This is the second listing in recent weeks for equipment that belonged to the late James Coltart, otherwise known as Sovereign. He sadly passed away in 2017 leaving his widow with a listening room full of experimental, custom and DIY HiFi equipment. ( https://theartofsound.net/forum/memb...7321-Sovereign)
To raise money for the family and to honour James' memory I spent 2018 and 2019 repairing, testing and selling the majority his collection to forum members and via eBay. COVID then hit and I had to shelve the project until now (I'm a dual-trained engineer and medical doctor and the latter took priority for obvious reasons). The custom Colin Wonfor TOCA/SECA amplifier is on its way to a new owner, and this pair of speakers are the last items to be sold, so I've created this new post for just the speakers.
These speakers are based on the Lampizator "Endorphin" P-17 speaker project (http://lampizator.eu/speakers/projec...20Kitchen.html). They follow the design quite closely including the recommended optional crossover arrangements.
They came to me with the crossovers wired point to point, which I have reworked into a more robust tagboard format. There's plenty for the DIY speaker enthusiast to add to this project: the woodwork could be stained, oiled, or treated to match existing furniture or equipment; the wiring from tagboard to drivers is simple figure-8 cable, the new owner could experiment with different wire materials; various drivers could be swapped in, and alternative midrange drivers will be supplied as pictured.
Some of the rubber washers are missing from the speaker mountings. There was a tear in the paper cone on one HF driver, which I have repaird, and there is also slight damage to the surround of one bass driver as pictured, otherwise all the drivers look fine.
The drivers as mounted are:
- Saba Greencone midranges
- Saba Greencone tweeters
- ARO 9408 Bass drivers made by Tesla in Czechoslovakia around the mid to late 50s.
A review of similar speakers by senior forum member Bumpy (https://theartofsound.net/forum/member.php?15397-bumpy):
"So there is a full compliment of vintage drivers with the common traits of paper cones, alnico magnets and high sensitivity. This will make for a well voiced, coherent sonic output over the entire frequency range. There in no problem with foam support rot which bedevils later old drivers, as in the 50's the drivers were made to last almost forever.
The sound will be 'relaxed' detailed and beautiful, particularly when married up to valves.
These speakers are very much a DIY project and from a wonderful start, can be considered a work in progress, with the ability to improve on every element. All parts are available still, and if you are like me, much of the fun is in being able to understand and improve them if you wish whilst being captivated at every point.
They work fantastically well with most genres of music except heavy rock head bashing. In particular Jazz, Irish, Country, 60s pop, Club Dance, Reggae and Dub music - this for me incudes Dire Straits, Leonard Cohen, the Shadows and Bob Marley.
Heavy Rock is compromised in OBs due to an indigenous lack of very low frequencies, but what there is in the bass is real and full of impact.
In summary a wonderful pair of speakers."
I'm looking for offers circa £750 for the pair.
Dropbox link with more photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lnkhcjfqk...rdgdNf66a?dl=0