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Thread: IAS Beaulieu Speakers

  1. #41
    Join Date: Aug 2010

    Location: Montseny National Park, Catalonia

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    I'm John.

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    Hmm, Volts. Nuff said.

    Actually, maybe not.

    Just to clear a few things up.

    These look like early Volt 10” drivers with the original ABR grills.
    To the best of my knowledge Volt didn’t make a 12” unit until they produced the radial chassis.

    The early Volts B250 came with a natural finish Aluminum chassis and a grey, coated paper cone. The later Volts under the same model number but with a .1 suffix had a couple of revisions.
    The later chassis came in black and the cone coating was changed giving a slightly stiffer cone and a black finish. The roll surrounds also changed with an increase in thickness making for a slightly less compliant suspension. (I used the new roll surrounds when I last rebuilt my Volts)
    If anyone is interested in the original specification sheet for these, drop me a PM and I’ll copy one up for you.

    I’ve been very gentlemanly and edited out my response to Dave’s Boom Boom comments.
    All I can say is you either know, or you don’t.

    Volt drivers will with a suitable crossover work just fine with a valve amp but as Andy points out, probably not with some 5 watt SET amp. With a resonant frequency of 20 Hz a little care is needed with enclosure design but in general Volts are less likely to boom than most other bass drivers currently in production, commonly with resonant frequencies of between 60 and 100 Hz, given a sympathetically designed enclosure.

    I’ve built 4 sets of speakers using Volt drivers now (B220, B250 x2 and RV 3853) usually accompanied by Scanspeak mid and hi range with excellent results.

    While as Andy mentions they are expensive, for those interested in quality and “out of the box” thinking in loudspeaker choice Volt drivers are about as good as it gets.
    As Mark mentions, at the current price its worth taking a punt just for the Volt drivers which new would now cost in excess of £500.
    Last edited by Welder; 21-08-2011 at 13:23.
    Single spur balanced Mains. Self built music server with 3 seperate linear PSU, Intel i5, 16 GB RAM no hard drive (various Linux OS). Benchmark Dac2 HGC, single ended XLR interconnects/Belkin cable. Exposure 21RC Pre, Super 18 Power (recap & modified). Modded World Audio HD83 HP amp. Hand built Monitors with external crossovers , Volt 250 bass & ABR, Scanspeak 13M8621 Mid & Scanspeak D2905/9300 Hi. HD595 & Beyer 880 (600 ohm) cans.

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    John.

  2. #42
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: Southampton

    Posts: 1,620
    I'm drunk.


  3. #43
    Join Date: Jul 2009

    Location: Hampshire, UK

    Posts: 3,662
    I'm Adam.

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    Hmm, bought for £40, ebayed with a starting price of £250 - with all due respect, that's quite some mark-up.....

    Still, best of luck with the sale - were they not to your liking sonically?
    Engineers: fixing problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand.

  4. #44
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Beobloke View Post
    Hmm, bought for £40, ebayed with a starting price of £250 - with all due respect, that's quite some mark-up.....
    A man's gotta make a living...

    Agree with John the Welder's comments re Volt 100% they are high quality Bass drivers perhaps the best you can get.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  5. #45
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

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    I'm David.

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    Mr Welder sir,

    Back in the day, a gent from IAS all but moved in to the shop to promote and hopefully sell some Beaulieu's to us. This was just as Linn had launched the Ittok and all but ruined the LP12 sound bass wise (we didn't think so at the time, but history says this is what happened). The IAS speakers were set lowish on the ground and the mid to low bass took off in a very negative way, compared to the many other big speakers we had in the dem room at the time.

    What I tried to indicate in the early post on this thread, was that using modern, less boomy sources, the Beaulieu's may have faired very much better, but with an early 80's issue LP12, they sounded horrible, as did many/most full range(ish) speakers out there. Why do you think the Kans, Saras and 'Briks got a foothold in the first place? Their bass was either non-existant (Kans), one-note thud (Sara) or over-damped('Brik) and these were the only way an LP12 of the period worked at all.

    Loads of late 70's and early 80's speakers killed off by the "terrible two" sound really good now. Even my late 60's Wharfedale Dentons sang well for me this morning
    Last edited by DSJR; 22-08-2011 at 20:02. Reason: can't spell - can't type
    Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
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  6. #46
    Join Date: Jul 2010

    Location: North Cambs UK, Earth, Sol, Orion - Cygnus arm of galaxy

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    I'm MadeOfDeadGiantStarsThatExplodedEonsAgo.

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    Hi Dave, i wish i knew a little bit more about this so called quarter wave loading It looks like a sealed box, after all i can't see any sort of end to the line, which suggests it might well be some kind of attempt at a stuffed sealed line?

    No idea in all honesty, perhaps they'd have been better off in a good old sealed box, but in effect it wouldn't be too dissimilar except for the line length might have made things a tad lumpy?

    Quote Originally Posted by DSJR View Post
    Mr Welder sir,

    Back in the day, a gent from IAS all but moved in to the shop to promote and hopefully sell some Beaulieu's to us. This was just as Linn had launched the Ittok and all but ruined the LP12 sound bass wise (we didn't think so at the time, but history says this is what happened). The IAS speakers were set lowish on the ground and the mid to low bass took off in a very negative way, compared to the many other big speakers we had in the dem room at the time.

    What I tried to indicate in the early post on this thread, was that using modern, less boomy sources, the Beaulieu's may have faired very much better, but with an early 80's issue LP12, they sounded horrible, as did many/most full range(ish) speakers out there. Why do you think thge Kans, Saras and 'Briks got a foothold in the first place? Their bass was either non-existant (Kans), one-note thud (Sara) or over-damped('Brik) and these were the only way an LP12 of the period worked at all.

    Loads of late 70's and early 80's speakers killed off by the "terrible two" sound really good now. Even my late 60's Wharfedale Denons sang well for me this morning
    Do you mean Wharfedale Dentons?

    In about 1985 i purchased an as new JVC QLY5F from Hifi Consultants in Cowgate Peterborough. This was equiped with a rather nice JVC MC2E moving coil cartridge, i payed £65 cash for it... The previous owner had just "upgraded" LOL to an LP12 that he had to spend a total of £1000 on including the LP12 to better the JVC

    Some mothers do ave em
    Bests, Mark



    "We must believe in free will. We have no choice" Isaac Bashevis Singer

  7. #47
    Join Date: Sep 2009

    Location: Bournemouth

    Posts: 5,266
    I'm Dan.

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    Thanks for the replys guys interesting . someones offered me £200 buy it now what planet are they on
    Receiver
    Marantz 2225
    CD Transport & DAC & PSU
    Marantz 6005 , Beresford Caiman , Paul Hynes SR4
    Turntable
    KAM DDX 1000 with Goldring G800 Cartridge
    Loudspeakers
    Mordaunt Short M10

  8. #48
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

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    I'm David.

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    Yep, Denton W20D's. I couldn't easily get the grilles off, but the backs unscrew and I'm surprised frankly. The wiring is a slightly heavier gauge than my Spendors were until recently, the chipboard box looks flimsy but goes together well and doesn't sound too hollow and the crossovers are hard wired and only an 8uF cap looks like it could be upgraded possibly. Sonically they're a bit dry, but nowhere NEAR as bad as I thought they'd be and they're suprisingly big for a "miniature," although the Linton's may have a better bass to mid balance due to the bigger box.

    The LP12 DOES do good things to 1970's and many 1980's pressings, but it did sound coloured and got worse before it began to get better. Current ones I still maintain are consistently good sonically, but cost the earth and it's this latter which I feel prevents them from being taken seriously, especially when a "Heavy" AceSpacedeck with WaveMechanic will almost certainly equal it on all counts - IMO....
    Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
    Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me

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