Vintage loudspeaker musing: those boomy 1970s sealed box loudspeakers -- and a suggestion :)

[RobL]

There used to be a huge thread about modding Mach 1’s on AK led by someone named Videolady or something like that. They claimed to be a speaker designer and were trying to help owners improve the original Mach 1 design. I can’t find it now but it was interesting. If I remember right, Videolady(?) disappeared part way through the process, was a fair bit of speculation about what happened to her/him.
Edit: found the thread HERE.
Edit 2: Videolady posted some gated measurements of 4029 Mach 1 drivers:

 

[mhardy6647]

There used to be a huge thread about modding Mach 1’s on AK led by someone named Videolady or something like that. They claimed to be a speaker designer and were trying to help owners improve the original Mach 1 design. I can’t find it now but it was interesting. If I remember right, Videolady(?) disappeared part way through the process, was a fair bit of speculation about what happened to her/him.
Edit: found the thread HERE.
Edit 2: Videolady posted some gated measurements of 4029 Mach 1 drivers:
View attachment 270104

I forgot that! Maybe I repressed the memory!
Thanks for the reminder... but... ain't it funny that google didn't turn it up when I searched... especially since I do have a bit of history @ AK?

Kinda makes one wonder why they bothered with the tweeter...?

 

[Schollaudio]

Oh.

MC-1000: Best Speaker in the World?

You are in for a special treat. I have what could arguably be called the best vintage speaker in the world that is ever produced. That you haven't heard of its designation, MC-1000, is not my issue. Please allow me to introduce you to the Realistic MC-1000: Don't let the low price of US...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I mean, this is cool -- but the MC-1000 isn't cut from quite the same fine cloth as the might Mach One!


Yeah -- I owned a pair of 1974 Cornwalls. For longer than I am proud to admit, in hindsight. In fairness, I was perpetually trying to improve the Cornwall user experience. Turns out the best tweak is to sell them to someone else, though. Just took me a decade to figure that out.

I had 1980 Cornwalls and found room placement was very important probably had an honest 60hz in free space. But like you I decided to resell and take the profit. Hated to devalue them by improvement.

 

[Schollaudio]

There used to be a huge thread about modding Mach 1’s on AK led by someone named Videolady or something like that. They claimed to be a speaker designer and were trying to help owners improve the original Mach 1 design. I can’t find it now but it was interesting. If I remember right, Videolady(?) disappeared part way through the process, was a fair bit of speculation about what happened to her/him.
Edit: found the thread HERE.
Edit 2: Videolady posted some gated measurements of 4029 Mach 1 drivers:
View attachment 270104

The woofers looked decent. Maybe a proper two way design would be good.

 

[Schollaudio]

Yes, L100s sound pretty awful as designed. Aside from the tizz 'n' boom they have a really confused midrange that gets positively painful on certain female vocals and imaging is nonexistant. I rebuilt a pair of L100s with a new baffle with mirrored vertical driver layout, solid bracing and cabinet damping, a proper crossover and aperiodic vent. They sound really excellent (and loud!) with pinpoint imaging and a very pleasing midrange. The drivers are actually excellent quality and still compare favourably with modern speakers.

Yes, those and HPMs. The JBL 123A is and excellent woofer if used in a box at least twice the size of the L100 and with proper low pass.

 

[mhardy6647]

There's a pair of the later, larger Pioneer HPM-1100s here. They actually don't sound too bad. My sense is they're better than the previous generation, and (more to the point) the HPM-100. I haven't heard the latter in a long, long time, though.

I did, with some trepidation, refoam the woofers in them -- successfully.



Right beefy woofers -- the basket reminds me of the early TAD woofers (or vice versa).



Unfortunately, an HPM-1100 would be a bit too large, and the woofer cones a bit too fragile, to put 'em in a crate and send 'em off to @amirm though.

 

[anmpr1]

1) The weird part is that the L100 (4311, more to the point, I suppose) was designed, as best I can understand it, as more or less a drop-in replacement (albeit less sensitive) for the then nearly-ubiquitous Altec Duplex in studio and broadcast monitor applications.

2) PPS Poor James B. Lansing.

1) In the trade press JBL advertised how they were in more studios than any other brand. And it was likely true. At least on the West Coast. Think about it--LA was the home of pop music. Producers most of us are familiar with. Artists whom most of us bought their records. World class studio musicians (the Wrecking Crew). Gold Star, Western Recorders, Capitol, and so on and so on.

JBL was in a position to capitalize on all of that. Factory down the street from any and all the studios, and the service the company offered had to have been top tier. I have no idea about unit pricing, but deals that were made had to have been pretty sweet. I'm guessing there was major 'wheeling and dealing' going down between the studios and JBL. Of course I'm just guessing.

2) Yes. Jim Lansing had problems. A shame, how it ended. I really can't understand it in any way-- I mean, that sort of thing. I'm fortunate that I can't.