Bgw amp plus eq for free!

[RMC]

Hi Derek,

Here's another small contribution for your UREI data base collection (pic attached). There's no glamour in such JBL listings, only a bunch of numbers. The info shown is likely for the models still available at the time of printing, mostly the C series you were looking for. I covered the rest of that page since its not UREI stuff.

Note regarding such listings. Generally, the UREI data is way down at the end of a list, with the column headers on page one only, e.g. for a 6-8 pages list. Say you're on page 6 and ask what was column 5 about again? Well you gotta go back to page one to know, so keep going back and forth to consult such list, a pain in the ass. However the list attached has the UREI stuff at the beginning (rare) with the column headers just above, nice. Therefore it was easy to provide this one to you, but not necessarily the case for other lists...

Some of the numbers on the present list look like part numbers, e.g. 45-0113 and no description other than the column header. To maybe provide a little more item description i'd need to cross-reference this list with other ones i have to hope getting more meat. Unfortunately i don't have time for such a search.

My suggestion for possibly more description than a header/part number only would be for you to ask member(s) here having a connection/link with the JBL Parts Dept, i don't. I'm guessing there should be a short item description in their system corresponding to a part number (e.g. UREI 15" coax driver, or something similar).

Hoping this will be useful. Have fun,

Richard

[DerekTheGreat]

Thank you, Richard!

Oh yeah, all information is useful. Saving that to my UREI folder.

The teenager in me also wants to fill the living room with pro JBL/UREI advertising stuff, sales ads, neon signs and what not.

[RMC]

THE DEMISE OF A NICE DOME MIDRANGE

I mentioned sometime ago in a previous post i'd show what happened to a nice 3" fabric dome mid, in this case the original Vifa (D75MX-41-08).

Short story, Tymphany purchased Peerless and Vifa from Denmark, they killed the Vifa brand reducing competition (the same way as E-V/Mark IV audio killed the Altec brand) and Tymphany moved Peerless production to China, as in the usual setup. With the making of the dome mid in China it lost quite a few feathers to say the least.

Scan Speak's involment was in re-issuing the classic Vifa midrange dome unit (now D7608/920010, said to be made in Dermark). Any feather it might have had left was simply taken away by Scan Speak, finishing the job with the axe it seems. Another audio casualty.

Seeing this being done by Tymphany doesn't surprise me at all, its almost expected in the new normal of audio acquisitions. However, seeing Scan Speak (usually a respected name) adding insult to injury, that's totally unforgivable. They made it even worst than Tymphany China did, a butcher job.

The Vifa original went from a pretty linear response curve, about 700 - 7,000 hz, to become a real mountain shape curve, flat for 1 khz or so, under the Scan Speak engineering rule. Welcome to Mount Everest comes to mind.

With all due respect for my Danish colleagues here, have the Danish folks lost their mind, forgot simple geometry (linear) or suffer from amnesia?? Who will purchase or use this? Not me, even free i wouldn't take them, don't have time to waste on this. One would rightly expect WAY better from Scan Speak...

A few months back i did try to purchase a pair of the original Vifa dome mid for a build. One seller had a single unit with a dent in the dome, less interesting. The other seller had a pair, but 3 dents in one of the two domes, no hurry also. So even buying all three units i'd still end up with only one good mid. Had there been two good ones i might have bought all three, one for spare parts since i don't see those often. I previously done that for my rare Vifa H25xxx horn tweeters.

First pic is Vifa original response, second pic is the Tymphany poor job (Tymphany name at top right of pic), third pic is what's left of the response curve on the Scan Speak clone unit, fourth pic to show device, manufacturer and country.

Btw the three Peerless older mid models were 2" dome units while the Vifa was a 3", i was more interested in the 3", one should not see that choice as an opinion, good or bad, with regards to the older Peerless models.

Richard

[RMC]

.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Hi Richard

Interesting. Some of the differences are the camera angle on the first two images and the scale on the last image which to my eyes looks different.

As far as soft domes do the Vifa was a budget design.

Far better performing 4” and 5 inch cone mid drivers are plentiful. Some of the best from Seas.

Visation makes an excellent metal dome mid driver.

https://www.visaton.de/sites/default...20FFL_1163.pdf

A fabric version here

https://www.visaton.de/sites/default...20FFL_1176.pdf

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[RMC]

Derek,

Since you're addicted to UREI, even going for advertising about them! (not looking to become your "pusher")

Reading your last post i remembered having another UREI doc easy to find in my stuff. Its an ad from UREI listing all their installations/studios using those monitors (sadly they seem to be missing yours though, lol). It comes with some pics, shetch, notes or explanations (partial preview pic attached).

However, the 4 page ad's file size is 5+MB based on Windows, probably too large to post here. If interested let me know, i could forward a copy to you at the e-mail address you indicate in a private message. Note that i rarely log in to LH forum to view or read, mostly when i post. Occasionally i may not log in for sometime. So better to give me a shout in my BGW thread if you send me a PM, otherwise it might take a while to get a reply.

Richard

[DerekTheGreat]

Hey Richard,

Whoa, that is cool! Hitsville Studios, as in THE Hitsville in MoTown???? Sweet to see they've got three 813C's and then probably two sets of 813A's. PM sent!

[RMC]

The question is asked one more time in a PM. Might as well post the reply here too for the others who will certainly ask it again.

Hello ... ,

Sorry i don't speak ....

The JBL 4520 is not a hi-fi speaker, and was not designed for such use. It is rather a sound reinforcement low-frequency cabinet. It is a rear-loaded folded horn for the back wave of the cones, and a direct radiator for the front waves.

These cabinets are relatively large, heavey and complicated to build, so you have to be really dedicated and good at woodwork in order to pursue this kind of project.

The sound from these boxes has a boost (some amplitude) in the low frequencies to give the impression of robust bass (punch). But they are useful down to about 40 hz in real life. The 4520 was mostly used in discos (dance floor application) due to the nature of that music, with a beat. This is not a subwoofer speaker.

Knowing the above do you you still want to pursue a 4520 project?

Richard

[Ian Mackenzie]

A hifi loudspeaker conjures up the notion of an AR3. Small, inefficient and sounds like a small loudspeaker.

So if that is a hifi loudspeaker anything in the realm of a medium format JBL monitor isn’t HiFi.

Aside from this in diy audio the audio amateur can try and use any loudspeaker he/her wishes. If he likes it then that is all that matters. The 4520 is well known in the high end audiophile horn camp as are numerous folded horns, quarter wave horns are straight horns. Some of these are five way active systems not unlike a 1970’s front of house PA.

Thomas Dunker popularised horn loaded systems to the hi end audio community. Other groups including the Triode Community love horn loaded bass in different bass horn designs. Some equipment reviewers use the Altec A7 as their home reference system. Others modify the A7 to their own requirements. None of these are hifi loudspeakers.

A well known employee at Pass Labs used a modified A7 with a Tad 2001 for many years. l thought it sounded very impressive. Then there is the La Scala AL5 from Klipsch.

https://www.mirandahifi.com/products...nding-speakers

[hjames]

Well, I'm a big fan of UREIs as well - got 4 of them in our multichannel room, (and a couple spare drivers in storage) tho its the 809As, the smaller ones with the JBL Coax.
But the B460 picks up the low end slack for what they lack ..

Derek,

Since you're addicted to UREI, even going for advertising about them! (not looking to become your "pusher")

Reading your last post i remembered having another UREI doc easy to find in my stuff. Its an ad from UREI listing all their installations/studios using those monitors (sadly they seem to be missing yours though, lol). It comes with some pics, sketch, notes or explanations (partial preview pic attached).

Richard

[DerekTheGreat]

If you ever decide to get rid of two 809's, I'd be happy to buy them.

[hjames]

If you ever decide to get rid of two 809's, I'd be happy to buy them.

Thanks, but likely not - 4 gives us pristine quad/Surround sound.
Emma has been fooled with a knock on the door (in a TV show) and she'll jump to check our front door,
as I chuckle, quietly ...

"Rusty" will tell you I met an Ohio seller in WV and brought home a pair of the slightly larger 811C UREI's at one point,
but when my Gov't contract job ended suddenly (unexpectedly) in March 2015, I sold them off (too quickly) in a money panic.
Regrets ...? I've had a few ...

But since then, I got a great deal on a B-460 once I found a way to get it from Ft Meyer FL to me in VA ...
So, I think we have enough bass in the multimedia room these days.

[RMC]

Somewhat surprising the number of UREI systems that seem to have been modified/tampered with, or abandoned. Some use different woofer, no vent cover or having a wrong one, damping material of other type and/or quantity, etc.

Have they actually kept the original UREI sound, the one intended by the design Engineers?

Recently i saw an audio store having for sale a pair of UREI they restored. It was evident the port cover installed didn't look at all like the original one i posted. It appeared to be open and angled metal horizontal slits, say similar to a half-open or so horizontal blind on a window. In that case it would let the air easily in or out of the cab, in a way like a vented box.

This is far from the original UREI design of a quasi-sealed box with its foam port covers on. There's different quality levels of restoration applied to the UREI systems. Maybe these systems are misunderstood, their parts unavailable or that owner didn't really care about the outcome.

Richard

[DerekTheGreat]

Thanks, but likely not - 4 gives us pristine quad/Surround sound.
Emma has been fooled with a knock on the door (in a TV show) and she'll jump to check our front door,
as I chuckle, quietly ...

"Rusty" will tell you I met an Ohio seller in WV and brought home a pair of the slightly larger 811C UREI's at one point,
but when my Gov't contract job ended suddenly (unexpectedly) in March 2015, I sold them off (too quickly) in a money panic.
Regrets ...? I've had a few ...

But since then, I got a great deal on a B-460 once I found a way to get it from Ft Meyer FL to me in VA ...
So, I think we have enough bass in the multimedia room these days.

About what I expected Yes, the imaging and [insert audiophile terminology here] of these things is absolutely fantastic. Without question the best I've heard so far. All those transients and whatnot jump right out at you. Angela has fallen 'prey' to that as well, with how life-like they sound. Mike Rowe has never sounded so good haha.

Nice Sinatra reference.

Hmm, I don't think it is possible to have enough bass. The M&K MX350THX's pair really well with the 811C's. They might even be tighter in the ~80-100hz range than the 2245H's.

Somewhat surprising the number of UREI systems that seem to have been modified/tampered with, or abandoned. Some use different woofer, no vent cover or having a wrong one, damping material of other type and/or quantity, etc.

Have they actually kept the original UREI sound, the one intended by the design Engineers?

Recently i saw an audio store having for sale a pair of UREI they restored. It was evident the port cover installed didn't look at all like the original one i posted. It appeared to be open and angled metal horizontal slits, say similar to a half-open or so horizontal blind on a window. In that case it would let the air easily in or out of the cab, in a way like a vented box.

This is far from the original UREI design of a quasi-sealed box with its foam port covers on. There's different quality levels of restoration applied to the UREI systems. Maybe these systems are misunderstood, their parts unavailable or that owner didn't really care about the outcome.

Richard

I think I've seen the same pair you've mentioned, forget which model.

Definitely misunderstood. Cars seem to fall prey to similar behavior once they are outside the factory window. That's big with Klipsch systems too. Lots of people replace the diaphragms and what not only for them to still end up for sale due to dissatisfaction with the result. As for UREI 81xC monitors, I'd wager to say anyone who didn't like them hasn't heard them EQ'd right or with the right amplification & preamp combo. The hardest part for me to get right was EQ. These aren't systems you just plop in a room and enjoy instantly. I'd imagine studio engineers knew that, but laymen me had to learn it.

[hjames]

We were watching a Tom Petty biography I had DVRed a few years back (Peter Bogdonavich's "Runnin' Down A Dream" - something like 4 hours long),
and there was an interview with Tom in his home studio with his UREIs, and, I could not resist taking a picture showing our room with our UREIs flanking the TV showing him with his UREIs ...