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Utah Imperial m-1500 anyone know anything?

joshman

joshman

Member
I walk in there (GW) and again there is a huge, heavy nice pair of these speakers I have never heard of. Anyone know anything? They are wide and squarish, on the back it says Imperial by Utah m-1500. 2 screw type speaker terminals. There is a sticker on the back that says 15 inch woofer with 6 lb magnet, midrange is this and that , I think it is a horn tweeter. The grills are a nice black with red kind of. I tried to remove the grills to get a look but they seem stuck on there not sure what to do. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
 
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What are you waiting for? Depending on the price I would be all over them.
Where are you located? I just found a pair last night (Utah's) that had 12 inch woofers, horn midrange and dome tweet in a 24x15x10 box. They were all scratched up and very dry. I paid $5.99 for them and carted them home, sanded them down and did the Watco and Howard's Feed and Wax, Opened them up deoxited the pots and put them back together. Put on some Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, and a little Joni Mitchell...Sweet !! I think Utahs must be one of the most overlooked vintage classic speakers made. Real sleepers in my opinion. Others may chime in, but in my opinion they offer a big bang for your buck. Good luck. :yes:

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Thanks! they do look very nice. I just got some jbl l-16's not even 4 days ago so Im hesitating! what is watcos feed and wax? some sort of restoration stuff? I will try to get the grills off to see the condition of the drivers on the utah's then report back.
 
I went back to GW and I cannot get those grills off. I used a coathanger. I dont want to buy them if they are damaged. How can I get those grill off? they are set in deep and I dont want to damage them too. The speakers on the outside look pretty nice, a few scratches and stuff but nothing major. freq response on back says 25-20,000.
 
joshman said:
I went back to GW and I cannot get those grills off. I used a coathanger. I dont want to buy them if they are damaged. How can I get those grill off? they are set in deep and I dont want to damage them too. The speakers on the outside look pretty nice, a few scratches and stuff but nothing major. freq response on back says 25-20,000.
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The back probably is screwed on, enter from there.
 
Is this a $10 experiment? Why not just pick them up and, in the worst case, flip the drivers. A lot of folks drop off their old, working speakers at the GW. They just don't fit their wive's idea of decorating.
 
joshman said:
I went back to GW and I cannot get those grills off. I used a coathanger. I dont want to buy them if they are damaged. How can I get those grill off? they are set in deep and I dont want to damage them too. The speakers on the outside look pretty nice, a few scratches and stuff but nothing major. freq response on back says 25-20,000.
Click to expand...

Next time you go out looking make sure you have a set of short speaker wires in your pocket as well as a putty knife or an old butter knife and a combination phillips/flathead screwdriver. You have to go loaded for bear when shopping for vintage equipment...LOL In most thrift stores the electronic stuff is all together and you can usually find a source you can hook up your speakers to.

If there are screws attaching the back of the speaker you will not be able to get the grills off from the front. The drivers are mounted to the front of the driver board after you have taken off the back panel.

Watco Oil and Howard's Feed and Wax can be found at Home Depot.

Good luck!
 
Well thanks for the info bros! Yes there are screws on the back. They are asking $24.95. I dont know if they would bum if I started unscrewing them from the back. If I did do that would it be easy to remove the grills and inspect them? Thanks again to all. Again, if I had not just gotten the JBL's(same store, $10 bucks), and some infinity 5000's a few days prior($7 bucks but woofers need re-surround) this would be a no brainer. I like the idea of this nice full range speaker. I have the dbx soundfield v's they are ok, dont sound bad would these be an improvement over those? These seem much heavier duty but the dbx do have a nice 15 inch woofer, both in nice shape.
 
In all likelihood the surrounds on the Utahs are cloth so rot should not be an issure. I recently bought a set of allied speakers that are Utah drivers. They sound incredibly nice. For that price I would have already loaded them up and taken them home!
Bryan
 
Don't forget that Goodwill has a 10 day return policy. If you ever have a question about something, buy it, take it home and check it out. If you don't like it take it back. Gotta love Goodwill!
 
I went this morning and they were gone. In there place was a set of fisher studio standard 3 ways, all damaged and disgusting actually. Oh well, they have so much stuff in the back that they will be putting out soon. I might have missed out the utah's were very heavy and in good shape. I saw this guy with a ponytail eyeing them yesterday, I think he is the one that took them. Anyway I am going to make a copy of the rover by Led Zep to test all the speakers I have, see how they compare. I love that sone. The opening with the sick drums should let me know what rocks best!!
 
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