Spouse found these Model Seventeens in a resale shop for $26 and called me to see if I wanted them. I told her $26 was high but OK I would take a chance. Good choice.
The cabinets are pristine, not a mark on them, all corners intact. The grilles also excellent shape. The drivers look OK to me. I figured they were later models because of the brown/reddish grill cloth. Upon removing the woofer, I saw a stencil of "JS 8 11 73 LINE 2" inside.
The cabinet particle board has a coarser density than what I remember the older models had, maybe a cost-saving choice. It did present an issue for the tweeter, which was off-center enough that the mounting screw was too near the opening and was coming through. I rotated the driver 45 degrees and made four new holes for mounting.
The woofer (which lacks the big "17" mark on it) looks fine but I am wondering if the dust cap is loose or only looks that way. What do you think?
If you are looking at my crossover design you are probably saying "Whaaat?" Well, the idea was to use film caps at the lowest possible cost. We are all aware how shipping costs can vastly inflate the final cost of otherwise inexpensive parts. I already had a few 1uF film caps and I found these uxcell (chinese) 1uF film caps, bag of 20 new caps for $5 shipping included on amazon. Hence the crossover design using all 1uF caps.
So I am now out $31 for this pair of beautiful-looking, nice-sounding Seventeens.
The speakers sound fine. Any advantages or disadvantages to doing crossover this way that you can see?
