Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Heco P2001

Thanks to a good friend of this blog (and stellar CAM member), for these little gems.

These are made in Germany by Heco, the company that made the (almost identical) drivers in the Patterson Industries Phase 4s.

The cabinets and grills were this cool when I got them. Both of the woofers had been recently refoamed, but one had a serious voice coil rub, and had to be redone.

The Heco P2001s sound as good as the Pattersons, and compare well to similar sized and equipped Braun and ADS speakers.

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Listen to 'Borderline'. It's not the Madonna song.

GAS Son Of Ampzilla & Modified KEF 104s

Super clean and neutral.



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Sunday Update.

I was hoping to go to Active Surplus to by speaker foam for a stunning new small speaker I've got, but that's not going to happen today in Toronto. Many of my favourite grungy used equipment dealers shops are in the vicinity of some of todays planned anarchy. I wish them the best.

If you remember these Patterson Industries Phase 4s, you'll enjoy the same drivers in beautiful cabinets with awesome perforated metal grills, made in Germany by Heco, the manufacturer of the drivers.

The first person who came to hear the Mission 720s decided on the spot to take them home.

The beat up Marantz 2270 looks much more dignified in a wood sleeve, and the packing tape that I've used to keep the faceplate from bulging out is mostly hidden.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

JBL L46 photos



These are fantastic little speakers. They are missing the mesh covers over the tweeters and have no grills, but I think they look really cool with their 8 inch white woofers. I just finished stripping, sanding and oiling them. The walnut veneer is beautiful. Will I find a vintage JBL that I don't like?

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Mission 720 photos




These took a lot of work to get together, but they were worth it. They sound amazing!

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I just got a pair of JBL L46s!

They are 8 inch (white woofer) 2 way systems with titanium dome tweeters. Though they are listed in the 1982 catalogue, they have the soul and construction quality of the companys best seventies output. This pair is without grills, and the cabinets need a lot of attention. Playing as I write this, driven by my Marantz 2270, I couldn't be happier.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

New Old Missions

This is going to be a great project. The 720 is unusual for vintage Mission in that it's a three way system with a ten inch woofer. Here is the owners manual. The tweeter is an all time favourite, the same Seas that's in the 770 and currently in my KEF 104s. The midrange drivers need refoaming. They are built into their own sealed back enclosures. One of the woofers has a voice coil connection problem that I hope Vladimirs delicate hands can fix (I'm not that good with a soldering iron yet). The cabinets are finished in a beautiful teak veneer. I was able to strip 2 sides of each cabinet before I lost light and ran out of stripper last night, and they are going to look fantastic. I hope to hear these tomorrow!

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

KLH 17s Recapped, Resealed: Wow!

I thought that when I'd read about resealing the woofers in these classic speakers, what was meant was making sure that the original putty was still flexible, and if not using silicone caulking or something similar to make sure there were no leaks in the seal. From this excellent Audiokarma post, I learned that the cloth surrounds become porous, compromising the acoustic suspension system. I resealed the surrounds as instructed, replaced the crossover capacitors, and sat down to listen. These sound much better than the last pair, which I had a couple of years ago. They are musical and authoritative, with beautiful bass response and a real sparkle.The sealing must make the difference in the bass.




The great sound I'm enjoying puts the KLH 17s on my list of fantastic 2 way 10 inch vintage american speakers that should be heard.

The list: The Advent Loudspeaker, ADS L610, Dynaco A25, KLH 17, JBL L26.

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Quick Recap.

The AR 4XAs sounded veiled compared to the little Realistic Optimus 2Bs I got on Friday. I said that I wanted to recap the ARs, and I just finished. They took about 20 minutes and sound much better.

Monday, June 14, 2010

New KEF 104 photos.




This pair of speakers has been a long term project. When I got them, they were a mess. The tweeters were both blown, one woofer was making horrible noises, the cabinets were a mess, with many scratches, and a capacitor in one of the crossovers was smashed, fragments at the bottom of the cabinet. I consulted some smarter (than me) speaker experts and installed a pair of Seas tweeters from an original pair of Mission 770s. I replaced the broken capacitor and one woofer.

They sound great! The tweeters are working very well. I couldt buy a set of original T-27 tweeters, but my most experienced and astute speaker advisor tells me that these are an excellent match for the design, a drop in fit, and sound better. I'm very happy with them as they are. The woofers are both original KEFs (as are the passive radiators), but one has a slightly larger dustcap.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Not Seventies, but makes 70s music sound great.


I just got this. It's a modern, inexpensive, asian made (but I don't know what country) high end hybrid integrated amp, rated at 25 watts/channel. It's been driving the KEF 104s strongly for about half an hour now, and is sounding really nice.

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Sunday Update

The JBL L40s will be leaving later today. The Marantz 1150D left late last week. I have been using Son Of Ampzilla with the L40s for most of the week, and last night started to think about what speakers I'd use once the JBLs are gone. I hooked up the Szabo 831s, and was pleased. Then I realized that I hadn't checked out the KEF 104s. After doing my best a few months ago to fix the broken capacitors and swap out a bad woofer, I'd given a quick listen, and pronounced them not fixed. Listening extensively last night, I realized that I'd been way too hasty in my assessment. What I'd thought was a woofer resonance was really the most accurate playback of a slapped upright bass passage that I've heard. I listened to the 104s for hours and they are great! I will finish the fronts as soon as possible, and post new photos. They will be my main speakers for a while.

I expect to have an interesting newer vintage hybrid tube/transistor integrated amp later today. It has pre out/main in capabilities, and I can't wait to hear it as a preamp with Son Of Ampzilla, as well as on its own.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Realistic Optimus 2B 1975

It may seem anticlimactic to be writing about such a modest speaker after a long break (no new Missions or JBLs!), but these are sweet little speakers from Radio Shack's great years. Made in Japan, heavy for their size, beautifully constructed and great walnut veneer cabinets. They sound really nice, comparable to my AR 4XAs, but with greater clarity (perhaps the ARs need new caps).

This site allows you to flip through Radio Shack catalogues from 1939 to 2005. Wow!




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