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Thread: Western Electric Beach Master info?

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    Western Electric Beach Master info?

    Okay, first off, mods if this isn't appropriate, please move as needed. I figure WECO was the daddy of it all so this should count.

    Anways... I just picked up a full Beach Master system, amps, speaker array and spares to keep it up and working. The problem is there is so little information out there I am taking this to multiple boards to see what input you may have. I have many pics if you need them. Please let me know what info you have?

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    Dis Member mikebake's Avatar
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    Awesome!

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    Dis Member mikebake's Avatar
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    Having fun with the Beachmaster;
    "Hey Frank, yer ass is on fire!! Got any smokes?"

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    Senior Member louped garouv's Avatar
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    too fun......


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    Got all the drivers functional and it has potential.

    Anyway, is there anyone here with information on Western Electric D173246 2"+ horn drivers? These are the main drivers in the Beach Master. I can't find an appropriate civilian model.





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    Senior Seņor boputnam's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Tawny View Post
    Got all the drivers functional and it has potential.
    Er, for... ? :dont-know
    bo

    "Indeed, not!!"

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    Dis Member mikebake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by boputnam View Post
    Er, for... ? :dont-know
    Fer damn raucous confusion of amphibious landings, for heavens sake!!

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    To tell them dang kids to get off my lawn!

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    Gonna use a Dyna Stereo 400, a mixer and a microphone to play reveille tomorrow morning at sunrise. Should be fun.

    Actually I am still debating on keeping the system or letting it go. Getting info is like pulling teeth though. The drivers are Western Electric D-173246 and they all are functional and measure between 4.9 and 5.1 ohms. After a trusty 9 volt battery test, then an iPod test, I can assure you these are LOUD.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Steve Schell's Avatar
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    Mister Tawny, you've got some extremely rare equipment. I hope that you will keep it all together instead of parting everything out. I see you've already got some of the spare tubes up on ebay. My guess is that the right collector, if you could find that person, would pay you considerably more for the intact collection than you might receive by selling things piecemeal. Your 250W air cooled tube amp is the only one I know to exist these days. This stuff has a certain appeal to vintage audio hounds who would enjoy the tubes and speaker drivers, but a WWII military collector might really go nuts over your find.

    Below is a link to a site that describes portions of a Beachmaster system installed on a college building rooftop. At the bottom of the page is a link to another Beachmaster site, possibly the one where mikebake found the neat scans. You might write to the people at these sites to see if they know of any potential buyers of this gear if you want to move it along.

    http://www.calpoly.edu/~pwoodwor/bigvoice.htm

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    Senior Member sonofagun's Avatar
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    And keep us posted...interesting!

    Where/how'd you get it if I/we may ask?

    For those who need a louder alarm clock?

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    As far as where I got it? It was posted to a CL ad here locally (Colorado Springs) for about 2 weeks. No one was interested, and I eventually picked it up.

    I did get all the drivers firing and ran the entire setup off the headphone output jack of an iPod yesterday. That ran the whole unit at normal table radio volume with no strain. Makes me wonder what a dedicated amp would be like.

    I know about the rarity, which is why I am feeling torn right now. I love this thing and want to put it back together, and hear it. But there are realities of life too. Let's just say life is fiscally tough right now. The people I have talked to all want me to donate it or sell it for a song. Not something I can do, unfortunately. So here is the dilemma. Also the one tube that is up on ebay was an over packed spare, not listed as part of the spares complement. The other 2 Sylvania were from the system as spares maintenance, I don't know why since the original spares were there and sealed. Maybe they just happened to be thrown in????

    I also still am curious as hell about it. I am thinking about borrowing a variac and bringing it to life. I have enough spares to repopulate all but the 836 tubes. So it's very tempting to give it a go.

    BTW I saw the "Big Voice" and the SMECC sites. They are about the only places with any information on the unit.

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    After a lot of research and realizing I am not going to get this thing up, I decided to post it on the "national auction site". I hate them with a blue passion, but the exposure is pretty valuable. We'll see how it goes though. I did get offered a terrific deal on some McIntosh, Marantz and Altecs so it's a reasonable trade off.

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Tawny View Post
    After a lot of research and realizing I am not going to get this thing up, I decided to post it on the "national auction site".
    Thanks for sharing... being unaware of their existence I found the info posted by you and others quite fascinating.

    Good Luck with your auction.

    Widget


    BTW: We are currently stalled in our discussions about "What is it worth?" posts. I for one find threads like this one an excellent example of why we would not want to limit access or dissuade folks from posting their questions here.

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    Senior Member sonofagun's Avatar
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    Some Hollywood director or studio might want it for their next war movie.

    How about a link to your auction listing?

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