newandold

Is that the latest with the AR’s removed? They are great speakers, but the A1’s need no help!

The CD 6 remains a unique and highly restorable loudspeaker. The tweeters could be the biggest challenge if you have a failed one (so rare) but it is the two way that is common to the A4 A5, 6, 7. Using EBay or a marketplace of your choosing you could If needed take a tweeter from any of those and use it in yours. The woofers are conventional enough that they can be restored by any competent speaker repair outfit (like Simply Speakers, etc.

Meaningful also, to point out, the “super amps” of the 70’s were not on the scene yet for the AR to benefit by (though still there were plenty arriving around the same time period). That ease of output seen by the ones is largely due to double the number of drivers from the 3. Like so many voices added to the mix the output increase was rather dramatic. As if that were not enough, going from 12 drivers in the A1 to 20 in the IC’s, that additional impact was once again felt, but on a new level of live with no strain whatsoever.

Roy Allison himself stated (back in the day) that 30 wpc with these puppies was all it took to get 100db. SPL in a typical listening room. That would be without the ESW

Not surprisingly…..it appears this project has been shelved

When going from fireplace to closer to the corner, you “loaded” the bass which would explain the bass response increase. For sure your positioning now is about as optimal as you’re gonna get. The woofers could be a little stiff after being refoamed. Do you know if there is any “mileage” since that was done?

I’ve used a subwoofer with all my Allisons since 2001. A lot of guys used the Allison ESW, but it makes an old speaker work harder to produce more bass. Sub. integration was the best upgrade I had done with these speakers. It was so impactful I had revisited most of my collection, hearing things in the “low band” I had previously missed.

Giving up too much by having them on top of the fireplace as pictured. Given the room constraints you could get them a bit closer to the corner than two and a half and still be fine. I would forget the fireplace as being a concern. The room is smaller than I first realized, but don’t worry it’s big enough! What’s the depth? Another way the A1 can shine is on adjacent walls….That potentially could be great in there but requires some creativity especially with the furniture and doorways, etc. I lived with an adjacent configuration with the A1 for 14 years (a fireplace was also involved.) It was really quite nice!

IMHO….the 2 1/2 from the corner (and a few inches more could be ok) is the better configuration no doubt. The floor/wall corner proximity is the larger consideration Right now, those curtains are enough of a wall….I would think of them that way and not sweat it. ”Flat” is the way to go on the crossover setting. I would alter that with your tone control when necessary. (If) One of the hardest things to do with the A1 is to make them sound “bad” no matter how they are positioned. I had them on adjacent walls in my old house for years and though hardly optimal, they still sounded sweet.

I can think of a half dozen ways why you now have a superior loudspeaker over either LST. The engineering for superior bass reproduction rests with the A1

Wow! Almost shocking how nice he got those looking! What the seller does also explains why they apparently are “plug and play” so to speak without issue it seems. There is a big reason also that goes towards that…. Those are the later versions of the A1. Biampable (though unnecessary) and improved crossover switch controls from the first generation. Additionally the outboard connections to the tweeters and midrange drivers have been done away with. (rear spades). The Allison:One remains one of finest speakers on the planet that makes a piano 🎹 sound like a real one better than almost anything I have ever heard. If I had not had the rarest opportunity to acquire the IC20, My A1’s would still be here!

Little has been written about it true….I started with the Allison:One in 1977 and first encountered the issue with one mid in the 80’s. Around 1998 when I involved myself in the forums I started to encounter a few other guys who had experienced the issue

Congratulations! You know what you're up against aesthetically. The biggest concern of mine with the big 3 way Allison's has always been voice coil rubbing on the midrange drivers. Not exactly sure why it happens. The tolerances on those mids and their unique design also has them more vulnerable to this IMHO. (as opposed to conventional cone drivers) I did find someone who could realign the mids and test them with a signal generator. At least if you encounter this there are only 2 in each system, so odds are in your favor. Once you have evaluated the drivers and are running without issues I would suggest continuing a search on Craigs list and other places for a spare three way tweeter and midrange. The market has almost totally dried up so this will be quite the challenge. Bill

You are quite welcome! It is rather sad to see very little these days, in the way of really nice Allison….spare drivers or full systems. I’m full up myself on “inventory”, but it’s a pet peeve of mine to keep looking. I recently found a pair of speakers in the UK. that bear the Allison name but were never marketed here in the USA. No one left that I know except Tom Tyson perhaps that could shed light on that.

If the drivers all work as well as they look you would be in for an audio treat! There is evidence that a couple of the midrange and tweeters had dented domes that were pulled back out pretty well. That pair was or still is listed on EBAY, which is where I first saw them. (They’ve been out there for many months) The only thing I don’t get is why the cabinets are so ratty, especially the one damaged on the corner. I also remember the seller talking about replacing one of the rear terminal screws. I would not go higher than 500 and see if they can be demoed before you take? My pair sold for 750 and the cabinets didn’t have a scratch on them. I also gave him a spare, newly refreshed woofer included that I had no use for.

As a serious collector, it took years to come up with undimpled/ un damaged domed drivers. This is the remaining one of two I bought years ago. The other went out with my original Allison Ones sold off in 2012.

Listening without fatigue is an “Allison Trademark” so to speak! First off, I would keep them, if I were you…. They’ve got problems, but the good news is only six drivers. With only 2 tweeters, restoration and maintenance is less daunting then the Allison’s with multiple driver arrays. Usable, viable Allison drivers have never been tougher to come up with than today. A proper seal of the cabinet is essential to optimum bass response. That’s why the missing midrange hardware is so important. The midrange doesn’t rely on the internal airspace of the cabinet because it’s a pulsating dome and sealed to the outside, but the woofer does. I would bet the farm that if you take the woofer out of that cabinet and fish around on the bottom, you will find the threaded “T nut” that holds the machine screw for the midrange driver. It may even be stuck on the woofer magnet 🧲 when it pushed out. Plastic wood can restore the area where the T nut goes, or Home Depot actually carries them. Tweeters still work? Mashed. If they do, there are little tricks to subtly pull the domes out to be reasonable esthetically. You can pull out gently with a piece of tape, or pierce it with a needle, and pull out gently then seal it with a spot of glue.

Best of luck to you. You’re starting price IMHO (Ebay) is High by 500.00. You can get some tips and advice from here if you’re serious about unloading them…also looks like a missing screw on one midrange. Am I seeing that correctly?

I understand now where you’re coming from regarding the “sag”! An Allison user on another forum had concerns about the midrange sagging out of alignment (age related). He made a project out of flipping all of his 180 degrees to counteract this. I felt personally, it was a case in point of overthinking a potential issue. ….that with normal use they would be just fine. That being said, nothing lasts forever…. With yours I would think similarly, in that the woofers excursion is upward when operating, so sagging shouldn’t be an issue. Rigidity is something else, where by the spider cloth gets weak with age, the woofer is free to travel farther than it’s design was intended, having only the surround to keep it in check.

Could you elaborate on what you mean regarding “spider sag”? I have been a bug on Allison spiders within the woofers for years. I have a lot of experience, going after aging spiders in these drivers. For most, the thinking seems to be to just refoam the speaker and you’re good. That’s ok if a driver is perhaps 15 years old or even more. But if it’s 43 years old, you should think again. The spider can LOOK fine, but they lose compliance over the years, making it easier to bottom out. The surround and the spider work together to keep the excursion in check.

Sure! That’s the predecessor to the AL 130. I’ll post some pics later when I have them handy. The AL 130 has a 4 driver 3 way configuration with dual push pull woofers and the same basic mids and tweets as in the 130. Too bad those drivers are pretty mashed in…..typical average condition of these old guys unfortunately.

16 inches….

Nice! To This day I’ve never had the chance to compare the LST’s to my IC20’s