gelid Posted June 21, 2020 Report Share Posted June 21, 2020 Today was my first trip to a thrift store since the pandemic was declared, and I brought home what turned out to be a pair of Jensen Model 2 loudspeakers, build date Dec 1973. I'm no stranger to vintage speakers, having rebuilt some KLH Model Thirty-One's a few years ago, but I'm far from being able to say I know what I'm doing when buying an old pair of "mystery-to-me" speakers. The manufacturers' logo plate on each grill was unknown to me at the moment. I removed a front grill to reveal a woofer with decayed foam surround, and a mid-range driver; the latter being covered with a blue woven fabric. Made me think of KLH tweeters, so this was a good sign. The tone control on the back was another good sign. Long story about what I hope is at least a mid-level speaker, but for $10.00, plus $15.00 for the re-foaming kit I will have another pair of vintage acoustic suspension bookshelf speakers. I removed one woofer to check it with an ohm meter, which gave me a 5.1 ohm reading. I will not be replacing the crossover capacitor (one each) unless it is advisable to do so, or if I feel the need after the re-foaming. The vinyl veneer will be coming off to be replaced with wood veneer, which for some reason I have on hand. Any words of caution, encouragement, or discouragement will be welcomed. Thoughts? Are these worth the effort? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted June 21, 2020 Report Share Posted June 21, 2020 Reminds me of a KLH 32 but it looks like a 6.5" woofer. The crossover cap isn't one of the really terrible ones but I'd change it out. Unless the vinyl is really bad I wouldn't go to the trouble of re-veneering them. They may be decent speakers but they aren't "classic" speakers. If you really like the veneer idea, I'd do the re-foam and recap first and see if I liked them that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelid Posted June 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2020 Thanks for responding, Chris. They are 8” woofers, and the veneer is peeling in places. I think I will replace the cap after all. The veneer will be a learning exercise for me, as will the re-foaming. Looks like I found a good pair of “lab-rats” to perform my experiments on! 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted June 21, 2020 Report Share Posted June 21, 2020 That rear shot of the woofer looks familiar. I recently rescued a set of Advent Prodigy II speakers. I had to re-foam them and the woofer looked essentially identical to yours except I think the Advents had a bigger magnet. The Advents at that time were made by Jensen. I got the surrounds from Rick Cobb, a well known purveyor of surrounds. https://www.ebay.com/str/looneytune2001 It sounds like these would be good "lab rats" to experiment on. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelid Posted July 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2020 Finished, and they sound pretty good. If they were my only speakers, I would be totally fine with them. Turns out all I did was to refoam the woofers. Midrange drivers sound fine, so because I had a bit of a hard time settling on a suitable replacement for the capacitor, I kept the originals. Vinyl veneer will be able to be re-glued down with contact cement. I left off the weird blue screens that covered the mids, as they sound fine without them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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