Legacy Monitors: EMI, Nelson Reed, Model-1s

[aka21stCentury]

Nelson & Reed used Volt woofers. Anyone know if these are still made?

Here are some links I found, if anyone has more links, re vintage or rare reference monitors i.e. component manufacturers please post.

EMI 2-way Nearfield ('62) anyone know who made the woofer? (woofer's blew w/ 35 watts, tube power @ high dBs)

EMI 3-way Midfield ('62) ? (Fantastic speaker w/ 5 button EQ settings on rear. Still amazing @ 50 years).

Klipsch 3-way w/ compression horn? (Altec? Leslie Speakers used an Altec compression driver)

Original B & O aurotones? (Ken Hamann used these Bakelite enclosed monitors to fine tune mix, prior to 1/2 track).

TOAtones? (TOA?) note: these blew continually. Perhaps overpowered by a Crown Amp. Still blew at low volumes

TOA 3-way midfields (improvement on vintage JBL 3-ways)

Aurotone?

Chartwell?

B & W?

Hegeman Model 1s (OMNI) Phase-Coherent, extreme accuracy, but corners must be acoustically dampened. Art Benade inspired Stewart with his research. After Dynaco, Citation Series, Stewart's last effort to achieve hi-fidelity were these speakers. Professor Benade had a pair, both in his living room, and research lab at Case Tech.

Hegeman contact: Don Morrison www.morrisonaudio.com

Need new foam for your woofers? http://www.simplyspeakers.com/

Here is the SEAS USA distributor: https://www.madisound.com/store/inde...&filter_id=254

Very interesting article by Lynn Olson

Kevlar & Magnesium woofers, cross-over design as well as the 70s British and 80s Nelson & Reed designs- Los Gatos.

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/...r-design2.html

[albee1952]

I'm confused on what the question is, but Leslie speakers usually use Jensen drivers(phenolic diaphragm) and Jensen woofers(apart from the 925 which had a JBL).

[aka21stCentury]

If any DUCers have had to do research to find original woofers, tweeters, for no longer made legacy monitors, what knowledge can they share, as where one can find components?

I have one blown woofer on a hi-end pair of Nelson Reed 2-ways, found that Volt made their woofers. Can't find Volt, at least the SEAS distributor (importing broadcast components from Norway) doesn't know. Perhaps they are English?

EMI, again, on the 2-way, my woofers used to blow. 50 years old, does anyone know who made their woofers because the 2-way model tends to blow at fairly normal dBs, low power?

Toatones blow from a pin drop. Do not purchase these 'used' whatever you do! TOA is the GE of Japan/Asia. Makes their own components.

Leslie top rotors use an Altec Compression Driver. Even a 40W (Wurly Model) fits a 122 and vice versa. Same driver again on 145s, 147s.) Often dirt or sand gets down the horn and can cause a buzz, often mistaken for a blown driver. There was only one altec driver left in N.California when I replaced mine some years ago, it was an Altec horn rebuild kit (compression driver).

You are correct about the Jensen woofers.

I left more common legacy monitors out as they are either JBL / Altec or a combination of the two.

Any information about who made the late 70s British components: Chartwell or B & W (?) or 60s EMI (?)

Some of that information is in the well written article by Lynn Olsen linked above. He worked as a designer for a few of these now famous manufacturers. At least I got the 'Volt' info from this article when he mentions, Nelson and Reed, Los Gatos, California.

[albee1952]

Okay, now I got it. It might be worth a phone call to these guys. They are(were?) one of the best speaker reconing spots in the USA and worked on lots of high-end stuff from pro-audio to esoteric hi-fi and everything in between. http://national.citysearch.com/profi...eaker_inc.html

[Pete Gates]

http://www.voltloudspeakers.co.uk/Ab.../about_us.html


Pete

[aka21stCentury]

Albee. Do you know if they can re-cone without a factory 'kit'? The EMIs woofers have no label http://national.citysearch.com/profi...eaker_inc.html

That other link (Simply Speakers) for foam replacement -- a 12" woofer cost $36 each, not including shipping. And they test the pair. Better to replace both with new foam, only one has gone south, just to keep the pair matched.

Nelson Reed models I have are about the size of Chartwells, if anyone remembers those, or B & Ws. Simply Speakers won't recone anything smaller than 10 inches. Arrrg! What was that molded speaker Digi sold back in '98-99? Similar to B & Ws? Sort of an iMac look, but before we had been introduced to polycarbonate. Those old iMacs built like a brick ****house too... like Nelson & Reed's.

For the Volt link thank you! Hopefully one can purchase a close matched pair. SEAS elite line not cheap either: Magnesium or Aluminum-Magnesium alloy. Lynn Olsen's article mentions how costly the Volt line was used by Nelson & Reed.

I realized I left out the Radioshack Linneum's & NS 10s

[albee1952]

Regarding New England Speaker, if anyone would be able to find compatible parts, I bet they could. I remember them being one of the first places to be hip to replacing surround on woofers that were dry-rotted. Still worth a phone call. Kudos for trying to keep the old beasties alive!

[sunburst79]

Both My Leslie 16 , Leslie 225 and Hammond all have Jensons. I'm not affluent enough to own anything with a rotor yet.

AKA. Theres another place out of upstate New York that may have smaller foam surrounds available. A buddy did a pair Cerwins or Altecs awhile back and they came out pretty good. I myself need to do an old set of Techniques I got in (gulp) 1978.

If I find the link I will post it or send it to you.

[sunburst79]

http://www.grillcloth.com/kits.asp

Haven't used them personally