Does anyone recognize this speaker?

A friend of mine gave me a mystery pair of speakers that sound really great. All I know about them is that they were allegedly built by an "audiophile guy" around the Boston, Ma area in the eighties, that, and they are really heavy. There are no markings on them except for an old Dymo type label by the posts that say PR-1 and PR-2. I'm curious if anyone is familiar with what they are or how I might investigate? I have not attempted to remove the speakers or otherwise dismantle them. Any help is appreciated.

 

There's nothing to "investigate", they were home-built by somebody with fairly decent woodworking skills. But if they were built in the 80's they might benefit from a crossover update.

 

I like the appearance. Looks serious!

 

My friends are worst than yours, no loudspeaker as a present, never...

 

A friend of mine bought some nice high end bookshelves in the mid 80's
Still has them. Eagle is the brand, made in AUBURN AL. I can't find any info on them, there's no telling how many obscure brands have come and gone. Still working on getting those from him, they are awesome, and the first audiophile speaker I ever heard.

 

Nice shape for a 30 year old speaker.

 

Mine now are from a super small shop, crazy independent designer. Used to enjoy going to Toby's shop when I lived in Fort Worth. My French teacher had a set of those. Used to make her mix tapes and go over to “study” so I could listen.

 

Im sorry, what?

 

They look somewhat like a/d/s speaker which were built in Wilmington, MA just north of Boston.

Bill

 

Remove the speakers. What does it say on the back of them?

 

I suspect they wouldn't say anything but the manufacturer part number. Very few speaker builders made their own drivers.

 

Are you concerned about the "study" part?

 

It's worth a try. All my JBL speakers say 'JBL' on the magnet assemblies. Ditto for my Celestions.

 

I remember Toby speakers. When I was in college a couple of guys had a pair of them. They sounded great. Always wanted a pair but couldn't afford them.

When I was a senior me and two other guys did an accounting project for the company. We met and worked with the man himself. Talk about a business that needed an accounting system.... they pretty much had nothing when we walked in there. Mr Toby pretty much just wanted to design and build speakers. He wasn't much into the business end as long as the company was successful.

Two big rumors/ mysterys about those speakers were what did he fill the speaker cabinet with and did he really use 6 X 9 car speakers for his drivers. Well he took us through the shop where he built them. He said they were not car speakers for the drivers but would not name his supplier. He also would not show us the entire inside of a cabinet claiming it was a trade secret.

 

Well, if you think about the disadvantages that a small shop has–essentially, they have to hold some secrets. He was the first person that informed me about coherent design and helped me understand soundstage and imaging. I loved stopping into his shop and listening, but like you, slightly out of my range at the time. I guess he designed the geodesic sort of system in the Imax theater across from his shop. That's an amazing piece of work, and how the timing is compensated for is mind blowing. So yeah, Toby, and hot Denton summers listening to John Abercrombie at my French teacher's house. Good times.

 

ADS never used 'real' tweeters like the one in the pic....not an ADS product.

 

So please do tell us what a/d/s used for tweeters if they weren't "real" . I've had a pair of a/d/s 300Cs that I bought 36 years ago. The tweeters and woofers were rebuilt recently by Richard So out in Arizona. The 300Cs have seen hard duty in my cars and now as surrounds in my 5.2 system. I can state for a fact that the tweeters are "real" and for a small speaker they sound great.

Bill

 

"allegedly built by an "audiophile guy"" I'm assuming DIY, No provisions for grills either . Until you start pulling drivers and post pics I doubt you'll find out anything. At least you can get a better sense of the quality. Those drivers look pretty generic, especially that tweeter and mid.

 

The pics I googled sure looks like 6x9's ..funny