Vandersteen Model 1 Speakers

Another set of speakers I have been sitting on is this fantastic pair of Vandersteen Model 1 speakers.

Vandersteen speakers are well respected and still in production today.

These Model 1's use the best Vifa drivers that were in production at the time. These speakers use a 8 inch woofer to a 1 inch dome tweeter.  

 

There is a permanent sock around the speaker which hides the driver configuration, luckily this pair came with the original brochure so you can see the speaker without the sock and the specs.

The sound from the Model 1 is very polite and accurate. The bass loading gives nice solid bass for an 8 inch woofer that is clear and clean. The mid range and highs are polite without ever being harsh. Imaging is deep and wide.

These speakers remind me a lot of the Paradigm Control Monitors that I had at one time but more efficient. 

the crossover is not as complicated and therefore allows more efficient signal path to both drivers.

Given Vandersteens reputation in the Hifi world it is a pleasure to come across a set of his speakers.

Ohm Model E Speakers

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.

DCM Time Windows Delivered

These speakers went back to my friend today and he was pretty stoked on how they turned out from their original state.

The DCM Time Windows were a joy to have for the past month and they really do image well and that is what they are designed to do. One day it would be nice to try a pair of the Time Frame speakers.

ADS L300C Speakers

I picked up this pair of ADS L300C a few months back and had to wait until the right tweeter was listed on eBay to fix these wonderful little speakers.

These are built with Braun drivers and sound very similar to other Braun, Visonik, Heco and Canton speakers, in fact these are Realistic Minimus 7 and 11 killers.Super heavy for their size due to a very larg magnet in the woofer and cast aluminum enclosures.

There seems to be a bit of an internet following with these little speakers and they seem to fetch a pretty good price on eBay.

Of course the bass is pretty limited with a 5 1/4 inch woofer but the midrange and highs sparkle just as they should with Braun driver.

This pair had already been re foamed but the job could have used a but more careful attention, not the cleanest job I have seen.

DCM Time Window

I am just in the final finishing touches in restoring a friends DCM Time Windows.

 Sorry about the photos I resorted to using my phone camera.

This pair needed a new diaphragm for one of the Philips tweeters which I had kicking around.

This is the old diaphragm.

DCM's have always had the reputation of disappearing when listening to them and this pair does a pretty good job at doing that.

The design is basically two 6 1/2 inch woofers and two 1 inch dome tweeters in one speaker offset by about 30 degrees. When offset at 30 degrees it is the best for speaker dispersion.

So how do they sound?

The bass was pretty solid down to about 50hz, I was expecting a bit more considering these are ported and usually two 6 inch woofers should have the output of a 10 inch woofer, these did not nearly go as low as the Oxford Tannoys.

Mid range and highs is where these speakers accelerate and you get the sense that the speakers have disappeared in the room, extremely smooth and well dispersed. this creates a great 3 dimensional image of the sound field.

These are a really nice sounding pair of speakers and it is a pleasure to refinish these and have them to listen to for a short period of time.

I did buy new 1/2 inch foam covers for these and that is the last chore to do with these. I opted to take pictures before the foam grills went back on to expose the drivers.

There was a bit of water damage to the veneer on the top surface, a light sanding and Minwax took care of that and brought the veneer back to life.

I am sure my buddy will be stoked to get these back.

Koss Pro4S Headphones

For Christmas I got a wonderful pair of Koss Pro4S headphones. A headphone set that I wanted for some time.

I have been a huge Koss headphone fan since my first pair of Koss Porta Pro, which sound amazing but the Pro4S is definitely a step up in the audiophile sphere.

The Pro4S are super comfortable and have a noise cancelling tendency as the cups cover your ears completely. The Pro4S is well built and like all Koss headphones they carry a lifetime warranty of which I have capitalized in the past with the Porta Pros and will have to do again with the Porta Pros.

Back to the sound of the Pro4S, these headphones are like strapping the Speakerlab Super 7's to your head.
Bass is full and smooth, not boomy like you would get with Skull Candy or Beats. Mid range imaging is fantastic, female voices sound spot on and no chestiness with male vocals. The highs are crisp and clean.

One thing about Koss headphones is the money goes into the headphones and not marketing, one has to seek out the Koss product as Koss mostly sell direct to consumer online. I have seen a smattering of Koss headphones in stores but nothing like their website.

If you are in the market for a great set of headphone I would recommend these for a great bang for the buck.

The Koss site can be found here.



 

Genesis Model 1+ speakers

I have had these speakers for a few months now and they were in need of some crossover attention when I bought them.

Genesis is a spin off of EPI or Epicure speakers of which I am always a fan of. Very simple designed, requiring minimal crossover components. The woofer and tweeter are designed to roll off at their crossover point naturally.

This pair I bought already had the woofers refoamed, the crossover panel was worse for wear. The spring clips were broken and the glue holding them to the cabinet was no longer bonding the plate to the cabinet.

I opted to use MDF 5"x5" board that I cut. I installed new gold plated binding post to accept banana plugs. Upgraded the capacitor to a Solen polypropylene cap, and installed 18 gauge audiophile speaker wire.

The cabinets were a bit rough, some wax was on the vinyl veneer and on the speaker grill cloth. I cleaned all that up.

This pair of Genesis still had the QC tags on the front baffle, I opted to leave them on as you do not see this attention to detail in today's gear.

I kept the original serial # tags as these speakers are 20 off each other in production.

I always like the sound of the EPI 100 and the Genesis Model 1 is the equivalent to the EPI. Excellent bass from a sealed 8 inch woofer and the inverted dome is smooth as silk. These are highly musical speakers. The bass is almost on par with the  New Large Advents with 10" woofers and the mid range and highs or on par with the Dynaco A35's.

These are truly a wonderful speakers and always a pleasure to restore. I think I have done at least a dozen pairs now.