hifi heroin

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Speakerformers

Resistance isn't futile... It is downright evil! One of the big offenders in the resistance camp is the humble L-pad so here is a magnetic solution.

This particular unit goes from -6 to -16.5dB in 0.5dB steps which is perfect for padding that horn down to the bass. The "coarse" steps are 1dB and the toggle allows for a 0.5dB trim.

Of course it resides on a permalloy core and allows the end user to select the desired impedance presented to the crossover by selecting the shunt resistor.

Wiring is simple with the same 3 connections as an L-pad. More info to come!

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Bedtime Reading

Here are a few of the more interesting texts from my collection.

Starting from the top with 1/3 of the MIT trilogy we have a book that has seen more action from my bunny chewing on it than from the original owner.

My favorite part is the date with a pre-printed 194_ for the year. I can't imagine the panic as Y1K950 approached. Next we have the Grossner text that is on extended loan to me from Blackie who apparently has it on loan from Donald Trump.

Next up is the Bell Labs Bible on magnetic materials and how could I not snag this autographed copy given to my old nickel dealer?

Finally, this copy of Bozorth from the Jeffrey W. Jackson collection which possibly represents another text that until recently has never been opened.

Friday, March 24, 2017

301 bling

I know we are 100% anti-bling but we are accepting of others addiction to the shiny object (or two)

A few years back, family member Ijaz in DC talked Ray Clark into doing a solid brass 301 which we have used at the DC show over the years. Now a few more have been ordered awaiting the plinths to proceed to their final homes. Here are some snaps of one of them in a test plinth that will be made from curly maple and ebony.

and finally in order to cope with all of that shine I feel the urge for some bead-blast and patina therapy but will have to leave you with some classic "Drug through the Hudson"

Friday, March 17, 2017

RCA MI-9584 on a Battleship horn!

so yet another in my long list of interesting things that I need to pass along to the next person is this awesome oddity:

so the RCA fans out there will immediately see the MI-9584 on there

yes.. brand new... original hang tag still attached to both of them

Bureau of Ships!

that alnico magnet and the unmistakable back cap of the MI-9584

so who knows what this is over the diaphragm?? answer: a blast cap! horns work both directions, right? therefore a cannon blast on the deck would blow a diaphragm *backwards*... and this prevented that...

yep.. sealed screws...

so this is the autoformer to set levels.. lots of taps... you could actually go from a 2A3 plate, through a cap into the 3200 ohm tap... 45 into the 6400 tap....

and tapped input, of course...

so UPS had its way with the mate... but, the horn did its job of protecting the driver!

anybody know what "Reproducer - Class H & M" means?

check out those mounts! the picture does not do them justice... that hole is at least 1/2"... maybe 3/4"..

and that back cap!

the shipping "ding"

same magnet.. same diaphragm... same blast cap...

note the green color inside... made for the army originally?

sealed screws again..

patents..

same autoformer...

so there you have it... another oddity from the collection...

I was planning to pull the drivers.... but have not had the heart.. and besides, I have a few already... it is honestly in my top three for that magic 200 to 2k decade... just a big, bold, and smooth midrange...

if anyone out there has interest, email me... experiencemusic at hotmail dot com ...

peace,
me

Monday, March 6, 2017

Woof! - or, Mating Bass to the Western Electric 16a .....

and the reveal:

so before we get on Mrs. Lisa's case too much about "encouraging" me to unload precious items, we should all remember that she lets me cut holes in the wall of our house....

and for the curious: the bass is fantastic... a wonderful match to the 16a in that small basement room... one of the best small room speakers ever made!

peace,

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Jensen Ultraflex and more for sale...

more cleaning out... Mrs. Jackson says thank you... I'm kinda grumbling...

first the Jensen BL-250 Bass-Ultraflex

the 250 is the larger of the two Ultraflex cabinets - for 15" drivers

I was the first person to open the cabinet. How do I know?

Because they used cheap screws and nearly all of them

were mangled during removal! I replaced them with some

sturdier ones.

just realized this photo is a bit out of focus... sorry...

a beautiful Jensen H530 Coaxial in here... only the $$$$

610 triax was higher in the Jensen line...

original cone

potted crossover!

strange that they give you the parts for mounting

the three-way version

thank goodness ultraflex does stand for cabinet flex as evidenced by the bracing... from memory, this predates Thiele and Small and yet shows that at least one engineer at Jensen understood how "TS" parameters worked...

any reasonable offer... it is located here in the Hudson Valley

and of course, Iain with the info link

and now on to some more random things Mrs. Jackson says I do not really need:

Herbie's Tube Dampers - they are $30 each new...

wanna try them? $25 delivered in the US...

**sold**

I am sure I pulled this from some console... it is

a parallel single ended 6V6 amp with 12AX7 driver...

proof that it is HI-FI

looks like I replaced the electrolytics

want to play with it? $40 plus shipping

one of my favorite tweeters... it has a bad reputation from people crossing over too low.... cross high, people.... the delicate ring radiator will thank you... a clean sound...