WEM Column speaker help

[bostod]

I have recently purchased a pair of WEM Column speakers from Ebay ( never bid on ebay when drunk).
i have looked on the internet and find they are in fact guitar speakers. each speaker cabinet contains 4x 10" dual cone speakers possibly of Celestion design.
apparently they were all the rage at festivals in the 70's and used by floyd and the like.
now my question is.
would they be any use as hifi speakers.
would they be any use in an open baffle design.
they are rated at 12ohm. does this make them hard to drive(I do have a 500watt amp.
should i just put them back on Ebay or give them to my son for his guitar.

thanks for any advice on these. here is the Ebay number to link them 150665208888

[Reid Malenfant]

Due to the nature of them columbs have great horizontal dispersion & if i remember correctly the sound doesn't decrease in volume at distance like a standard speaker would, they tend to be louder than you'd expect...

In all honesty they won't be the best drivers in the world, columbs tend to use cheaper drivers than would be used in more standard PA kit ;)

I'd let your son kill them with his guitar (if it was me :eyebrows:).

[Neil McCauley]

Through a trusted intermediary I can get your question to Mr. Charlie Watkins, the founder and senior designer of WEM. Would you like that? No guarantees he'll reply though.

If so then please contact me privately.

Meanwhile ………. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

Regards

Howard

[bostod]

thanks for the offer Howard but i don't think that will be necessary. tried them out and the sound is good maybe not great but fine for my son and his guitar( as long as i'm out)

i was thinking of using some of the drivers for an open baffle project but it would be a shame to destroy this piece of history.

is there any cheap alternative second hand drivers i should look out for which will give me a taste of open baffles until i save up for a better quality driver. Cheap as in less than £100 a pair

[The Black Adder]

Convert them... I'd love some WEM audio speakers! Even though it's just the cabs.

If they had 'Pink Floyd London' stenciled on the back you would be quids in... lol

[bostod]

I Have Just got around to converting these speakers. i have just added some spring speaker terminals and soldered then via speaker wire to the drivers.
the sound was not what i was expecting ( bearing in mind my comparison is a pair of Tdl Rtl 3 transmission line speakers).
i thought there would be allot more bass considering each speaker has 4x12" drivers. does not come anywhere close to the tdl's.
Having said that the midrange and sound stage sounded good to my ears. not so surprising when you consider they were made for guitar amplification i suppose.
anyway it has given me some motivation to save up my pennies for some new speakers.
would it be a good idea to attend the 2012 Scalford show, I assume there will be some different speaker designs being shown there. what was the show like last year?

[Reid Malenfant]

Yes get yourself to Scalford ;) Last years show was my first & I can assure you I'll not be wanting to miss any of them :eyebrows:

If you have time you'll get to listen to possibly 70 or more pairs of speakers ;)

[Rare Bird]

Those WEM PA rigs were awesome for the time :eyebrows:

I actually used to own an immaculate WEM Audiomaster mixing console, it was immaculate aswell