This little pair of Ohm Model E arrived this week, these are the early versions of this speaker. The early ones used CTS Phenolic Ring tweeters along with a doped surround on the woofer. These are entry level Ohm speakers from the early 70's and would have cost around $150.00 in the day.
The cabinets are real wood veneer and in excellent condition.
The rear terminal plate rattled pretty good when hooked up so I opted to open these up and apply screws to better secure the plates. Since I was there a quick 8uf cap replacement was easy to do. Much to my surprise was the real lack of dampening material in the box, about a t-shirts worth.
Nice and simple first order crossover to the tweeter at 1800hz indicates that the woofer rolls off around the crossover point.
The changes to the internals made a big difference with these speakers, I like the CTS tweeter and the new cap really helps open it up, The boxy boomy sound was eliminated with the addition of ample dampening material. The back plate rattle was also gone with this the acoustic suspension properties of the system was re established.
How do they sound: Pretty good for a simple speaker system, bass is tight but not super deep with decent output to 50hz, where these shine is the mid range and highs are really nice especially with the single ended tube amp. I am a fan of the original CTS Phenolic ring tweeter it was one of the smoothest paper cone tweeter available and widely used in the early 70's.
The cabinets are real wood veneer and in excellent condition.
The rear terminal plate rattled pretty good when hooked up so I opted to open these up and apply screws to better secure the plates. Since I was there a quick 8uf cap replacement was easy to do. Much to my surprise was the real lack of dampening material in the box, about a t-shirts worth.
Nice and simple first order crossover to the tweeter at 1800hz indicates that the woofer rolls off around the crossover point.
The changes to the internals made a big difference with these speakers, I like the CTS tweeter and the new cap really helps open it up, The boxy boomy sound was eliminated with the addition of ample dampening material. The back plate rattle was also gone with this the acoustic suspension properties of the system was re established.
How do they sound: Pretty good for a simple speaker system, bass is tight but not super deep with decent output to 50hz, where these shine is the mid range and highs are really nice especially with the single ended tube amp. I am a fan of the original CTS Phenolic ring tweeter it was one of the smoothest paper cone tweeter available and widely used in the early 70's.
I have an Ohm Model E on delivery in the next couple days. I will be happy to report on it and compare it to what you have uncovered.
ReplyDeleteWow do these speakers take me back to happy days. I tested these model E speakers at tech hifi (12 W45th st NYC) in 1978. Abso-freakin-lutely nothing wrong with them. Good (reasonably) bass and nicely dispersed clear natural highs. In those days you could bring your own LP's to play in the store and test the speakers. It was a toss up between these Ohm's and EPI-100's. I picked the E's but traded them back to tech hifi seven months later (sweet store policy) for a great deal on Ohm model L's. I still use the model L's almost every day. Like me, these Ohm speakers are made in Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteNice story, I prefer the EPI's myself.
Delete