Can ANYBODY Identify These Speakers?!

[ski_merlin]

Hey guys,

I posted a while ago about these MTM dipole speaker I bought at a pawn shop for ~$75 ... and they're awesome. I've never been able to find ANY information on them, and I was hoping someone will recognize them.

They're made by London Audio, and the woofers are about 6-6.5".

Bass is fantastic (even when not supplemented by a subwoofer), though the highs are a little to bright for me. Box construction is pretty good as far as I'm concerned, and the box is stuffed (from the factory).

Here's the pics:



























The only reason I had the speakers out is because one of the wires needed to be re-soldered to the crossover.

Thanks for the help guys!
~J

[TacoD]

I do not know the brand London Audio, is it a company which does HT installs?

The woofers look like Visaton W170S / W170. This type of bullet tweeters tend to sound a bit harsh.

[littlesaint]

London Audio is a "brand" found on ebay a lot. It's a bit of a scam in that the speakers will be listed for ~$1500, and then appear a few weeks later for ~$150 making people think they are getting a steal. None of this has anything to do with how they sound, as I've heard some "white van" speakers that didn't sound half bad.

[cjd]

How are those dipole?

That looks like a traditional bandpass enclosure to me. Definitely monopole...

[engr_dave]

Definitely monopole...

Unless that black flared thing adjacent to the terminal cup is a side/rear firing tweeter and not a port.

Certainly there's more going on in the crossover than the usual "white van" blocking cap. Possibly a 2.5 way... esp. since the woofers don't look the same? Crossover component quality is entry-level though.

Not exactly audiophile quality, but for $75/pr... a good buy.

[Jed]

I'd replace all those caps with poly's. Nothing crazy, something like the Bennic poly caps would be a nice cost effective upgrade.

[ski_merlin]

Yeah, it's definitely dipole... the that's a tweeter angled next to the terminal.

Hey thanks for that info saint, it doesn't really bother me since I got'em so cheap and I've been really happy with them. I'm just glad I know where they came from though. And you're exactly right... the box they came in says "$1500USD" lol yea right. I wish.

I wish I could change out the tweeters for something a little less harsh then these bullet-type drivers...any suggestions? I'm not looking to change the crossover at all...since I know exactly nothing about the components used.

yea, i'm guessing the bottom woofer is handling the bottom end probably below 500-600 hz or so and the top woofer is handling the mids. i'm not even gonna try to talk like an expert b/c i'm not, but that's my guess since the lower woofer has some ribbing for strength.

they're plenty loud and--by my standards--sounded quite good for $75 speakers....i'm just driving them with my two channel 100W receiver... they were used extensively as my college townehouse's party speakers and never missed a beat (pun intended). in conjunction with a parts express 250W plate amp and an old sealed 12" sub, they rocked the house.

well thanks for the info...if anyone has any ideas about the tweeters shoot me a line.
~J

[---k---]

You can't just go swapping different drivers in and out and have it sound good. The crossover should be designed to work with the specific drivers. This crossover may be generic enough, but I wouldn't bother. Save your money to build/buy real speakers.

If the tweeter is harsh, you may want to try putting some wool felt padding on the sides of it. JonMarsh and several others here are big proponents of felt treatment. Jon's new little 3-way requires it. See the Speaker Camp or Obi One threads. Also, do a search for felt, and you'll see.