I've blown midranges in Vega 3-ways with 15's.
Unheard of.......
Cross them at 100hz to 2 pair of 18's, play "juke box hero" as loud as the ab international 600a and altec 9440a will go.......
I've blown woofers and tweeter also......
A history of the speaker company Frazier (since they were mostly a regional company and are relatively unknown):
Jack Frazier began manufacturing commercial loudspeakers around 1952 in Dallas, Texas. This was a small audio contractor, run by Jack Frazier, that was building public address systems and renting them out across the state for small fairs and public gatherings. Frazier also did a number of sound installations in the Dallas Ft. Worth area. One in Dallas was the Hotel Adolphus that incorporated a very early form of room equalization developed by Dr. C.P. Boner. The system was called 'ring mode equalization' where system gain was increased to feedback threshold and a notch filter tuned to this frequency was inserted in the signal path. Not many filters were used, but the results were impressive. Then Ed May (later of JBL fame) joined Frazier.
Ed and Jack got along well enough that they decided to become partners and formed the Frazier-May loudspeaker company. Frazier-May continued the development of professional sound equipment consisting mainly of bass and high frequency horns that were not dissimilar to the Altec Voice of the Theatre systems. They also made a successful effort to capture a portion of the burgeoning hi-fi market with home speakers such as the Dixielander.
During this time, Frazier May used OEM drivers, with Quam Nichols as their main supplier. Ed was always on the look out for better performing drivers and was very impressed with the JBL D208. He was developing a system that used a horn-loaded 8" driver and this JBL performed better than any previous transducer. Nonetheless, a fair amount of technical work was undertaken by Ed in getting optimum performance out of the D208. He worked closely with JBL in doing this optimization.
The Frazier-May Dixielander
In turn, JBL took note of Ed May's high level of technical ability. In 1956, JBL called with an offer for Ed to join the company.
Ed accepted and moved to California to work at JBL's new Casitas headquarters. He immediately became involved in all aspects loudspeaker engineering. Within three years, he would become JBL's primary transducer and systems engineer. He initially worked closely with Richard Ranger to develop the Paragon, Metregon and Minigon. He also worked closely with Bart Locanthi, who as a consultant, had been the primary technical resource at JBL since 1950. In 1960, Bart joined JBL full time as Corporate Vice President of Engineering. Ed became a Director, reporting to Bart, responsible for all new product development. In these capacities, Bart and Ed would work as a team for the next decade. Bart was the acknowledged theoretician while Ed was the practitioner that could take basic concepts and develop them into fully detailed products.
Jack Frazier did not document much for files. They had build sheets that they gave to the assemblers, most of the designs stayed in Jack's head.
Frazier Speakers were hand built in Dallas and were some great speakers. The best cabinets I have ever seen, with double sided Walnut Veneer and killer construction. Jack Frazier and Paul Klipsch were acquaintances, and legend has it that Klipsch had a pair of Frazier Mk IV’s in his office and they are what influenced him to make the Heresy speaker.
Until recent times, I had no subs to cross over to...
But I did generate 112 DB in room several times.
I would then leave the room to do other things around the house, come back & turn the stereo down to a more normal 96 DB (I would still be doing other things in other rooms upstairs where the stereo was in my bedroom). The Speakers that I was doing this with were Frazier Super Monte Carlo's. Inside (with no crossover, using the natural tuning of the drivers) these speakers have a 8" woofers that uses a paper pleated surround and Piezo tweeters.
They are in the low 90's DB per watt @ 1 meter F10 @ 40 Hz-17 KHz (approx.)
I bought them around 1977, Jack Frazier died in 1983.
An interesting anecdote:
Ken Thomas
[email protected]
My first full time job was a repair technician in a high-fidelity audio shop in 1975. That is where I first witnessed Frazier speakers. I was very impressed with the sound quality. Truly taken and mesmerized by the realism. My interest in Frazier speakers continued to grow as many models passed through the shop showroom and witnessing them in theaters, auditoriums and, night-clubs. I started saving money to purchase a pair of Concertos.
I called the Frazier factory and asked if I could purchase and pick up the speakers in person at the factory. I was told that I would be very welcome. A time was setup – June 22, 1977 (my birthday!). When I arrived, I was introduced to Jack Frazier himself. He was older but got around well. He asked if I had time to tour the factory? I felt like Charlie Bucket at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. I was mesmerized as Jack lead me through, showing each step of construction. Everything hand made, no automation.
He explained that a very prominent source of distortion was the speaker enclosure itself. When the enclosure flexes with the sound wave energy, it resonates, generating and radiating its own sound distorting the intended sound radiation. He showed me how the materials and construction, including complex corner cuts to lock the panels together, internal bracing, special non-resonant panel materials, no flush cuts for woofers among other unique techniques. He explained that the speaker enclosure was the speaker’s foundation. It was clear that Jack Frazier was deeply in love with his speaker designs and factory. He just beamed with delight showing me everything.
Then he took me to his office, which had many of the more popular Frazier speakers, plus a few in-work prototypes, all lined up on one end of the office. His desk was on the opposite end. Along with all the typical office desk items including a turntable. He said there was a very simple test to demonstrate speaker cabinet flexing. He pulled a nickel from his pocket and balanced it on edge on top of a large model home speaker – called the “Thing”. He then put a record on the turntable. I don’t remember what the music was, but it had some very heavy percussion and bass. He cranked it up. The base was nauseatingly powerful. The realism was unsettling. The drums and instruments were all right there, but not to be seen. The nickel remained on its edge with no movement. He turned it down then grabbed a few more nickels and placed them, on edge, on other objects in the room; desk, shelves, etc. He replayed the same piece. Immediately all the nickels throughout the room fell over, some jumping completely off the surface. The nickels on the speakers never moved – remained on edge. He then played a movie soundtrack that included a bomb explosion. It was shocking. It wasn’t just loud; I actually felt the bomb blast in my body. The nickel never moved.
I found this totally unbelievable, it had to be a trick. So, when I got back to work the next day, I decided to perform the same test in our showroom. Along with a pair of Frazier 7’s we also happened to have a pair of “Things” on the showroom floor, so I placed a nickel on its edge on both speakers. Just as in Jack’s office, all nickels in the room fell over except for the ones on the “Things” and 7’s.
It was clear from my visit with Jack Frazier that he was an artist in the truest sense. He sought to design and build the most faithful speakers he could. His interest was in the art, not the business. He hired people to run the business, leaving him to the art. This is also why Frazier inc, never became a mass market manufacture.
Jack understood Newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Jack understood the requirement of a solid ground (foundation). In a speaker, the cabinet is the speaker’s foundation, it’s the reference point, the anchor.
