EV Sentry III find.

[Regis]

I picked up a pair of EV Sentry III's in North Hollywood last Thursday and I am pleased. I spotted them on Los Angeles Craigslist and was intrigued. I did some quick research, made the arrangements and went to pick them up. Had to borrow a buddy's pickup truck, because there is no way, they are fitting in the back of my Focus wagon. I've had L-300's fit, 250 Ti's fit, L-150's fit, but not these. At 156 pounds each and 30x28x21 they are huge!

The cabs aren't great, but they're not bad and can be cleaned up. No delamination, no chunks missing and not even any deep scratches, just normal wear and tear for 30 year old speakers. These are my first pair of EV's after owning many pair of JBL's throughout 40 years and while I have only owned a dozen pair or so, I'm pretty intimate with build quality and I have to say, these are really well built speakers.

The cabs are beautiful. Very heavy MDF construction and quality veneer. These had to be handbuilt! The grills weigh ten pounds each and have three sides and they are literally, a friction fit to slid them on from the front. Not talking 1/16" clearance top and bottom, nor 1/32", but a slight friction fit to push them on to their velcro stops. And they'd better be perfectly straight, side to side and exactly vertical, because the grills will 'catch' and you have to pull on them and restart them! The tweed grill cloth is mostly intact and the badges are still there on the bottom. Each Sentry III weighs 156 pounds.

The midrange horn is frigging huge! It is one solidly built piece of plastic. Very, very sturdy and nothing flimsy nor cheap about it. The tweeter horn looks a lot like the 44xx butt-cheek. The foam on the woofers is long gone, so after they were unloaded and at home, I pulled the woofers and they are heavy. Big motors, thick cast frame construction and nice color-coded spring-loaded terminals, I know this construction and was pleased. The surrounds remind me of the Altec woofers, in that there is a lot of foam between the edge of the woofer and the frame!

Didn't get to listem to them, just yet, but I'm going to be dropping them off to be refoamed within the next couple of weeks. After that, I've got to find some kind of EQ that I can marry up with them to replicate the difficult-to-find EV SEQ unit, that allowed these monsters to go down to 28hz! Finally, they have small steel ingraved plaques on the back of each one, warning of high SPL's and that long term exposure can cause permanent hearing damage.

From what I understand, these are efficient speakers and it doesn't take a lot of watts to drive them to serious sound levels. I'm fascinated with the fact that they were one of the first speaker designs to fully utilize T/S specifications. Looking forward to hooking them up within the month or so and seeing just how they sound.

I paid $100 for the pair.

[grumpy]

Nice find. Just the tweeters were worth the drive :)

[louped garouv]

older EV has a pretty good sized cult following also, correct?

anyhow, great grab -- esp for a c note

[wsilva]

Nice score!

Bet they are going to sound reeeal nice.

[loach71]

The D. B. Keele designed mid-horn (the SM 120A) on the Sentry III is one of my favorite 1" throat horns. It is non-resonant due to its molding characteristics and sports 120 degree nominal dispersion, which makes it quite amenable to near-field (home) use. I'm not a big fan of the EV compression driver, but any similar JBL compression driver will fit nicely. I would re-foam the woofers and re-finish the cabs and then enjoy them. They are a great speaker!

[Mr. Widget]

Congratulations... a well spent couple of hours. Keep us posted on your progress.

I think these speakers were not really designed with home use in mind. I think they were designed to be soffit mounted or at the very least elevated to ear level. You might want to experiment with that.


Widget

[Regis]

Congratulations... a well spent couple of hours. Keep us posted on your progress.

I think these speakers were not really designed with home use in mind. I think they were designed to be soffit mounted or at the very least elevated to ear level. You might want to experiment with that.


Widget

Gawd! I can imagine trying to mount them on the walls of the house! Or having them hanging! The ear level may not be a problem as the listening couch is usually low enough that you're only slighly above the tweeter level on these. At worse, I can build a big set of stands for these, like I did for the 4315's and elevate them.

I agree about the home use and I'll join the ranks of the 4350-4355 or Altec VOT crowd, who run big beasts in the living room, wife be damned!:D Well, that's not a worry, as I'm on my third divorce, so I'll stuff whatever I want in the upcoming house purchase.

PS: Saw the thread yesterday on the Everest DD66000's! Great read and good writeup on the impressions. The 1400 Array's fascinate me as well.

[Regis]

The D. B. Keele designed mid-horn (the SM 120A) on the Sentry III is one of my favorite 1" throat horns. It is non-resonant due to its molding characteristics and sports 120 degree nominal dispersion, which makes it quite amenable to near-field (home) use. I'm not a big fan of the EV compression driver, but any similar JBL compression driver will fit nicely. I would re-foam the woofers and re-finish the cabs and then enjoy them. They are a great speaker!

I agree on the compression driver and the EV driver, while adequate certainly doesn't look like an LE85. I think I'd have to match them up for both efficiency and impedance!

[Regis]

Felt even better about the deal today, when a pair of EV Sentry III's went for $1,125 on Ebay. These are in mint condition, while mine are about a 7-10. Louped Garov mentioned the cult following and yes, I have to agree. You have to know about these, to even get it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190654870450?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[RKLee]

The D. B. Keele designed mid-horn (the SM 120A) on the Sentry III is one of my favorite 1" throat horns. It is non-resonant due to its molding characteristics and sports 120 degree nominal dispersion, which makes it quite amenable to near-field (home) use. I'm not a big fan of the EV compression driver, but any similar JBL compression driver will fit nicely. I would re-foam the woofers and re-finish the cabs and then enjoy them. They are a great speaker!I am not all that familiar with EV equipment, especially their mid-range horns and drivers, even thought I have an alnico EV T350 tweeter. From what I understand the EV mid-range tweeters have a pipe thread rather than a 2/3/4 bolt pattern as in the Altec/JBL mounting system, so do you use an adapter of some sort?

[Regis]

I am not all that familiar with EV equipment, especially their mid-range horns and drivers, even thought I have an alnico EV T350 tweeter. From what I understand the EV mid-range tweeters have a pipe thread rather than a 2/3/4 bolt pattern as in the Altec/JBL mounting system, so do you use an adapter of some sort?

No idea about the mounting, though a pair of the horns, just sold on ebay for $82. Looks like a bolt to me.

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/124981-electrovoice_ev_1824m_horn_driver

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380421773450&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123

[spkrman57]

I picked up a pair of cabinets with the 1823M compression drivers and SM-120 horns a few yrs back.

I was thinking of building up a system from scratch just using the stock midhorn/driver and supplementing the 15" driver and tweeter with JBL drivers, but I have 2 pairs of horn-loaded projects that are ahead of that which leaves me with large cabs taking up space right now.

I too considered the problem with the low-profile design not having the horn at ear level and will have to reconsider what I'll do with this stuff in the future.

Good Luck with the restore!

Regards, Ron

[Carl_Huff]

Okay,I'm really annoyed! I wish that I had found those cabs before you did! :(

But seriously, kudos to you. I've been looking for a pair for the last few years. Those look to be really clean too. Let me know if you decide to get rid of them. I'd drive down quick before you changed your mind.
____________
Best Regards,
Carl Huff

[memoire101]

I usually speaking French with English mistakes so please be gentle. There are three models of Sentry III. Mine have the suspension of the woofer in W. So no need to replace it. A pair of the kind in a showroom like condition and 100% functional up to $ 15,000 in Asia. In Canada and the United Etas they are worth less than the ignorance of their quality hi-fi and the linearity of the reproduction of their sound. They are of very high efficiency so important to the coupling with an amplifier and a pre-amplifier that will do them justice. I for my part my arm in two-EV steps with two amplifiers Yamaha Professional Series P2200 updated with new condensators and a pre-amplifier Bozak CMA-6S rebuilt. The source (cd player) is just as important (quality). Finally the interconnects are all important too.
Undo edits

[Regis]

I usually speaking French with English mistakes so please be gentle. There are three models of Sentry III. Mine have the suspension of the woofer in W. So no need to replace it. A pair of the kind in a showroom like condition and 100% functional up to $ 15,000 in Asia. In Canada and the United Etas they are worth less than the ignorance of their quality hi-fi and the linearity of the reproduction of their sound. They are of very high efficiency so important to the coupling with an amplifier and a pre-amplifier that will do them justice. I for my part my arm in two-EV steps with two amplifiers Yamaha Professional Series P2200 updated with new condensators and a pre-amplifier Bozak CMA-6S rebuilt. The source (cd player) is just as important (quality). Finally the interconnects are all important too.
Undo edits

I agree. While I haven't heard a pair of EV's yet, I am looking forward to getting the woofers back from Ken at Upland Loudspeaker Service, where they are being refoamed. The build quality of the cabinets and components are top notch and I'm betting they sound great! I looked up the Yamaha's and the Bozak. If you're running dual P2200's, you're not going to be short of power, that's for sure! The Bozak looks really good too, nice build quality and reminescent of early Harman Kardon preamps, with the internal wiring carefully laid out. I can hardly wait to get the big beasts running. These are the largest loudspeakers I have ever owned. I've owned the L300's so it's going to be interesting to see what these sound like.:D

[memoire101]

I agree. While I haven't heard a pair of EV's yet, I am looking forward to getting the woofers back from Ken at Upland Loudspeaker Service, where they are being refoamed. The build quality of the cabinets and components are top notch and I'm betting they sound great! I looked up the Yamaha's and the Bozak. If you're running dual P2200's, you're not going to be short of power, that's for sure! The Bozak looks really good too, nice build quality and reminescent of early Harman Kardon preamps, with the internal wiring carefully laid out. I can hardly wait to get the big beasts running. These are the largest loudspeakers I have ever owned. I've owned the L300's so it's going to be interesting to see what these sound like.:D

Do you still have your JBL L300 or dod you sold them ?

[memoire101]

I usually speaking French with English mistakes so please be gentle. There are three models of Sentry III. Mine have the suspension of the woofer in W. So no need to replace it. A pair of the kind in a showroom like condition and 100% functional up to $ 15,000 in Asia. In Canada and the United Etas they are worth less than the ignorance of their quality hi-fi and the linearity of the reproduction of their sound. They are of very high efficiency so important to the coupling with an amplifier and a pre-amplifier that will do them justice. I for my part my arm in two-EV steps with two amplifiers Yamaha Professional Series P2200 updated with new condensators and a pre-amplifier Bozak CMA-6S rebuilt. The source (cd player) is just as important (quality). Finally the interconnects are all important too.
Undo edits

Tne pics are ready now

[loach71]

Tne pics are ready now A very nice system indeed. Search the forum for boiled linseed oil -- use it to treat the dry veneer. Again, the SM120a mid-horn is one of the nicest near-field horns I have ever heard. If they sound good, then don't modify them!

[Regis]

Tne pics are ready now

That is a great looking system! The big EV's look like the beasts that they are! I agree with your assessment of the value on these speakers. They are ridiculously low for what they are. The average price here is about $1,000 or so and up to $1,500. That is cheap for a 156 pound, horn driven speaker in a walnut cab!

[snafu]

So, how do they sound? That is a gorgeous pair of speakers that I had no idea even existed. What a find. What a price!

[Regis]

So, how do they sound? That is a gorgeous pair of speakers that I had no idea even existed. What a find. What a price!

They sound really, really good! The horns are a lot less 'brassier' than the L-300's (and I owned a pair for two years...). Also, the big horns have really good dispersion and are very smooth. I was pleasantly surprised at how guitar, both acoustic and electric sounded, nicely detailed with good separation and that goes for solo piano segments too.

The speaker as a whole performs really well. The drivers work well together and you don't hear a dominance by any single set, like too much midrange or bass. The tweeter is smooth too, with no harshness, though some material, it's good to play with the EQ just a bit.

It doesn't take much to drive them. A 12 watt tube amp drives both pair to pretty loud levels. Substituting an SS amp just gives them more 'umph'! The EV Sentry III's are 'Permanent Hearing Damage' speakers and they will go that loud and then some! If your musical tastes go to the heavy end of the musical spectrum (Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, etc), you will get a beating from these and they will still sound crystal clear and clean!

At our shop on a Sunday (industrial neighborhood) we had them cranked up with a 200 WPC Perreaux MOSFET amplifier and you could feel the metal bodies vibrating on Chevy pickup trucks parked 50 feet away! They could be heard two to three blocks away! The people on the other side of the building thought it was a live band! They're that good!

PS: Factory specs have 500 watts producting 114 db of SPL or Sound Pressure Level!

[clmrt]

That extrapolates down to 87db/w/m. Seems low.

[JBLGUY]

Very nice find and congrats on recognizing what they were before you grabbed them.
That mid horn is a great horn. I have two of them. One of my favorites as it is so nicely damped. They sell pretty cheap on Ebay and I don't know why. Most people seem to dismiss them for some reason. I just don't think many have used them or know how nice they are. My only experience with them is with a EV 1824m driver but it sounded great. Very subdued but loud enough as well. Just perfect as a Khorn replacement.With an adapter other drivers could be used. Those little ledges molded into the horn were to mount the tweeter there. The same tweeter you have there. EV made that horn in different thicknesses as well. I'm not sure why but maybe they were just made a different times in different molds. Some didn't have the mounting rim molded onto them. Those ones appeared on the sentry PA speakers and some other EV PA speakers. I have some old brochures showing them on PA stuff with no lip on them
The tweeter is nice as well. I have two of those too.

[Regis]

...Those little ledges molded into the horn were to mount the tweeter there. The same tweeter you have there.

Thanks and I was wondering what those were for! I thought they looked like fangs!

PS: clmrt, I pulled this from the EV Sentry III Specifications, specifically, the factory brochure.
To answer "That extrapolates down to 87db/w/m. Seems low."

I pulled the info from the factory specs for the "Amplifier Power Requirements"

Medium Level (85 db SPL) = .65 watt

Loud Level (95 db SPL) 6.5 watts

Very Loud Level (105 db SPL) 65 watts

Maximum Level (114 db SPL) 500 watts

This is for the Continous Average at 6 ohms, for the following Average Sound Pressure Levels, Mid-Band in the Reverberant Field of a Typical Living Room (3,000 cu ft, R = 100) with Peaks 10 db above Average. (Long Term Average Power Capacity not to be exceeded).

Long-Term Average Power Handling Capacity 40 to 10 khz = 50 Watts
Short-Term Power Handling Capacity (10 milliseconds) 40 to 10 khz = 500 Watts.

Hope this helps

[snafu]

Man, I haven't seen a pair of speakers in YEARS that piqued my interest like these do. I have a pair of Altec 9846-8As that I've owned for 20 years now. I power them with a McIntosh MC2300, and used a pair strapped on them for a few years. I'll be keeping my eye out for a pair of these to come up for sale in the Phoenix area.

[JBLGUY]

Man, I haven't seen a pair of speakers in YEARS that piqued my interest like these do. I have a pair of Altec 9846-8As that I've owned for 20 years now. I power them with a McIntosh MC2300, and used a pair strapped on them for a few years. I'll be keeping my eye out for a pair of these to come up for sale in the Phoenix area.

Smart idea IMO....they are pretty nice and nearly the equal to a lot of JBL stuff.....although that crossover appears a bit cheesy...but I don't know really. I used that horn on some Vitavox corner cabs and they sounded very nice and not harsh even loud. They made my Altec's sound like crap and I sold them. That 1824m driver was always sounding better than the Altec every time it was compared. It has a phenolic diaphragm and was a much more gentle sound driver/horn combo

[Regis]

Man, I haven't seen a pair of speakers in YEARS that piqued my interest like these do. I have a pair of Altec 9846-8As that I've owned for 20 years now. I power them with a McIntosh MC2300, and used a pair strapped on them for a few years. I'll be keeping my eye out for a pair of these to come up for sale in the Phoenix area.

Best of luck in your search for a pair of these beasts! As JBLGUY say's, the crossovers do look cheesy, but they work! The cabinet work is equal to anything JBL I've ever seen and I've owned at least a dozen different pair of the 70's and even 80's JBL (tho' that small of an amount, makes me look like a newbie here!).

Peruse Craigslist every day, as I do and you might just stumble on a pair. I use the terms "EV", Electro Voice (with a space) and Electrovoice, without the space. Also, I use the term "Sentry" just by itself and you will get a lot of firearm safes and alarms, you'll also stumble upon the term too.

Finally, I think the Interface "D"'s are certainly worth a look too. They just look like bad-a55 speakers!!!

[4313B]

equal to anything JBL I've ever seenEV was a big player, lots of R&D done there. In addition to EV, Don Keele Jr. also worked at JBL and Harman Becker.

[spkrman57]

I have a pair that I rcvd without drivers except for the midhorns & 1823M cd drivers.

I figure I might redesign it with a different 15" option and maybe 2404 baby-cheeks tweeters!

One of these days when I finish other projects ahead of it since they are large and heavy and take up too much room in the house right now, they can sit in the garage until then!

Regards, Ron

[snafu]

Best of luck in your search for a pair of these beasts! As JBLGUY say's, the crossovers do look cheesy, but they work! The cabinet work is equal to anything JBL I've ever seen and I've owned at least a dozen different pair of the 70's and even 80's JBL (tho' that small of an amount, makes me look like a newbie here!).

Peruse Craigslist every day, as I do and you might just stumble on a pair. I use the terms "EV", Electro Voice (with a space) and Electrovoice, without the space. Also, I use the term "Sentry" just by itself and you will get a lot of firearm safes and alarms, you'll also stumble upon the term too.

Finally, I think the Interface "D"'s are certainly worth a look too. They just look like bad-a55 speakers!!!

OK, I tracked a pair down locally and paid them a listen yesterday. I took a few of my favorite CDs with me and the shop reselling them (on consignment) was quite accommodating. This particular pair had a pair of NOS woofers, according to them an exact replacement. They did not have the EQ that I've heard about. The mid horn is not nearly as large in person as it looks in the photos, but it is still quite imposing. I listened for about half an hour. They connected them to a Cary preamp and a brand of amplifier that I've not heard of before but was some kind of tweaky SQ brand.

My impression was that these speakers have quite a bit of potential. Throughout my listening, I heard a few things that pointed to the fact that the crossover networks may benefit from some fresh components so I don't feel this pair lived up to their full capabilities. I would also like to hear them with McIntosh amplification. Regardless, I heard many of the same things I've often heard with three-way horn speakers, like those from Klipsch. Generally speaking, these ears still prefer a two-way horn loaded speaker with a 500 cycle horn, but I believe the EV would be a fun speaker to restore and enjoy. I believe I could easily live with a pair.

[JBLGUY]

Generally speaking, these ears still prefer a two-way horn loaded speaker with a 500 cycle horn, but I believe the EV would be a fun speaker to restore and enjoy. I believe I could easily live with a pair.

Well the Sentry III has a 500 hz horn. Is that the one you listen to?
It's about the same size as an Altec 511 ear ringer ......just not metal and much more mellow..a real nice horn IMO

[sburkeatqmi]

OK, I tracked a pair down locally and paid them a listen yesterday. I took a few of my favorite CDs with me and the shop reselling them (on consignment) was quite accommodating. This particular pair had a pair of NOS woofers, according to them an exact replacement. They did not have the EQ that I've heard about. The mid horn is not nearly as large in person as it looks in the photos, but it is still quite imposing. I listened for about half an hour. They connected them to a Cary preamp and a brand of amplifier that I've not heard of before but was some kind of tweaky SQ brand.

My impression was that these speakers have quite a bit of potential. Throughout my listening, I heard a few things that pointed to the fact that the crossover networks may benefit from some fresh components so I don't feel this pair lived up to their full capabilities. I would also like to hear them with McIntosh amplification. Regardless, I heard many of the same things I've often heard with three-way horn speakers, like those from Klipsch. Generally speaking, these ears still prefer a two-way horn loaded speaker with a 500 cycle horn, but I believe the EV would be a fun speaker to restore and enjoy. I believe I could easily live with a pair.

Snafu, are you still looking for a pair of these? I have a pair hooked up in my garage that I would sell. I live in Chandler also.

[memoire101]

Man, I haven't seen a pair of speakers in YEARS that piqued my interest like these do. I have a pair of Altec 9846-8As that I've owned for 20 years now. I power them with a McIntosh MC2300, and used a pair strapped on them for a few years. I'll be keeping my eye out for a pair of these to come up for sale in the Phoenix area.


Well Mine are for sale now here is your chance ... I ask 2000$ for mine .

Quebec Canada I live ;)

[memoire101]

Okay,I'm really annoyed! I wish that I had found those cabs before you did! :(

But seriously, kudos to you. I've been looking for a pair for the last few years. Those look to be really clean too. Let me know if you decide to get rid of them. I'd drive down quick before you changed your mind.
____________
Best Regards,
Carl Huff


They are for sale now here in Quebec city Canada . I ask 2000$ for mine. ;)

[memoire101]

Here mine are ....for eyes only :)

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=476580&d=1387228036

[escultor]

Here mine are ....for eyes only :)

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=476580&d=1387228036


Are you willing to ship them ?