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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment. |
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10th Jun 2021, 5:23 pm | #1 |
Triode
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
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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! Last edited by Cobaltblue; 10th Jun 2021 at 5:32 pm. Reason: corrected title |
10th Jun 2021, 5:30 pm | #2 |
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Re: Mystery floorstnading loudspeakers - any ideas?
The drive units are EMI.
Cheers Mike T
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10th Jun 2021, 5:54 pm | #3 |
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Stereogram speakers?
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10th Jun 2021, 6:29 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Croydon, Surrey, UK.
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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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10th Jun 2021, 6:41 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Southwold, Suffolk, UK.
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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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10th Jun 2021, 6:49 pm | #6 |
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK.
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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..... |
10th Jun 2021, 7:27 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
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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 ?
Cheers, GJ
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10th Jun 2021, 7:39 pm | #8 |
Triode
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
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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. |
10th Jun 2021, 7:45 pm | #9 |
Octode
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saltburn-East, Cleveland, UK.
Posts: 1,786
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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 |
10th Jun 2021, 7:46 pm | #10 | |
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
*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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10th Jun 2021, 9:49 pm | #11 | |
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
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10th Jun 2021, 11:16 pm | #12 | ||
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
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10th Jun 2021, 11:38 pm | #13 | |
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
David
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11th Jun 2021, 8:46 am | #14 | ||
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
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11th Jun 2021, 10:28 am | #15 |
Dekatron
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Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
'Cos he wasn't employing a competent loudspeaker designer?
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11th Jun 2021, 10:53 am | #16 |
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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 Mike T
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11th Jun 2021, 11:34 am | #17 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Knutsford, Cheshire, UK.
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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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11th Jun 2021, 12:45 pm | #18 |
Dekatron
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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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11th Jun 2021, 1:03 pm | #19 | ||
Heptode
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Location: Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
As an aside, they are astonishingly good speakers, albeit with somewhat limited power handling! |
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11th Jun 2021, 1:06 pm | #20 | ||
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Re: Mystery floor standing loudspeakers - any ideas?
Quote:
Quote:
Cheers Mike T
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