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Atlantic Oracle 4

toxcrusadr

toxcrusadr

Omelette au Fromage
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I narrowly missed a set of heavy speakers on Freecycle that I haven't heard of before, just wondering if they were any good. I have a marker in with the donor in case the first person doesn't pick them up. Here's the description.

"30+ years old. They stand 3' high and measure 15" x 18" each, with a walnut
veneer cabinet and fabric grille covers. There are five drivers in each one: 10" woofer and 15" bass radiator, 4-1/2" cone-type lower midrange, 1-1/2" dome type upper midrange, and a 1" dome type tweeter."

Oh, and they say they're 57 lb. each.

Anyone know anything about these? They sound a bit unusual with that 15" PR.
 
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Nobody? I've found an Atlantic Technology company online that makes HT stuff, but their listing of manuals for "older systems" does not include an Oracle model.

In other news the Freecycle donor says the first taker didn't show (common on Freecycle, amazing to me). My nice well reasoned email treatise on refoaming and such, ostensibly for the new owner, "won her over" (her words) so I have now leapt ahead of others in line and I will now get them! I'll report back if the wife doesn't kill me.
 
WOW these are built!

Well I picked these up today and they are ATLANTIS Oracle 4's made by Atlantic of Minneapolis. They are beasts! The 10" woof and 15" passive are on the front, and take up the entire front. Up top is a separately mounted row with the 4" cone mid and dome tweets - sealed in their own cans. There's a cloth covered 4-sided box with a smoked glass top that lifts off to reveal these drivers, and the crossover is also mounted up there. Very cool. I can't wait to hear them but they need foam and a recap. The 15" PR has an inverted surround.

Owner had them since '78 and believes the college buddy he bought them from had them since new in '75. Apparently he and his wife had the rest of their '78 system stolen once upon a time, all except these. I said, why, too heavy to steal? He said "Yep!"

I will post pics, soon as I locate my camera, which may have fallen behind some speakers. :smoke:

I love Freecycle.
 
Pics!

903A142 and 903A145 are the numbers on the mid and tweet. I wonder if 903 is the maker's code but I can't find 903 on any code lists. They have some other numbers below but they're pretty smudged. Anyone have any idea who made these drivers? I have not opened up the cabinets to look at the back of the woofer and PR.

The smoked glass tops are so 70s.
 

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Update - fine quality sound on these

I have these in the living room running off an SX-780. The upper end is striking on these. I have to think it's the quality drivers plus the fact they aren't mounted on the baffle but are pretty much in free air. Maybe diffraction effects are more important than I ever thought. Anything I throw at them seems "airy". Very nice. Bass at first seemed a little boomy, but the last thing I played on vinyl was great. Maybe the foams are still breaking in. They give the Kg 4.2's a run for their money. Tiger Stripe likes em too. :smoke:

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All in all, helluva speaker for cost of legwork, foam and caps.
 

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Hubba hubba! Though I wonder if they'd sound even better with the hi frequency drivers in a vertical array. But that would look bad, so you wouldn't enjoy the possibly better sound.
 
I had the same thought Nat, but it would be a design challenge to make it look decent. They are already pretty big.
 
I read somewhere, that those speakers were designed to sound like the Qaud's of the day.

I never heard the Qauds, but can tell you that I think my Oracle's sound pretty impressive, yours should sound even better.

Here's a pic of mine. I actually thought mine were also called Oracle 4's, but I may be mistaken.
 
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Saint Johnny said:
Shades of DQ 10's, but with better bass? :scratch2:
Click to expand...

I wish I could tell you I've heard the DQ-10's but I haven't. They certainly have a good reputation and if these were as good I'd take that as a major compliment. Someone put some serious effort into them. It's been kinda fun discovering that a relatively unknown regional 70s speaker manufacturer could make something this good, and did.
 
klama2006 said:
I read somewhere, that those speakers were designed to sound like the Qaud's of the day.

I never heard the Qauds, but can tell you that I think my Oracle's sound pretty impressive, yours should sound even better.

Here's a pic of mine. I actually thought mine were also called Oracle 4's, but I may be mistaken.
Click to expand...


Great to see another model in the line, whatever they are. Do they have a label on top behind the drivers? Mine were peeling off but they were good quality labels and I was able to glue them back on.
 
Mine were missing one of the labels, the other was just barely hanging on. I pealed the remaining label off, and stuck it somewhere in my file cabinet. I was thinking, that I would bring it to a friends printing company, to have him print me up two new labels. I just haven't done it yet. It would take a little diging to find my original label, but I'm positive I still have it. (I could be wrong about my model number).

Mine actually, originally had the same wood bases as yours, but they had picked up some water damage somewhere along the line. So I removed the bases, and placed them on the metal stand you see in the photos.

I did some research on these awhile back, and I remembering finding that some company hired a team of electrical engineers to create a speaker for them, that sounded like the Qaud speaker. I believe your speaker was the result of there efforts.
 
I just did a little diging, and found my label, and mine are actually Oracle ones. So I'm assuming that there might be two more models in between ours.
 
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We will have to make this the Oracle speaker thread. :yes: I ran across a pair or Oracle Three's while I was picking up a lamp in the Twin Cities.

The foams on the 12" passives are shot but the surrounds on the 10" drivers are still in very nice condition. I've been playing them and seem to be holding up very well. Very few speakers I have seen have foams that stand the test of time. The two drivers must have been made by different manufacturers. :scratch2:

I can't wait to repair the surrounds. I am very, very surprised at the sound these are putting out. Very "spacious" and "airy" is how I would describe it. I am running my sub at a very low volume to fill in the bass that the passives aren't producing. I have a feeling they will be a well balanced speaker. Otherwise I am running the controls completely flat on my Pioneer Elite system. I wish the tag showed the frequency response and sensitivity. They like the power my M-90 puts out.

The only complaint it seems the 1 1/2" dome upper midrange is slightly hotter than the other drivers. An l-pad or small resistor would probably take care of this. Otherwise I am impressed. My first set of Minnesota built speakers. :yes:

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I have the same pair klama2006 has. I think they are very interesting speakers. They rotate in and out of my setup frequently. Hard to find.
 
Denny, those are gorgeous. Appear to be exactly like the 4's except the 4 has a 15" PR. What I've noticed about the sound on mine - besides the amazing airiness that I completely agree with! - is a boom in the bass. I haven't had a chance to try the advice I got from other AKers about lifting them off the floor, moving out from the walls or adding mass to the PR cone. The upper end is so nice they've replaced my Klipsch kg 4.2's for now.

Did you recap? Mine only had about 2 or 3, pretty quick and easy with the crossover board right on top there.

I'd like to put them through their paces with a sig gen, I'll post a curve when I get around tuit.
 
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