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Old 10th Jun 2021, 5:23 pm   #1
RDWER123
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Default Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Hi

New to the forum but have been reading it extensively. Brilliant forum.

I notice there are quite a lot of 'what is this?'/'Mystery item' type posts, so how about these?

Branded as Symphonie, but nothing else in terms of dates, driver makers etc. I can see they aren't great quality, or worth anything (I think I paid about a tenner) but they sound all right! Just intrigued to know anything about them. I've done some Googling and nothing comes up really except Philips items, and that wouldn't seem to fit with the 'made in GB' stamps.

Anyway, terrific forum, and thanks in advance for any ideas!
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Last edited by Cobaltblue; 10th Jun 2021 at 5:32 pm. Reason: corrected title
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 5:30 pm   #2
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Default Re: Mystery floorstnading loudspeakers - any ideas?

The drive units are EMI.

Cheers

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Old 10th Jun 2021, 5:54 pm   #3
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Stereogram speakers?
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 6:29 pm   #4
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

They could have been an 'In House' brand....perhaps sold with something else like a radiogram or 'Music Centre' sold as a special by a furniture retailer.

I like the 'crossover network'! Looks like just an inductor in series with the HF unit
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 6:41 pm   #5
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Weird. The EMI's 13" x 8" full range unit had a concentric 3" cone tweeter. This has been removed from the main unit's chassis and seperately fixed - and, strangely, along with it's now uneccessary metal cross supports.
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 6:49 pm   #6
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

The steel brackets on the tweeters look like they're meant to be mounted across the woofer like a coaxial?
Didn't EMI do a speaker like this? A 7x10 IIRC and they're quite sought after??

Yep just Google image search EMI coaxial speaker and you will see what i mean.....
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 7:27 pm   #7
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

The general advice for speakers is to arrange for the tweeters to be at the height of your ears when your seated, as they tend to be more directional and that increases the chance that they'll be pointing 'at' you whether you're closer to them or further away. In something like the Tannoy Chatsworth that means the single coaxial driver is at the top of the cabinet. With a sufficiently heavy cabinet the whole thing is still stable. But if the cab is a bit lightweight, and tall and thin too, maybe the heavy woofer needs to be at the bottom to stop unfortunate toppling accidents ?

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Old 10th Jun 2021, 7:39 pm   #8
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Just to be clear, the tweeter is on top, the woofer beneath.

Yes, the 'crossover' is hardly LS3/5... The front grille/fabric is glued on, otherwise I'd post the speakers 'naked, as it were.

Thanks for all the responses.
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 7:45 pm   #9
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Hi, Rigonda made a radiogram named Symphony, which had floor standing speakers however Rigonda were a Russian company and "Symphonie" on your speakers suggests that they were perhaps for the French market despite using UK parts.
Alternatively, the French spelling may have just been a marketing ploy by the manufacturer.

Andrew
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 7:46 pm   #10
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Edward Huggins View Post
Weird. The EMI's 13" x 8" full range unit had a concentric 3" cone tweeter.
EMI sold the 13 and a half by 8 driver in a variety of versions

*No tweeter
*With Whizzer cone
*With two small cone tweeters in a bridge across the front

Are the ones I've seen, and there was also, I think, one with a single tweeter on a bridge.

David
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 9:49 pm   #11
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
Hi, Rigonda made a radiogram named Symphony, which had floor standing speakers however Rigonda were a Russian company and "Symphonie" on your speakers suggests that they were perhaps for the French market despite using UK parts.
Alternatively, the French spelling may have just been a marketing ploy by the manufacturer.

Andrew
This seems possible. Rigonda and other Eastern European manufacturers made a number of radiograms with separate speakers, which they sourced from British contractors.
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 11:16 pm   #12
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edward Huggins View Post
Weird. The EMI's 13" x 8" full range unit had a concentric 3" cone tweeter.
EMI sold the 13 and a half by 8 driver in a variety of versions

*No tweeter
*With Whizzer cone
*With two small cone tweeters in a bridge across the front

Are the ones I've seen, and there was also, I think, one with a single tweeter on a bridge.

David
ISTR the twin tweeter unit was only 10W rated, the single tweeter one was 20W. A quick trawl through early '70s PW or PE adverts should find them. I had a pair of twin tweeter ones in a R&TV Co, Acton, Ltd speaker kit. I think I left them screwed to the living room wall either side of the French window when I moved from Cowley in 2005!
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Old 10th Jun 2021, 11:38 pm   #13
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Herald1360 View Post
I think I left them screwed to the living room wall either side of the French window when I moved from Cowley in 2005!
The only way to stop them following you...

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Old 11th Jun 2021, 8:46 am   #14
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edward Huggins View Post
Weird. The EMI's 13" x 8" full range unit had a concentric 3" cone tweeter.
EMI sold the 13 and a half by 8 driver in a variety of versions

*No tweeter
*With Whizzer cone
*With two small cone tweeters in a bridge across the front

Are the ones I've seen, and there was also, I think, one with a single tweeter on a bridge.

David
Yes, my reference is to EMI version with a single 3" tweeter on a "bridge" support across the 8" side of the 13" x 8" main unit. So why would the manufacturer of the cabinets leave the supports on when they are uneccessary and liable to add "ringing" to the cabinet resonances?
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Old 11th Jun 2021, 10:28 am   #15
Herald1360
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

'Cos he wasn't employing a competent loudspeaker designer?
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Old 11th Jun 2021, 10:53 am   #16
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

I can't see the shape of the speaker cut outs

I'm wondering if these have been retrofitted.

Still doesn't explain the bracket

Cheers

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Old 11th Jun 2021, 11:34 am   #17
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

I wonder if mounting the tweeter on the steel bracket made any difference to the sound at all, or resonant frequency of the tweeter?
I wonder if it made the tweeter sound a little brighter somehow over mounting it directly to the wooden panel?
Just a guess.. otherwise it looks completely superfluous.
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Old 11th Jun 2021, 12:45 pm   #18
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Look carefully and you'll see the tweeter is riveted to the brackets with through the tweeter fixing holes. These look like someone has bodged the speakers into an existing box.
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Old 11th Jun 2021, 1:03 pm   #19
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
Hi, Rigonda made a radiogram named Symphony, which had floor standing speakers however Rigonda were a Russian company and "Symphonie" on your speakers suggests that they were perhaps for the French market despite using UK parts.
Alternatively, the French spelling may have just been a marketing ploy by the manufacturer.
Andrew
This seems possible. Rigonda and other Eastern European manufacturers made a number of radiograms with separate speakers, which they sourced from British contractors.
Rigonda made all their drive units in-house and the loudspeakers that came with the Symphony radiogram were quite different to these - see below. They have a 10" bass driver, a 6" midrange and a 1.5" cone tweeter.

As an aside, they are astonishingly good speakers, albeit with somewhat limited power handling!
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Old 11th Jun 2021, 1:06 pm   #20
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Default Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobaltblue View Post
I can't see the shape of the speaker cut outs

I'm wondering if these have been retrofitted.

Still doesn't explain the bracket

Cheers

Mike T
Quote:
Originally Posted by vidjoman View Post
Look carefully and you'll see the tweeter is riveted to the brackets with through the tweeter fixing holes. These look like someone has bodged the speakers into an existing box.
That explains the bracket.

Cheers

Mike T
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