Stephens Trusonic Help

[alanevil]

I found two enormous speakers in the garbage recently. I collect drivers from televisions and stereos I find in the trash to use in art displays but these are too big for what I do. I'm going to guess that they were in the rental house they were behind for many decades and after moving the Stephens Trusonic speaker, I understand why. I'm also going to guess that the Stephens Trusonic speaker was part of a mono hifi and the second speaker was added later. I have not had a chance to hook them up for a listen but I did shoot some pictures of them and I was hoping I could get some advice from you all. There are no identifying marks on the outside of the second speaker so it's a big mystery so far. It weighs a third as much as the Stephens.

The grill cloth was ripped open on both of them. I'm a bit leery of taking the backs off them as they're held together with large brass flathead screws which are notorious for stripping out. But I can't see anything other than what you see in the pictures otherwise. I have no use (or space) for these monsters so I want to sell them but what I'm wondering is if it would be better to keep the cabinets intact or sell the (15"?) drivers?









Thanks in advance for any advice or information on these speakers.

[speakerdave]

Someone will want that Stephens coaxial and the cabinet, but maybe not the same person.

You need to get the cabinet back off to photograph the back of the Stephens coaxial and the crossover. Get a screw driver that is sharp (does not have rounded edges and corners--has not been used as an awl, chisel, scraper, pry bar or paint can opener) and fits the slots exactly. Get a good screwdriver; the flats at the tip will be parallel. You'll be surprised what a difference this makes. It will work; just take your time.

Be very careful demounting the Stephens. People who have not handled big heavy cone drivers often end up with a thumb hole in the paper cone. Paper--it's paper. It weighs so much you probably will not be comfortable one-handing it, so lay the cabinet down on its face so that once you get all the nuts off the bolts you can pull the drivers straight off them with two hands, but before you do that plan where you are going to put it down. I'm going through all this detail because it is a collectible and proper recone kits are not available for it.

Don't trash the cabinet. There's a market these days for everything that has been tried for hi fi since Alley Oop cupped his hands around his mouth.

Photograph and put the cabinet and the stephens (with crossover, please) on ebay.

I can't identify that other driver, but I don't think I'd fool with it.

[mhardy6647]

The cabinet is a cross between a Karlson and a corner horn; interesting. I don't think it's a "genuine" Karlson... but I am no expert. Freddyi at AA is (if you want to consult one).

Here's a little Karlson info, though: http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/Karlson/Karlson.htm



The Stephens looks a lot like this big guy (which as I type this has been installed -- but not used -- in a Karlson K-15 kabinet [the one shown above, in fact]). This is a 106AX; there were other Stephens coaxes. See: http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/Stephens/Stephens.htm

[Steve Schell]

You've gotten some good advice. The Stephens driver is a permanent magnet coaxial speaker of high quality, probably worth $500 to $800 on ebay. I've never seen that version of a Karlson enclosure before, it may have been a custom job, as many were. Freddy Ireson the Karlson King will know if Karlson ever built anything like that. I'll steer him to this thread.

Before doing anything else, put the Karlson/Stephens in a good corner and fire it up with good electronics and perpare to be amazed at how good it sounds! The things that people throw away...

The other speaker is a low cost unit; those non-time aligned mid/tweeter units sound confused to me. The cabinet may be an old Electrovoice, or perhaps a generic aftermarket cab. Probably not a lot of value there, but take a listen anyway.

[mhardy6647]

You've gotten some good advice. The Stephens driver is a permanent magnet coaxial speaker of high quality, probably worth $500 to $800 on ebay. I've never seen that version of a Karlson enclosure before, it may have been a custom job, as many were. Freddy Ireson the Karlson King will know if Karlson ever built anything like that. I'll steer him to this thread...

I never knew Freddyi's last name!

[alanevil]

Thanks for the info, folks. Though too poor to be a true audiophile I'm fascinated by old stuff. I've stood behind Electric Ladyland's mixer playing through Abbey Road monitors, for instance.

My shop where I have the speakers has no free corners (work benches and shelves all around) but I ran both speakers free standing today. The Stephens speaker is something special, for sure. It has a really nice presence with a warm, round low end. I was playing various Beatles mono songs (admittedly not period music but I had that with me) through it and the detail was remarkable. Better than my studio monitors. I rather wish I had enough space to put it in here as a mono monitor, but I don't.

I still haven't opened up the Stephens but I did take apart the other speaker. It is a Utah Radio Products Co. Inc. 15" coaxial speaker. The cabinet itself was an extremely simple infinite baffle design with no damping whatsoever. I was surprised at how open sounding this speaker is. It's obviously meant to be a very short throw woofer and the 5" mid/tweeter actually sounds pretty nice. There is no crossover. My Google research of this speaker leads me to believe it was probably a mass produced speaker meant to go with one of their hifi radios or record players. If nothing else, it's a very elegant looking speaker. Here are some pictures if you guys have any thoughts on it I'd love to hear them.