Old Speakers – Valuable or just trash?

[Xiled1]

My grandfather handed down to me some rather old speakers which he considered valuable. The old ‘they don’t make them like they use to’ thought. I held on to them for years thinking some day I would use them, but that never came about and now they are just taking up space. All are raw drivers. I’d just like to know if I should trash them or if someone would actually be interested in them, if I were try and sell. I’m pretty sure the four woofers need reconing. Here is what I have.

Altec Lansing 416-8A 15” Woofer (2) – The resin is leaching out of the surrounds and they are all sticky. But they still are in good shape.

JBL D130 15” full range (2) – These are an interesting speaker, the inner part of the cone curves in sharper to act as mid-range and the dust cap is metal and acts as a high range speaker. These are in pretty good shape but one is 16 ohm and the other is 8 ohm

University T-30 folded horn midranges. Another interesting design(to me) as the waveguide of the horn is folded giving a more compact design.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

[louped garouv]

offer them on ebay with a low start and no reserve....
and many pictures....

a little narrative of the provinence could also help your end value....

they will sell for more than you anticipated more likely than not....


my .02
:)

[Fred Sanford]

I think BMWCCA, a member here, was looking for D130s. Don't know if he ended up finding some.

They're popular, useful drivers you list there, do you have any way to safely test their condition?

Good luck.

je

[Fred Sanford]

My mistake, he was looking for 140s. Might still interest him, though.

je

[Steve Schell]

All of the drivers you mentioned have value on the used market, probably the woofers more than the Cobraflex midranges. The surrounds on the Altecs are supposed to be sticky and have been since new.

We study and celebrate the history of drivers like the ones you have. The Altec 416 is a lineal descendant of the mid 1930s Lansing field coil theatre woofer:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/lmco/bulletins/5a.jpg

The D-130 is one of the most successful speaker designs of all time. Jim Lansing designed it in 1946. Here is a profile of the D-130:

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/d130.htm

You might want to experiment with these components before selling them; they are all capable of very good sound, the kind that is hard to find new these days.

[RKLee]

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Altec Lansing 416-8A 15” Woofer (2) – The resin is leaching out of the surrounds and they are all sticky. But they still are in good shape.

JBL D130 15” full range (2) – These are an interesting speaker, the inner part of the cone curves in sharper to act as mid-range and the dust cap is metal and acts as a high range speaker. These are in pretty good shape but one is 16 ohm and the other is 8 ohm

University T-30 folded horn midranges. Another interesting design(to me) as the waveguide of the horn is folded giving a more compact design.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.Why do you think the woofers need reconing? Are the cones damaged or have broken leads? If you have no further need for them don't trash them, sell them on Craig's list, eBay etc. Pass them on to someone else who will enjoy them.

[Xiled1]

Thanks for the info. I will work on getting them ready to sell and try and find a way to test them. No enclosures so I may just hook them up and make sure there is no cracking or other bad sounds.

I thought they needed to be reconed due to the sticky surrounds. The surrounds have some packing paper reminents on them from moving around, will clean that off.

Anyway, your advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[RKLee]

All of the drivers you mentioned have value on the used market, probably the woofers more than the Cobraflex midranges. The surrounds on the Altecs are supposed to be sticky and have been since new.
.
.Ditto, on the surrounds supposed to be sticky. I have 4 414-8Bs, and when I opened them from the factory boxes 25 years ago, the surrounds are tacky. I still have bits & pieces of the original factory Styrofoam packing stuck on to the surrounds to this day.