Nelson Reed Speakers

[Somsak K.]

Is anyone here familiar with Nelson Reed speakers, particularly model 804 manufactured from the mid 1980s to early 1990s? They were a side project by a couple of guys name Nelson and Reed who had day jobs in Silicon Valley but managed to get floor space at a handful highend dealers across the country. Their 804C were a front-ported floorstanding speaker, each using two 8" Volt BM2201 woofers, an ATC SM75-150 3" Soft Dome midrange driver, and a Scanspeak d2008/8512 tweeter. There were also optional matching subwoofers that used four 12" Volt woofers per channel.

 

[mcw]

Hi Somsak, I have a pair of the 804C with a single 1204 subwoofer since 1991, the tweeters had to be replaced and
all 4 12 drivers of the subwoofer had to be re-coned. I'm still using it paired with aragon equipment .

 

[mcw]

Oh, I do not think the 12 inch drivers in the subwoofer where Volt drivers.

 

[Somsak K.]

Oh, I do not think the 12 inch drivers in the subwoofer where Volt drivers.

Hi Somsak, I have a pair of the 804C with a single 1204 subwoofer since 1991, the tweeters had to be replaced and
all 4 12 drivers of the subwoofer had to be re-coned. I'm still using it paired with aragon equipment .

That’s cool, I was starting to wonder if I was the only one that had them. I don’t have the subwoofers so you’re one up on me there.

I got my first pair of the original Nelson Reed “804 Pro” speakers, which had a smaller box than later versions, in 1986 and at some point I had a crossovers upgraded to supposedly be commensurate with what NR using in the 804B. After that I was getting great sound with them driven by a PS Audio 200C amp. Before the crossover upgrade I was using a Hafler DH200 and the sound was veiled and the amp would overheat and shut down if you cranked Black Sabbath for too long. I can’t really say whether it was the new amp or the crossover mod that made the difference.

After a house robbery in 1994 in which the Nelson Reeds and the PS Audio amp were lost I bought a pair of demo Nelson Reed 804Cs, sight unseen (sound unheard?) by mail-order from dealer in California that I knew nothing about. Because the 804Cs turned out to me much more “midrange forward” than the original version it took me awhile to find an amp that I really like with them and eventually settled on a pair of Cary SLM100 monoblocks. A couple of years ago I did have one woofer stated making bad noises but Volt was able to sell me re-coning kits despite those woofers being discontinued for a long time, so I re-coned all 4 of them in hopes that they would still match. I have a couple of spare tweeters but I have never need them

I continue to like the Nelson Reeds more over time but I’m always looking for potential replacements because ATC will no longer sell SM75-150 midrange drivers to third parties I figure that if one of those midrange drives takes a crap that would be the end of those speakers. I hesitate to say so because I saw the 180 page thread on this forum in which people who have never heard ATC speakers expressed their disgust of them, but the ATC SCM50s are the most similar speakers to the Nelson Reed 804Cs that I’ve found except that are more refined and maybe even more dynamic. I heard them at the ATC distributor’s showroom in Bangkok driven by a 100 wpc Rogue tube amp using FLAC files thati brought with me and it was just insane how that system could belt out Led Zeppelin despite the rates sensitivity only being in the mid 80s, while also excelling at playing solo lute music. It occurred to me that if Nelson Reed had stayed in business and continued to refine their design for the last 30 years that their flagship model might be like the SCM50s.

About the 12" woofers in the subs, if you re-coned them you must know that they were. If not Volt, what were they?

 

[mcw]

When i removed the subwoofer driver for the re-coned there was no identifying info on them so I don't know who
manufactures the drivers for the subwoofer. A few years ago , I did contact ATC to ask them if the midrange
failed, if they would repair the driver and they said yes , but I don't know if that is their current policy.
Yes, the 804C are "midrange forward" and it really stands out when compared to my philharmonic bmr towers. Maybe
that can be equalized down??

 

[Somsak K.]

Maybe they weren't Volt then. When I took out the woofers I found they were clearly labeled "Volt" but the model number was a little unclear because it was written by hand in magic marker.

Just out of curiosity, where did you get the materials to re-cone those drivers. For the 8" woofers I bought re-cone kits direct from Volt, which were expensive ($480 for 4 re-cone kits including shipping from the UK) but I thought worth it in order to keep the speakers as "original" as possible.

 

[mcw]

The woofers on the main speakers are Volt , but the 12 inch drivers on the subwoofer had no
identifiying marking when i had the "surrounds" replaced. Oh, there was a local guy who did the
subwoofer driver repair (the surrounds). I'm still amazed that the ATC and Volt drivers are going strong !
It's a testament to the quality control and care of those companies.
It would be neat if one could get older speaker 'klippeled' , to maybe smooth out the personalities with
eq.

 

[Curvature]

Stereophile measurements https://www.stereophile.com/content/nelson-reed-8-04b-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[mcw]

thanks for that link Curvature

 

[Somsak K.]

The woofers on the main speakers are Volt , but the 12 inch drivers on the subwoofer had no
identifiying marking when i had the "surrounds" replaced. Oh, there was a local guy who did the
subwoofer driver repair (the surrounds). I'm still amazed that the ATC and Volt drivers are going strong !
It's a testament to the quality control and care of those companies.
It would be neat if one could get older speaker 'klippeled' , to maybe smooth out the personalities with
eq.

So then it was just replacing the surrounds that was necessary and not a full re-coning? I'm a bit surprised that those rubber surrounds would have been the point of failure but at least that makes the provenance of the drivers less important.

 

[Torin Krell]

I'm enjoying this thread since I visited the Nelson-Reed room at their fourth CES and my first, which was in June of 1985. I briefly talked with what I believe was one of the founders and left impressed. They later sent me some paperwork encouraging me to be a dealer for their line, including dealer pricing for their products.

 

[mcw]

Wow, that's forty years ago . I like Hutching's quote you have posted.

 

[Somsak K.]

I'm enjoying this thread since I visited the Nelson-Reed room at their fourth CES and my first, which was in June of 1985. I briefly talked with what I believe was one of the founders and left impressed. They later sent me some paperwork encouraging me to be a dealer for their line, including dealer pricing for their products.

Almost definitely it would have been one of the founders that you met, and if he was an engaging conversationalist it was probably Ron Nelson. Ron is in his 90s now and living in Vancouver, WA.

When Nelson Reed was founded Ron Nelson was a sales engineer for GenRad, a company known for its electronic test and measurement equipment. Bill Reed worked for Monsanto’s Electronic Materials Division (Monsanto was a significant early producer of silicon wafers and LED materials for the semiconductor industry) and at one point was president of SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International).

 

[mcw]

Thanks for that history Somsak ; I think it was cool that these 2 guys got together and
started a business that required engineering, building and testing , then marketing ,then
iterating their product ; it must have been a lot of work. Do you know what Bill Reed is
up to?

 

[Somsak K.]

Thanks for that history Somsak ; I think it was cool that these 2 guys got together and
started a business that required engineering, building and testing , then marketing ,then
iterating their product ; it must have been a lot of work. Do you know what Bill Reed is
up to?

I'm not sure if Bill is still alive, given that those guys were mid-career professionals 40 years ago. I know that Ron is still alive (at 92 years old) because he's occasionally on Facebook.

 

[Somsak K.]

Thanks for that history Somsak ; I think it was cool that these 2 guys got together and
started a business that required engineering, building and testing , then marketing ,then
iterating their product ; it must have been a lot of work. Do you know what Bill Reed is
up to?

Just curious - is this your ad? If so, that's way too cheap, a pair of the midrange drivers pulled from another pair of 804s recently sold for more than $1000 on eBay.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650253546-nelson-reed-804-c-with-1204-subwoofer-no-shipping-pick-up-only/

 

[mcw]

Hi Sumsak , that is my ad , the reason for the low price is that the speaker are 35 years old .

 

[Somsak K.]

Hi Sumsak , that is my ad , the reason for the low price is that the speaker are 35 years old .

I suppose that they probably aren't well enough known to command a premium price after all these years, but If I was still living in the US I’d be breaking down you door to buy them.