Bush SRG86 Speakers - Repair or replace?

[PsychMan]

What has befallen them! As attached see the state of the speakers in my Bush SRG86 radiogram.

Unfortunately, like the muppet I can be, I hadnt inspected the speakers in this radiogram until I'd spent considerable time renovating the chassis and was about to reinstall it hoping for great audio, as I'd already enjoyed on my workshop test speakers.

Its in poor condition this radiogram, so really I should have checked, I think somebody rescued it dumped in the street many years ago. Is this mice damage? There were lots of chunks of speaker cone sitting in front of them which would suggest that to me.

I've never had such bad speakers to deal with. I don't want to spend zillions having them re-coned, and not sure how difficult it might be for me to have a go? If you were in my shoes would you source modern (less efficient) replacements? Contemporary replacements, or get them reconed?

One tweeter miraculously was untouched by possible rodents, but that's not much consolation

[mark_in_manc]

Wow!

What size are the units? I'm sure people will have something useable - I may have some small ones, for a start.

[kirstyd]

what ohms are they .I have two 10 inch speaker from a more modern transistorised Bush radiogram here .You can have them if you pay the postage

[kirstyd]

just put a meter on them .they appear to be around 4 ohms .The two brown ones are only 8 inch and 3 ohms they came from a Cossor radiogram

[Edward Huggins]

How sad. I would definately go for the 2 Plessey 8" units on offer. Regrading the tweeters, you can get two new 3" coned units, but they are liable to be 8 ohms. Use new 2.2 uf caps for their filters.

[PsychMan]

The main speakers are 10 inch and the tweeters 4 inch, I’ll check the ohms ratings tomorrow. Thanks for the kind offers, I may well take you up on them if they match well. The remains of these are celestion

[mark_in_manc]

Sorry - I didn't think my small ones sold at Golbourne, but I can't find them anywhere so perhaps they did! I'll have another look tomorrow.

[paulsherwin]

If they measure 4 ohms DC then they are likely to be about 6 ohms impedance, so 4 ohm or 8 ohm will probably be OK. Car stereo speakers make good replacements for this sort of application, and are mostly 4 ohms. The boy racer style bass speakers found in customised cars are often 10”, and standard speakers are often 4" with a whizzer cone. A visit to your local scrappie or dismantler may yield lots of possibilities for not much money, and they may even sound better than the originals.

[PsychMan]

That’s a nice idea Paul, plenty of “mid-sub” speakers and 4 inch full range speakers about, with a slight change to the crossover caps I might get some great results.

Kirsty do you remember which model of radiogram your speakers came from?

[Edward Huggins]

You can't really mount 4" full range HiFi type speakers in the Radiogram's cabinet as these units really need to be in properly sealed or ported enclusures.
You'll not improve on fitting the two 10" units (sorry, I originally thought the baffle apertures were for 8" units) in your Bush which is how it was designed to operate. Get it going, you can always add the tweeters later.

[PsychMan]

I see what your saying Edward RE: less than ideal cabinet for hifi speakers, but as these are car speakers a car door provides a pretty poor cabinet for speakers and a cars interior a poor environment for sound itself so I'd expect these to be pretty forgiving.

I may go either way at this point

[PsychMan]

10 inch speakers reading 4.6 ohms, sticker on them says "5 ohm +"

The 4 inch speakers read 2.6 ohms, no markings

[simpsons]

Of all the shortcommings of a domestic radiogram, the loudspeaker is 2nd to the top after stereo separation.

Whilst I don't have experience of the units Bush fitted to the SRG 86, because the main speakers are mounted at almost floor level and quoted 10" in diameter, you will need the tweeter to reproduce anything over 4Khz so you can hear the highs standing or seated and the 5uF in series with the tweeter suggests the designer thought the same.

The design of the radiogram is in my opinion quite elegant what a pity the cabinet isn't in as new condition however it is necessary to source resonably efficient loudspeakers designed to work on an open baffle.

Go for the 10" ones on offer plus 4" tweeters, you can adjust the value of the tweeter capacitor if you are really critical about the sound but, remember, it is not a high quality system with pretty flat resonse from 50Hz to 22Khz, it's a radiogram.

Chris

[kirstyd]

I used to have one of these radiograms [the stereo version ]now whilst its not HI Fi the sound quality from it was excellent .And it was the top of the range offering from bush in 1958

[PsychMan]

Have sent a PM to Kirsty for further info on her kind offer. I think I’ve found some identical tweeters, and have posted in the wanted section just in case anybody has the same 10’’ drivers, very unlikely but worth a go.

[Nickthedentist]

These radiograms seem to crop up frequently on eBay so maybe your only way of getting original drivers would be to buy one to split for parts, or looks out for one that's already been "parted-out" - you often see radiogram chassis/speakers/autochanger without cabinet for sale.

Alternatively, if there's space, you could semi-temporarily install a pair of hifi speakers c/w their cabinets inside the radiogram. A pair with large drivers and tatty cabinets (e.g. 1970s Wharfedales) could be had for peanuts. Many have a nominal impedance of about 6R and it would be very easy to experiment.

[paulsherwin]

You could also make a pair of baffles allowing you to fit 8" drivers, which are much easier to find in scrap hifi speakers and car systems.

[PsychMan]

Ive put a wanted thread here with some more pictures just in case somebody has some https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=145758

As Chris says they seem like they were great speakers at one point so keen to get something decent. Id rather not try different sizes so perhaps I'll get whatever works for now and have a think. I have asked a local firm for a quote on re-coning these, but not hopeful it will be affordable. There is also a chap selling some near identical ones on eBay but asking £200 the pair!! Fair play if he ever gets that for them

[Leon Crampin]

The Murphy A272C appears to use a very similar 10" Celestion unit. I don't have a spare, but someone may be scrapping one of these sets.

Leon.

[PsychMan]

Thanks Leon, always good to know. I think I'm going to accept Kirstyd's kind offer for now in lieu of finding some correct replacements, and if happy with the sound I may just keep them permanently.

I've found some tweeters that look identical on ebay, so hopefully I can retain the 1 undamaged tweeter for some originality