Olympus C50s with twin woofers no passive radiators

[Drwatershed]

My father in law has a pair of Olympus c50s that have 2 15 inch drivers not a passive radiator. Was this an option or did he modify these? With those extra magnets these weigh in at 200 lbs each. All that I have read on this forum seems to indicate that the passive radiator is stock. Anyone ever see these with twin drivers. They seem to be stock otherwise for a 8r setup. According to my wife these have been his since he bought them in the late 60s. He is 91 so can't get much from him. Will likely sell these on eBay so trying to determine if they are unique. They sound great. He has the matching Delphi cabinet too.

[oldsoundz]

My father in law has a pair of Olympus c50s that have 2 15 inch drivers not a passive radiator. Was this an option or did he modify these? With those extra magnets these weigh in at 200 lbs each. All that I have read on this forum seems to indicate that the passive radiator is stock. Anyone ever see these with twin drivers. They seem to be stock otherwise for a 8r setup. According to my wife these have been his since he bought them in the late 60s. He is 91 so can't get much from him. Will likely sell these on eBay so trying to determine if they are unique. They sound great. He has the matching Delphi cabinet too.

Have never seen or heard of a dual active woofer set up. To do so properly, would likely require changing crossovers. Is there any way you could provide pics? Would love to see some. It may be a custom build.

[Drwatershed]

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Have never seen or heard of a dual active woofer set up. To do so properly, would likely require changing crossovers. Is there any way you could provide pics? Would love to see some. It may be a custom build.

The port opposite the bullet tweeter is open on both speakers as you can see in the pic. Probably a good plan to allow air to vent with two drivers. Other than that they appear to be standard components. Hard to see the wiring since I shot these through the open port. Don't want to mess with the enclosures because except for some surface finish issues they are in great condition. As I said they sound great. The crossovers look standard but must be paired wires or serial connection to the two drivers. From what my wife says these are as they were delivered to her house (when she was 8). Whether this was an option he ordered from the dealer or if he bought these from someone who modified them is unclear.

[oldsoundz]

Thanks for the pics. From what I see, they definitely look like JBL factory cabinets.

One thing that strikes me is the leads on the woofers pointing in different directions. From what I can recall, all of the JBL stuff I have seen have had these leads positioned the same direction on each speaker. I have owned a few s8r packages and seen many more. I don't recall seeing any with dual active woofers. My guess is the woofers were added by your father in law.

Hopefully we will get some input from people with more years experience or even a past employee.

Best of luck!

[Drwatershed]

Thanks for the pics. From what I see, they definitely look like JBL factory cabinets.

One thing that strikes me is the leads on the woofers pointing in different directions. From what I can recall, all of the JBL stuff I have seen have had these leads positioned the same direction on each speaker. I have owned a few s8r packages and seen many more. I don't recall seeing any with dual active woofers. My guess is the woofers were added by your father in law.

Hopefully we will get some input from people with more years experience or even a past employee.

Best of luck!

He was a more power kind of guy so perhaps. His craftsmanship on other projects is not as clean as these look. He wasn't a detail kind of guy so that fact that wire colors going to the second woofer match the first doesn't seem like his work. Maybe the store did a custom upgrade for him. They are definitely JBL cabinets original badges and envelope on the back of one cabinet with serial numbers that match components. Nothing in the envelope though. Would love to hear from any more knowledgeble about these.

[Mr. Widget]

He definitely did this himself.

Unfortunately the cabinet volume isn't large enough to support the two woofers properly. That said, the 40+ year old Lans-a-loy surrounds on those woofers is very likely too stiff for the woofers to operate properly too. There are numerous threads on refoaming the woofers or using DOT-3 to make the surrounds more pliable... do some searches.

I'd refoam or treat one pair of the woofers, track down a pair of PR15s, and seal the port. The speakers will then perform even better than they do now.


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[oldsoundz]

He definitely did this himself.



I'd refoam or treat one pair of the woofers, track down a pair of PR15s, and seal the port. The speakers will then perform even better than they do now.


Widget

I agree. Especially if they are going on ebay. Get them as close to original as possible. You may even be able to source a factory cap for the open port. Too bad there is no literature in the envelope.

[Drwatershed]

He definitely did this himself.

Unfortunately the cabinet volume isn't large enough to support the two woofers properly. That said, the 40+ year old Lans-a-loy surrounds on those woofers is very likely too stiff for the woofers to operate properly too. There are numerous threads on refoaming the woofers or using DOT-3 to make the surrounds more pliable... do some searches.

I'd refoam or treat one pair of the woofers, track down a pair of PR15s, and seal the port. The speakers will then perform even better than they do now.


Widget

So your thought is that it detracts from value, except for the value of two "spare" woofers. IF someone bought these from me:) they could do the rehab and then maybe swap the extra woofers for some PR15s and some change...

[Mr. Widget]

Then strip and ship...

They are worth more as individual parts than as systems. If the 375s are pristine, they are quite valuable, the woofers and 075s less so, and the networks not particularly.

If the cabinets are perfect with fretwork grilles even they have value.

Too bad you aren't into them, but it seems fewer and fewer of us are anymore.


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[Drwatershed]

Then strip and ship...

They are worth more as individual parts than as systems. If the 375s are pristine, they are quite valuable, the woofers and 075s less so, and the networks not particularly.

If the cabinets are perfect with fretwork grilles even they have value.

Too bad you aren't into them, but it seems fewer and fewer of us are anymore.


Widget

Everything except the tops of the cabinets is near perfect. Tops of the cabinets have some water damage and one large scratch on one speaker. The fretwork has minor damage in one small area on one speaker. that could be fixed.

I had them on while cleaning out my inlaws house and I am way into them. I would love to keep them. Was listening to vinyl on them and might get my old lps out of the basement just to hear them through those speakers. However my inlaws are 91 and in assisted living $$$$ so we need the cash. I'll see if I can get some decent money out of them as a set and consider stripping them if no one gives me an offer. Getting ready to post them on the for sale part of this board.

[Drwatershed]

He definitely did this himself.

Unfortunately the cabinet volume isn't large enough to support the two woofers properly. That said, the 40+ year old Lans-a-loy surrounds on those woofers is very likely too stiff for the woofers to operate properly too. There are numerous threads on refoaming the woofers or using DOT-3 to make the surrounds more pliable... do some searches.

I'd refoam or treat one pair of the woofers, track down a pair of PR15s, and seal the port. The speakers will then perform even better than they do now.


Widget

As this photo shows the envelope on the back of the speaker shows this was sold as an s8w kit with two le15as. So as I thought my father in law did not modify these this must have been an option? Sorry the photo is upside down don't know how to rotate it on this forum. So does that make them rare and valuable? Or just overpowered as you suggest.

[Mr. Widget]

Very interesting.

Since S8R was the passive radiator version, I would assume a S8W would be the name of such a dual woofer system... though it must have been pretty rare. I have never heard of it before or seen that option in any JBL literature. It might be valuable to someone as a collector item.

That said, I doubt it sounds better than a single woofer in an enclosure of that volume. ;)

I hope you can find a good home for them. It would be a real shame to part them out!


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