Utah speakers? Anyone recognize these?

[LairdMcDuff]

I picked these up at GW. There's not a model number. I opened the back (10 screws per speaker, fiberglass insulation inside), and they are 3-way (label says 8-ohm 50-watt) with 12" woofers. The drivers are mounted to the front panel, which is screwed to the box. Well built, wood veneer, pretty, but what are they, please? From the screw-terminals for the wires, I guess late 60's early 70's. I included pics of the stamps on the drivers if that helps, but there aren't any other brand names visible.

[kfa888]

Someone here just posted a set almost identical to that a few weeks ago.

K

[scale21]

hey...that was me :)

Not sure of the model but it appears you have a A-30. The same as mine....although my grills were different.

Let me know what you decide to do with them. If you want to sell your single Utah emblem......count me in. I could use it. I have the same problem....one is missing.

[pilotputz]

I have a pair of Utah speakers pretty similar to yours and I LOVE them. There is a thread going around called "Most overrated / underrated gear" or something close to that, and I listed Utahs as one of the most underrated speakers out there. One nice thing about that is that they can be had for cheap while JBLs and Altecs and the like can sell for thousands of dollars!! I can see from the photos you've provided that all the drivers are actually made by Utah--their speaker ID code is 328.
Your speakers are very efficient and will work with both tube or solid state gear. Give them a good listen and let us know what you think.

[Eric Clark]

I have a pair of A-90s at my parents house. I never opend them up.

[LairdMcDuff]

Thanks for the responses - I had never heard of Utah speakers, and confess I initially passed them up. I went back for them this morning - they do sound quite nice! They have a very full range, good but not booming bass, full midrange and clear highs. These are worth the $40 GW charged for them! I will watch for more in the future. As for the lone brand plate - I must find a second! rofl. Definately keepers, though. I hope this doesn't dramatically increase the market value. :music::yes:

[pilotputz]

Ain't that the truth, Laird! I'm always a little loth to extoll the virtues of any brand that I enjoy for that very reason. With that said, I see them come up on ebay and regularly not sell for the 50 bucks starting bid.
Piece of advice: Make a run to Radio Shack pick yourself up some new caps for the speakers. That five or six dollar investment will have your speakers sounding even better! As I said: I really enjoy the pair I have. I actually packed up and am selling a mint pair of JBLs because I like the sound of these Utahs better. You got a good score: Enjoy!!

[scale21]

IM working on my second speaker as we speak. I just put in new caps. Your emblem is sideways on the speaker just as mine was. If you lay them so the emblem faces upwards and readable..is your tweeter on the top or the bottom. YOu might have the inverse pair that i have. Something looks different about yours. Ill have to have a another look at mine to be sure.

[kfa888]

A few things... Utah built a lot of speakers. Both as complete speakers and also just sold gobs of drivers. I'm sure chatting about them here will not drive the price up. I have several sets and drivers and have always found them to be good mid-fi stuff. Not top of the line and no competition for JBL and the like for the most part but good, enjoyable stuff. Lot's of reputable manufacturers used them for sourcing drivers. Also, I think you would do much better by ordering Dayton brand caps from parts express. The Radio Shack stuff i have tried is kinda crappy and very cheap. A few bucks more spent here will go a long ways towards making them sound a lot better.

[vinylover]

I too have a set of these that are in nice condition. I have piazo (sp?) tweeters in them right now because I had a dead tweeter and havent gotten around to replacing it yet with the correct one. I run them with a pp el84 tube amp out of a console and you are right, they sound nice and are easy to drive. Congrats on your new speakers

Steve from MN

[WhiskeyRebel]

FWIW Utah and Pyle were both started by the same guy or so I have heard.

[winters860]

My only experience with Utah is the HS1-C, but I rank it third or fourth in the pecking order of speakers I've owned - far better-sounding than it had a right to . I'd pick up another pair in a heartbeat.

[LairdMcDuff]

IM working on my second speaker as we speak. I just put in new caps. Your emblem is sideways on the speaker just as mine was. If you lay them so the emblem faces upwards and readable..is your tweeter on the top or the bottom. YOu might have the inverse pair that i have. Something looks different about yours. Ill have to have a another look at mine to be sure.

If my emblem is upright, the mid is to the right, the woofer to the left, the tweeter below, and it is a true bookshelf speaker! I was curious, though, one woofer is painted black, the other in natural silver finish. Both are obviously the same design, though.

[kfa888]

I was curious, though, one woofer is painted black, the other in natural silver finish. Both are obviously the same design, though.

I have some in blue, does not matter.

[LairdMcDuff]

I have some in blue, does not matter.

Is this the underground speaker of choice among audiophiles? I feel quite lucky in finding these, and that they remained at GW for 2 days despite my ignorance! Thanks to all! :music:

[dshoaf]

Utah speakers were sold through many, many of the old Radio/TV parts distributors and retail electronics houses. IMHO, they were pretty much mid-fi speakers with the exception of a couple of models on their high-end. The problem was that those few speakers never made it onto the show room floors of those distributors/retailers. Most of the Utah stuff was built to a price point and they really didn't, IMHO, compete with JBL, Altec and the Japanese speakers of their day.

Most of the Utah speakers I heard were boomy or screetchy and were sold with small component or compact stereo systems for dorm rooms, etc. Today, howeve, the electronics they can be used with will certainly help them out once the crossover caps have been swapped.

Many, many Utah speakers were sold with other brands on them from folks like Radio Shack, Layfayette and Allied, IIRC. I'm surprised that we don't see more reports of Utah finds, actually, given the sheer numbers of speakers they must have produced.

Cheers,

David

[LairdMcDuff]

I am still a newbie - I have never attempted replacing caps. Where do I begin, or is it a matter of getting same-type caps from PE and soldering them in gently? I assume there's a +/- issue to them as well. I know the basics of soldering - do I need to heat-sink them? All help is appreciated!

[pilotputz]

Actually, crossover caps are nonpolarized, so they can soldered in either way. It's a very simple process: cut the old one out;solder the new one in. Nothing to it.
Hey, dshoaf! You seem to know a bit more about Utahs than most. How does one know if they have one of the high-end models?

[kfa888]

How does one know if they have one of the high-end models?

Sounds really good.

[pilotputz]

Point well taken; but I was hoping for a more scientific response.
I ask only because my pair are in bigger cabs than any I've seen and have a different speaker array than any other Utahs that I've seen. No big deal if I don't know that much about them: They sound awesome and that IS the most important thing.

[pilotputz]

I was hoping a certain generous fella with some Utah knowledge could maybe ID these babies for me. The cabs are 25 3/4 x 15 x 14. The drivers are a 12 inch ceramic magnet woofer, 4 inch paper cone, and horn. I'm not sure if the horn is the midrange or the tweeter!!
I ordered up a couple Dayton 4 uf caps and was curious what the value of the resistor is and if I should replace it. Thanks SO much!!!

[winters860]

HS1-C! I've never seen the horns in red, but that's absolutely what they are.

The crossover consists of a L-pad and cap on the mid and tweeter and an additional resistor on the horn tweeter. The woofer runs full-range.

I went ahead and replaced the entire crossover: L-pad, cap, resistor (I forget the value) and internal wiring. I liked them a lot. I gave them to a buddy and his wife with a Kenwood KA-3500 - it's a fantastic low-buck system that fills their loft apartment. They like the fact that when their baby girl starts becoming more moblie, there's no way she'll knock the speakers over.

[pilotputz]

Alright! Now I know.
Thanks very much, winters860!!

[Zilch]

C'mon gang, color code on that resistor, and the value is ...?

[It looks fine, BTW, and I wouldn't mess with it.... :thmbsp: ]

[dshoaf]

Pilotputz, I sold (and repaired) audio gear back in the 70s and had to know a bit about Utah speakers in order to compete with them. Frankly, most of the ones I ever heard weren't that good, compared to the JBL/Altec/Advent/KLH of their day. It was a easy sell to all but the most cost-conscious buyer.

As to the high end models, I don't recall model numbers but they were generally built to the level of quality of the JBL/Altec/Advent gear - and priced accordingly. Again, it was easy to compete since Utah didn't have the brand name presence of the other old-line vendors.

The thing about the mid-line Utahs was that they had better profit margins than the higher-end models so the electronics jobbers carried them. Also, very few Utah speakers were reviewed in the Stereo magazines and Utah didn't advertise in those rags, either. This reduced the legitimacy of the brand in many audio-nut's eyes.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

David