DUAL CL270 loudspeakers - any experience?

[RojDW48]

I picked these up at my favourite auction house a while ago for a very small outlay mainly because I didn't know Dual made speakers and I wanted to take a look inside. The Radiomuseum has a bit of info - 1976 - 8, cost 350 DM back then, 50 - 70W, 30 - 25000Hz - from little things like this!? They have certainly gone to town on the x-overs and they do sound very nice - rather accurate and neutral. One oddity is the 3 holes in each back which are capped inside with black plastic caps - is this some form of cabinet loading I have never heard of? The original connectors were horrid 2 pin DIN, one of which was on the way out, so the binding posts are my addition.

I wondered if any members had experience of these and could possibly shed some more light.

[Cobaltblue]

I was wondering if the holes were for wall mounting?

Upright or sideways

Just hook onto screw heads?

Just a thought

Cheers

Mike T

[Edward Huggins]

My first thought that these might have been adjustable Ports depending how far out from walls/corners these cabinets might be placed - but now I'm just not sure as they look far too small.

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

I was wondering if the holes were for wall mounting?

Upright or sideways

Just hook onto screw heads?

Just a thought

My thoughts too.

A.

[RojDW48]

I wondered about wall mounting too but the holes are quite big for that (and small for ports, as Edward observed) and they haven't got nice little slots for location - like you used to get on little wall mounted speakers with timber grilles and Elac ellipticals back in the 70s!

[Michael Maurice]

The fact that there are three holes and not 4, may point to some sort of wall mounting for either horizontal or vertical use

[Nickthedentist]

Yes, that's what people seem to think, see above.

I wonder whether there were mounting brackets provided which were fixed to the wall, and then the speaker hung on those using the aforementioned holes. Bare screws seems a bit crude for a company like Dual.

Are these really made by Dual, or rebranded?

Nick.

[audiomagpie]

I used to repair audio equipment for a dealership who sold Dual in the early/mid 80's. Although these speakers are probably from the 70's, I don't recall Dual ever making their own drive units but I stand to be corrected, of course... we only ever sold their budget turntables which were starting to make a name for themselves.

[RojDW48]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Are these really made by Dual, or rebranded?

Nick.

In a way that's what attracted me - I know they are well respected for TTs but these are the only speakers I have seen ostensibly made by Dual. The drivers are all branded Dual and they don't look obviously like any others I have seen. 350 DEM translates into about £90 in 1976, so they were quite 'aspirational'.

Something like fitted wall brackets might well explain those mounting holes - I can't see them being anything else really - I must jam them up against a wall and see what they sound like!

I also posted them on a predominantly American Facebook forum, but no-one there had come across them either. All rather mysterious.

[roffe]

In fact they made quite a few loudspekers.
Scroll down to the CL types here:

http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/dual...d_Brosch%FCren

Read the rather complicated story of Braun-Heco-Wigo-Feho here:

http://www.hifimuseum.de/heco-hennel-co.html

[RojDW48]

Originally Posted by roffe

In fact they made quite a few loudspekers.

Didn't they just Thank you Roffe - we were clearly in need of a European perspective here! Strangely they don't seem to have caught on here and in the USA, where Dual TTs are quite sought after. Anyway I shall hang on to them because the Mem Sahib says that, when I'm in my dotage, there won't be any room in the bungalow for my great big Radfords.........we'll see about that

[stevehertz]

Nice find. I'm surprised that there's no panel damping though as it is more or less a prerequisite for high quality performance.

[RojDW48]

There was quite a lot of standard damping, which I pulled out for the photos, but nothing glued in. I wonder if they pulled it? These speakers are almost TOO polite.....but I prefer that to an overabundance of 'one note' bass.