Was walking along.....

[madmac]

I was walking along this morning, minding my own business :roll: on a day that happened to be garbage day and noticed some speakers on the side of the road. I decided to check them out. Standard 2 way bookshelf style speakers but they looked expensive. First clue came from the back where there were no standard speaker attachment pegs but only some kind of banana plug connections and a fuse knob in the middle. Upon handling the speakers, I could tell that they were very well made cabinetry wise. VERY solid and well built...... circa late 70's to mid 80's. I then took off the front grills and saw a very British looking 2 way speaker array. The woofers (8 inch) and tweeters were pristine and showed no signed of major ware. The woofers have that black, rubbery, solid kind of British look to them. There are no major signs of a manufacture logo on these speakers as the grills were dirty and worn. There used to be a logo on them but it was lost, removed, broken, or lost. The back indicates nothing at all about the mfr. Upon cleaning them up, they are in excellent condition. It is my opinion that these speakers will work once I connect them. I have yet to try them sonically because the plug attachments at the back are odd and the banana plugs I have at hand are too 'thin' and do not insert properly into these 'holes'. I would love to post a picture of these speakers to get everyone's opinion on them but the download limit of this forum is absurdly low. Even the lowest resolution of my phone is too high for this forum to post a picture. So I ask, how do I show my HT Guide friends a picture of this interesting speaker find?. I would love to get your opinions on these speakers and what you think they are!!??.

[Hdale85]

Photobucket

[P-Dub]

1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com and open an account.
2. Upload your images there.
3. Get the code from that page where it says "IMG Code - Forums & Bulletin Boards" And paste that into your post, and voila! Your photo will appear.

[madmac]

I was walking along this morning, minding my own business :roll: on a day that happened to be garbage day and noticed some speakers on the side of the road. I decided to check them out. Standard 2 way bookshelf style speakers but they looked expensive. First clue came from the back where there were no standard speaker attachment pegs but only some kind of banana plug connections and a fuse knob in the middle. Upon handling the speakers, I could tell that they were very well made cabinetry wise. VERY solid and well built...... circa late 70's to mid 80's. I then took off the front grills and saw a very British looking 2 way speaker array. The woofers (8 inch) and tweeters were pristine and showed no signed of major ware. The woofers have that black, rubbery, solid kind of British look to them. There are no major signs of a manufacture logo on these speakers as the grills were dirty and worn. There used to be a logo on them but it was lost, removed, broken, or lost. The back indicates nothing at all about the mfr. Upon cleaning them up, they are in excellent condition. It is my opinion that these speakers will work once I connect them. I have yet to try them sonically because the plug attachments at the back are odd and the banana plugs I have at hand are too 'thin' and do not insert properly into these 'holes'. I would love to post a picture of these speakers to get everyone's opinion on them but the download limit of this forum is absurdly low. Even the lowest resolution of my phone is too high for this forum to post a picture. So I ask, how do I show my HT Guide friends a picture of this interesting speaker find?. I would love to get your opinions on these speakers and what you think they are!!??.

Here are the photos...Let me know what you think??.....

[Alaric]

From the front they look a lot like A/D/S. Don't know about the proprietary connectors though. If the drivers were sourced from A/D/S they have a lot of potential. Various companies sold rebadged A/D/S speakers in the 80s (NAD comes to mind) , so I'd check out Naim and B & O , who are both (in)famous for using thier own connection solutions. Also , http://www.audiokarma.org/ is a gold mine for vintage info.

[madmac]

Thanks Alaric....any idea how I can connect these babies up to see if they work and how they sound? I've never heard of A/D/S ???.

The woofers move in and out fluidly so I am quite sure they work. The tweeters are another story.

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks Alaric....any idea how I can connect these babies up to see if they work and how they sound?

Banana plugs in the paired receptacles.

[madmac]

Banana plugs in the paired receptacles.

Hi Kal,

What is your opinion on these speakers and what they might be?.

[Alaric]

A/D/S made very good speakers in the 70s and 80s. The 910 model is still much sought after , and I sorely miss my L1530s. The woofers don't look right for it but the soft dome tweeters do (are they 'sticky'?). I believe the company now makes sonar equipment for the Norwegian Navy.
If they are A/D/S with the wrong woofers , there is a guy who still has original drivers for quite a few models. I'll see if I can find his info .

[madmac]

@ Alaric.....The woofers are OEM for sure on these. They just look too right and fit too right to have been replacements.

Update!!!! I wired these puppies up and the first speaker sang!!. REALLY nice sound comes out of these speakers!. You know how in our world of 'audiophilness' when you hear something special you kinda' stop for a minute and take notice. I stopped a couple of times while these were playing and said "Something special here!!".

Sadly, when I wired the second speaker...... alas....no sound out of the tweeter!. Woofer works fine. I of course will remove the tweeter and check the wiring and crossover etc but we all know the score when it comes to non-working tweeters normally right??.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice in regards to diagnosing the tweeter please do ok?.

I would like to hook these up to my main system and play some of my favorite music to really give them a test but that's not gonna' happen with one tweeter out. Right now, they are hooked up to my PA system in the basement and playing computer music via a 200 watt mixer amp designed for live music! Don't worry....I'm not cranking it....just braking these little guys in a little!!. :P

[madmac]

@ Alaric.....The woofers are OEM for sure on these. They just look too right and fit too right to have been replacements.

Update!!!! I wired these puppies up and the first speaker sang!!. REALLY nice sound comes out of these speakers!. You know how in our world of 'audiophilness' when you hear something special you kinda' stop for a minute and take notice. I stopped a couple of times while these were playing and said "Something special here!!".

Sadly, when I wired the second speaker...... alas....no sound out of the tweeter!. Woofer works fine. I of course will remove the tweeter and check the wiring and crossover etc but we all know the score when it comes to non-working tweeters normally right??.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice in regards to diagnosing the tweeter please do ok?.

I would like to hook these up to my main system and play some of my favorite music to really give them a test but that's not gonna' happen with one tweeter out. Right now, they are hooked up to my PA system in the basement and playing computer music via a 200 watt mixer amp designed for live music! Don't worry....I'm not cranking it....just braking these little guys in a little!!. :P

Another update!!. The drivers and tweeters match and are made in France by Polydax (see pics). Ever heard of them?. Also, I checked the tweeter with my voltmeter to check for continuity and there is indeed continuity between the tweeter terminals!. That's a good sign right?. Am I to assume that the issue is with the crossover board?. [IMG]

[Stoney]

Quote from http://www.goldsound.net/component.htm
"POLYDAX [AUDAX] from France is one of Europe's largest home, car & pro speaker manufacturers. Boston, JBL, Klipsch, Polk, PSB, Snell, Sony & many others use POLYDAX."

[madmac]

Quote from http://www.goldsound.net/component.htm
"POLYDAX [AUDAX] from France is one of Europe's largest home, car & pro speaker manufacturers. Boston, JBL, Klipsch, Polk, PSB, Snell, Sony & many others use POLYDAX."

Thanks for finding the info Stoney!.

[Stoney]

You're welcome. Noticed they also listed some drivers for sale further down the page, but the page hasn't been updated for around a year.