JBL, you’d like these for sure, if you’ve got deep enough pockets. The owner is hoping to trade for a travel trailer, or $2200 cash.

3. Vintage LTC100 Loudspeakers

Originally selling for $680 a pair between 1976-1980, these speakers look to come with an interesting bipolar design (similar to some Infinity speakers of the same era) with a rear-firing tweeter along with the compliment of front drivers. They look like they’re in great shape, too. $265 in Marysville, WA.

4. Realistic Mach One Speakers

Realistic, Radio Shack’s house brand before their slow decline and eventual demise, are actually a somewhat underrated speaker. A 3-way design with a large woofer, multicell mid, and horn supertweeter they’re certainly a commanding presence in the room with the multicell tweeter aperture visible above the grille.  These look to be in average condition and could certainly use a good cleaning or light refinishing (and maybe a crossover recap by now) but look to be all there. The seller is looking for $175. There’s a review on Audiokarma, too.

5. “Decorator” Klipsch Cornwall Speakers with Crites Upgrades

Klipsch is still one of my favorite speaker brands, and if you’re familiar with them at all then you know about the Cornwalls. The big brother to the Heresy, these feature an extremely efficient (>100 dB 1 W/1 m) 15″ woofer and EV mid-range and tweeter horns. The owner indicates they’ve received Crites upgrades, too. They’re in what I might call “polarizing” mid-century modern style cabinets that could use some touching up, but the seller’s asking price is extremely reasonable for what they are at $850.

6. Early Klipsch Heresy Speakers

Speaking of Klipsch, the Heresy is a fantastic smaller speaker. Originally designed for sound reinforcement in public-address applications back in the day, they’ve been in production for quite a few years, but these early variants are from the ’60s and fully operational on their original components. The seller speculates these use an EV woofer (along with EV tweeters) rather than the Eminence woofer found on some later variants. These early speakers, with the ’60s grille cloth and early emblems, sure do look nice. The seller is asking $650 for the pair.

7. Bose 901 Series I Speakers with Equalizer

For whatever reason, Bose speakers seem to command a real premium that isn’t always well justified, but this seller is right on the money. He’s got a set of Series I speakers with the matching Active Equalizer (necessary for correct sound reproduction) for a spot-on price. The Series I and II used cloth surrounds, too, so there’s nothing that needs to be re-foamed although at the time of posting, the seller wasn’t aware of that fact and listed the surrounds in unknown condition. (The equalizer might need some service though, even if it currently plays – check out Rain City Audio for help with that!) A fantastic deal at $300.

8. BSR Model 158 Speakers

I’m mostly familiar with BSR for their work in turntables, but apparently they’ve made some speakers, too. While I’m not up on the specifics these sure do look interesting with a large woofer, midrange, and something that looks suspiciously like a ribbon or planar tweeter. I haven’t done much research on these, but suspect they’re worth a bit more than the $100 the seller is asking currently, so this might be a real bargain.

9. Knight Floor Speakers

Knight speakers were originally kits back in the day, and like Heathkit speaker kits, there were quite a few versions. Without some more information it’s tough to tell for sure, but some models were more or less University/Altec speakers you put together yourself. Even the more entry level offerings would turn up with Utah and other prized drivers. I bet these are a great bargain no matter their drivers at $30 for the pair, though.

10. Lewis Erath LWE 1 Vintage Speakers

Reported as tri-amp capable speakers in their original condition, these feature the excellent EV T-35 horn tweeter, a 5″ midrange and a 15″ Eminence woofer. They look a bit rough around the edges, but I’d expect performance similar to a Klipsch Cornwall if I were to guess. Certainly worth $200 the seller is asking.