Goodmans Speakers

quadaptor

Active Member
I came across a pair of Goodmans speakers on CL and know nothing about them other than being of British manufacture. Can anyone bring me up to speed on these speakers? Many thanks
 
Goodmans were a British based manufacterer (out of Wembly in London) whose main competitor was Wharfedale.
They made some brilliant (for the era) drivers, such as their Axiom full range drivers cira 50-60s.
Similar to to most of the British Hifi manufacturers they had a trickle of good engineers (such as Biily Woodman who went on to found ATC and make their awesome dome midrange)

Also similar to to most of the British Hifi manufacturer they suffered the fate of being bought out by bigger corperations (in this case Thorne group). By the early 70s there was no real innovative products as they moved towards selling low end mass produced HiFi equipment and by some point in the 80s ended just being a brand to stick on cheap mass produced consumer entertainment electronics.
 
No sooner than I made the posting the speakers disappeared from the classifieds. I believe the model was WCS-... I was looking for a basic education on the make and appreciate your help.
 
Also similar to to most of the British Hifi manufacturer they suffered the fate of being bought out by bigger corperations (in this case Thorne group). By the early 70s there was no real innovative products as they moved towards selling low end mass produced HiFi equipment and by some point in the 80s ended just being a brand to stick on cheap mass produced consumer entertainment electronics.

Actually, the company split into two in the late 1980s - Goodmans Industries became the brand stuck on generic Far-Eastern tat (and continue to be to this day - they are part of Harvard International) but the management team bought the rights to the rest of the company and it was re-born as Goodmans Loudspeakers Limited, or GLL.

Under this name they continued making hi-fi speakers in the UK, resurrecting the Maxim name for the Maxim 3 and also re-using the Mezzo and Melody names for slightly bigger models. Then came the Imagio 100, 200 and 300 Series using various incarnations of GLL's proprietary ICT drive unit. They also provided a great deal of manufacturing support to the likes of Mordaunt Short and Epos, as these companies (along with Goodmans) were part of TGI Plc (Tannoy Goodmans Industries) which, at one point, was Europe's largest loudspeaker manufacturing group.

All this time they were also making car speakers for many different companies, including Ford, Rover, Land Rover, Bentley, Volkswagen and, in the USA, Pontiac and Chrysler.

Hi-fi loudspeaker production ended in 1998 and the company finally closed in 2005.
 
Goodmans Magnum-K still good

They were a very high quality speaker. I have a pair of Magnum-K's, and they're outstanding.

I have had mine since (I think) the end of the 1960's. They still sound wonderful. Don't they age ever?

I'm a bit worried about the top end, though. The sound of strings and voices sounds a bit "scratchy" - can it be that the tweeter has lost it? Or could it be the crossover electronics? On the other hand it might be my ears that are going.

Other than the high end, they are really nice. Bach's Tocatta and Fugue makes my (wooden) floors shake.
 
I have had mine since (I think) the end of the 1960's. They still sound wonderful. Don't they age ever?

I'm a bit worried about the top end, though. The sound of strings and voices sounds a bit "scratchy" - can it be that the tweeter has lost it? Or could it be the crossover electronics? On the other hand it might be my ears that are going.

Other than the high end, they are really nice. Bach's Tocatta and Fugue makes my (wooden) floors shake.

Might be the capacitors... That would be my guess. Those drivers were very-well-made. Do you hear any distortion at higher volume? If so, that could be a slightly-offset magnet on one of the drivers, but that can often be fixed by simply rotating the driver 180 degrees. However, my guess would be that it needs a recap.

Be careful what kind of caps you use with these old speakers. You want a cap that will play on the speaker's attributes (i.e., smoothness, musicality, openness, etc.). Vintage oil caps from the '50's to early '60's would probably be the best choice for a pair of tube-era Goodmans speakers. They would only serve to enhance that Goodmans sound, which is VERY-open and engaging, very-natural, and that's the sound that the best oil caps are known for having (Goodmans to me seems like a slightly-more-neutral version of the early Wharfedale sound... Not quite so-warm, but still loaded with that British "breath of life"... They made a hell of a speaker).

Which model are yours? I'm betting it's the caps. The surrounds should be fine if the speakers have been stored/kept properly.
 
Last edited:
Re-cap sounds like the thing

Might be the capacitors... That would be my guess. Those drivers were very-well-made. Do you hear any distortion at higher volume? If so, that could be a slightly-offset magnet on one of the drivers, but that can often be fixed by simply rotating the driver 180 degrees. However, my guess would be that it needs a recap.

Be careful what kind of caps you use with these old speakers. You want a cap that will play on the speaker's attributes (i.e., smoothness, musicality, openness, etc.). Vintage oil caps from the '50's to early '60's would probably be the best choice for a pair of tube-era Goodmans speakers. They would only serve to enhance that Goodmans sound, which is VERY-open and engaging, very-natural, and that's the sound that the best oil caps are known for having (Goodmans to me seems like a slightly-more-neutral version of the early Wharfedale sound... Not quite so-warm, but still loaded with that British "breath of life"... They made a hell of a speaker).

Which model are yours? I'm betting it's the caps. The surrounds should be fine if the speakers have been stored/kept properly.

Thanks, Twanger, for the advice.

They are Magnum Ks. I think they are the biggest in the range.

But I'm beginning to think the slight distortion is partly due to my ears - I was at a live performance the other night of a choir singing a capella and un-amplified. And they also "distorted" at high volumes. But I'm listening right now to me stuff and I'm sure some of it is the speakers.

Do you know where I might source some of those caps? I am near the end of the world here in Cape Town, and I don't know of many people who take their audio seriously. Anyway, it will probably be up to google.

I will first have to pluck up the courage and open up my speaker cabinets and see what's what.
 
I think some LS3/5a's were made/ branded Goodmans, they are rare (and not in the Ebay sense) so if you happen across a pair of these
 
My first stereo system, about 1963, used a pair of 12" Goodmans dual axium speakers in full sized bass reflex enclosures, 16 ohms impedance. They had been built for me by an audio engineer. I drove them with a Harmon Kardon Award 500 tube amp (20 watts per channel). Gerrard AT6 changer and Shure cartridge. No tuner, just records. They really sounded great!
 
I have read nothing underwhelming regarding Goodmans speakers. They seem to have been more prevalent than I would have originally thought.

I have come across several mentions of these speakers in discussions of equipment of a lot of 60s Merseybeat bands, who built their own cabs and replaced duff equipment with whatever was available. This may be why you see these frankensteined units with one original speaker and a Goodmans or Wharfedale, etc.

I have been trying to get a hold of a Goodmans 15" woofer or two for awhile now. They are a very rare bird indeed!

Peter, before replacing the caps inside your speaker, I would do some checks to ensure nothing else in your signal chain is the cause. I say this mainly because some of those audiophile caps can be pretty hefty in price. I might solder in a cheaper generic, (matching capacitance and voltage of course) to see if it really makes a difference. It might well be your ears!

Not to stir the pot, either, but it is worth remembering that a majority of the audio industry at this time was using whatever parts they could source cheaply and in large quantity. Additionally, because of the technologly outstripping itself at such a rapid pace, no doubt these units weren't designed to be used for anything more than a few years or so. I suppose that's also a good argument FOR recapping!

I leave you to confusion. ;)
 
Thanks Funders. I still haven't done anything. The "distortion" is not consistent and might be a combination of my ears and /or the quality of the recording. I find some of my latest CDs don't give rise to bad vibes - in the audio sense of that phrase.
 
I have read nothing underwhelming regarding Goodmans speakers. They seem to have been more prevalent than I would have originally thought.

I have come across several mentions of these speakers in discussions of equipment of a lot of 60s Merseybeat bands, who built their own cabs and replaced duff equipment with whatever was available. This may be why you see these frankensteined units with one original speaker and a Goodmans or Wharfedale, etc.

I have been trying to get a hold of a Goodmans 15" woofer or two for awhile now. They are a very rare bird indeed!

Peter, before replacing the caps inside your speaker, I would do some checks to ensure nothing else in your signal chain is the cause. I say this mainly because some of those audiophile caps can be pretty hefty in price. I might solder in a cheaper generic, (matching capacitance and voltage of course) to see if it really makes a difference. It might well be your ears!

Not to stir the pot, either, but it is worth remembering that a majority of the audio industry at this time was using whatever parts they could source cheaply and in large quantity. Additionally, because of the technologly outstripping itself at such a rapid pace, no doubt these units weren't designed to be used for anything more than a few years or so. I suppose that's also a good argument FOR recapping!

I leave you to confusion. ;)

Along with hi-fi speakers, Goodmans also supplied drivers for early Vox guitar amps. The very-first AC-15's, I believe.

Wharfedale had a guitar speaker as well as a bass speaker. AG12 (guitar) & AG15 (bass), I think. The latter had an alnico, but the 12" one had a ceramic magnet, at least in the picture I saw. Probably a sweet upgrade for an AC-30 combo amp reissue. I've been looking, but I have no idea what countries had access to them.
 
I have a reissue AC30 with Celestion Blues in the cab. It sounds pretty good, especially after I modded some of the component values inside.

I was thinking of Vox mainly when I wrote the above. I had seen some pictures of Vox cabs with Wharfedale and Goodmans speakers in them! Pretty fantastic, and if I was to try building a 2x12 or 1x15 bass cab I'd probably wind up going that route too.

I've never encountered the particular guitar version of their 12", however. Interesting. I bet they are a rare bird on the bay too.
 
Sorry to jump in on your discussion here but l have a pair of Goodman 880's that are in need of new 15'' bass drivers If anyone can help steer me in the right direction thanks,John in "OZ"
 
John,

I have seen several of these for sale in the US fleabay. Shipping might be cost prohibitive though and I'm not sure which particular 15" driver yours utilises. Good luck with the search!
 
John,

I have seen several of these for sale in the US fleabay. Shipping might be cost prohibitive though and I'm not sure which particular 15" driver yours utilises. Good luck with the search!
Thanks brother ggizzy,l'm seriously starting to consider rebuilding the speakers with new drivers,mid range and tweeters..as soon as l find out the impedance of the 880's but as l'm "basic" still don't know if the existing cross overs will work with speakers of different impedance as the originals l believe are 16 0hms and most speakers these days are 8 or 4 l think.. No specs on the nett for my Goodman's and have yet to find the brochure from when l bought them in 1990 but it's here somewhere :-(
 
Back
Top Bottom