Suprising philips speakers

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steve s
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#1 Suprising philips speakers

Post by steve s »

Was in a local charity shop last week i had picked up a habitat rocket lamp there a few months ago so i have mad a point of calling in regularly
The guy was keen to tell me about some miniature philips speakers he had, complete with boxes, he said they were unused as they where still packed in plastic bags inside all the original packaging when he opened them, anyway the price was ok and i eventually bought them,
I got home , cut the din plugs off and wired them up really not expecting much, they looked like 2 ways as there where two holes under the grill cloth
What a shock, they went loud.. as in very efficient and so detailed and sweet sounding , i sat for half an hour totally gobsmacked...
There was little in the way of deep bass but the rest of the sound... Wow
All this for £15 ..
Anyway after half an hour i had to see what was doing the business inside these tiny speakers

Off with the backs and there was a single mini driver...the phillips ad5061 m4 and what i thought was a tweeter- was the port.
Backs on and 3 hours later they were sounding so sweet and detailed, they really opened up, i would guess they would be great with a like sounding vintage bass driver as a two way i have a few plessey 15" drivers from the early 60's they may well make a good match.

There is cleary something special about philips cones, i have a single 10" twin cone driver that also sounds very good, i have been looking a partner for it for quite a few years, it too has that sweetness in spades that Ive not really heard in many speakers that i have listened to

Another project for when i retire.. Only 7 weeks time...
Lesley did pass comment on why the speakers i make are so big and how can these 9x7 " speakers sound as good...
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
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Ali Tait
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#2 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Ali Tait »

Nice find Steve. Looking on ebay, they can be had quite cheaply too, though not as cheap as your pair. :-)
steve s
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#3 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by steve s »

Just lucky on this occasion Ali, mine where made in 73 according to the box label, looking at some diy audio threads they are very highly regarded by some and the 70's versions are the best, i need to give them a test on the px25 amp when i get chance, i've only got a class d amp set up in the lounge at the moment
they have got me thinking about building even more speakers again, it doesn't take much for inspiration to to build something new....
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
Cressy Snr
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#4 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Cressy Snr »

Up and at it Steve. :D
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IslandPink
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#5 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by IslandPink »

Interesting unit - good find !
Please bring 'em to the next meeting.
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Scottmoose
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#6 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Scottmoose »

Aye, be good to hear them. Philips made some good little widebanders in the day. :)
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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#7 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

There are lots of things that seem to be off the radar, Stentorian is one.
steve s
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#8 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by steve s »

Scott, i'll give you a ring...there is a pair of extremely tatty pair of marsden hall speakerss that you should listen to as well, full of audax ellipticals and little else...

Yes stentoriions are another sweet sounding speaker, years ago i got a pair 8" /16000 lines dtivers, probably a better balanced speaker than the small philips, but again with that subtle sweetness of a good cone
I will have to dig them out and compare them to these philips drivers, i think the philips are more detailed but that may be the balance
There is at least one 10" somewhere but that had a smaller magnet and lacked a little life as I remember.
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
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Scottmoose
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#9 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Scottmoose »

Stentorians? Nice old units, pity they don't get more coverage.

Looking forward to hearing the Philips & Audax units Steve. :)
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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#10 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Stentorian had an interesting range of drivers, easy designation, HF followed by cone size and the flux density, so HF1016 is 10 inch cone and 16k gauss

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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#11 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Another interesting little talked about range of drivers.

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steve s
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#12 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by steve s »

Thats good info Richard, thanks for posting it, Nice info on both manufacturers, i also have a pair of richard allen cb10 's and a pair of their 4" tweeters and crossovers somewhere i picked up a few years ago, again been meaning to do something with them as they look good speakers.
I cant help myself when i see these types of drivers and speakers, i just have to buy them if they look any good and the magnets look the part.
Cheers..
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
steve s
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#13 Re: Suprising philips speakers

Post by steve s »

Managed to find another identical pair of these philips speakers from the early 70's for the same sort of outlay a couple of weeks ago,

I have a few mods to do on them and i have planed for a not too typical implementation for them...

Scott came around a couple of weeks ago and they did not sound right, i realised after what id been doing wrong with them ...

My plan for the second pair is to improve things further... hopefully

So I plan to run them in tandem at either end of a very short tube, in open baffle.. it may well increase the effective bl, increase the acceleration and smooth the response... Hopefully not wishful thinking ?
If there is sufficient improvement of the sound they may well get the support of a couple of 15's in the bass, again on the lines of my latest red speakers which to me have a much bettter bass emphasis than my more usual style of H and U frames
And its not long to retirement...
The tube manual is quite like a telephone book. The number of it perfect. It is useful to make it possible to speak with a girl. But we can't see her beautiful face from the telephone number
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