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Old 21st Jun 2010, 4:25 pm   #16
mhennessy
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Evesham, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,244
Default Re: Hacker Speaker Survey

Thanks - that's the same as my RP38A - the Elac label should be on the side of the magnet near the terminals, but probably fell off sometime in the last 40 years...

Something else I recently realised: the large-magnet Elac is only fitted to the later RP37A. The earlier RP37 models used the T304 FM tuner, which is physically larger than the later T309, and precludes the use of this speaker. The picture I'm looking at now shows a "no bolts Goodmans", and it looks like a tight fit. So, was the Celestion speaker ever fitted to the original RP37?

List now amended in light of new info and a couple more sets coming my way...
  • Goodmans with no bolts: 9 (My RP25, AM Herald RP30*, 2 AM Heralds RP35, Helsman RP36, 2 in VHF Herald RP37, 1 in VHF Herald RP37?**, Hunter RP38)
  • Goodmans with 3 bolts: 15 (6 in RP18, 4 in RP25, 1 in AM Herald RP30, 1 in Jonster's AM Herald unnumbered - probably RP30, early RP10, Helsman RP36, Marine Herald RP32)
  • Celestion (silver frame): 3 (2 in Sovereign RP25, VHF Herald RP37A)
  • Celestion (black frame): 3 (2 in Sovereign RP25B, VHF Herald RP37A)
  • Elac (large magnet): 3 (VHF Herald RP37A)
  • Elac (small magnet): 2 (Hunter RP38A)

* The AM Herald RP30 having a no-bolt Goodmans seems a bit anomalous, but this set is incomplete, and it's possibly not the original speaker. More on that when it arrives...

** Top Cap, is your VHF Herald an RP37 or RP37A?

The emerging pattern is starting to make some sense now. The conclusions can be amended slightly:
  1. The Goodmans speaker was the "general purpose" model that was used in most models. It is available in two versions: the earlier version had 3 bolts, later ones don't, and it's available in at least two impedances.
  2. The Celestions were only fitted to RP25 Sovereigns and VHF Heralds. Later versions had a black chassis.
  3. The large magnet Elac was only fitted to RP37A VHF Heralds.
  4. RP37A VHF Heralds generally had Elac or Celestion speakers, but Goodmans were used for the earlier RP37 (is this exclusively the case?)
  5. Or, the Goodmans speakers were used exclusively until the advent of the T309 tuner (RP25A and RP37A)?
  6. Finally, the Elac with the small magnet was fitted to RP38A Hunters, and probably later models throughout the 1970s.

Thanks again - hopefully this is useful to someone out there

Mark
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