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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 9th May 2005, 8:07 pm   #1
radsite
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Question Amplion Dragon Horn Speaker

Hi,

I've got an Amplion Dragon Junior De Luxe horn speaker which has been in our family for as long as I can remember, and I'd be very grateful if someone could offer some advice about it please.

The type is an AR114 (at least I think so from a web search - the A is no longer legible) and the serial number is B47715.

I'm intrigued to know whether it still works, and if so, what it sounds like. Is there any easy way to test this without any specialised equipment? It seems to have an impedance of 200 ohms (or probably 2000 ohms - again the end of the text is no longer legible) and I'm reluctant to connect it up to anything in case I damage it.


Thanks,
radsite.

Last edited by Darren-UK; 30th May 2007 at 12:21 am. Reason: Non-working links removed, also refs re selling via ebay removed.
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Old 9th May 2005, 8:20 pm   #2
ppppenguin
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Default Re: Amplion Dragon Horn Speaker

You will do no harm by connecting it to a modern amplifier. It will not be very loud though. It was designed with a high impedance and needs a rather higher voltage than most modern amps will provide. I have connected horn speakers of similar vintage (nothing as nice as your Amplion Dragon ) to my 100W per channel amplifier. I have to turn up the volume pretty high to get much out of them. It would be deafening with modern speakers.

Last edited by Darren-UK; 30th May 2007 at 12:23 am. Reason: Refs to sales value and ebay removed as no longer relevant.
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Old 9th May 2005, 8:50 pm   #3
mickjjo
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Default Re: Amplion Dragon Horn Speaker

Assuming the coils are not open circuit, which is often the case with old horn speakers, an easy way to operate them is to connect via a valve output transformer in reverse, i.e. the high resistance primary goes to the speaker and feed the signal into the low resistance output winding. Don't expect much in the way of sound quality though, since the response is rather limited with no bass to speak of and peaky treble, , rather like a pre electric gramophone recording. But they do look nice!.

Regards, Mick.
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Old 9th May 2005, 9:02 pm   #4
radsite
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Default Re: Amplion Dragon Horn Speaker

Hi ppppenguin,

Thanks very much indeed for your advice. I've just tried wiring it up to my "modern" Denon PMA-737 amp (which is supposed to provide about 55W per channel with 8 ohm speakers), and was amazed to find that it worked perfectly, with a surprisingly good sound quality too. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used in the last thirty years, and probably much longer. They don't make 'em like they used to, do they?

Last edited by Darren-UK; 30th May 2007 at 12:24 am. Reason: ebay and sales references removed to bring in line with other posts.
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