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Help identifying these speakers and a little info

F

Fusion916

New Member
Hi all

First all I am a long time audio guy but I was never into vintage audio. Well that changed a few day ago after hooking these up:

speakerp.jpg


I think these are a Fisher ST430, but I am not sure, is the only way to know for sure to take off the grill? Also, it seems these grills do not come off, are there screws somewhere or something?

Anyway these speakers sound pretty damn good, a lot better than the Yamaha ns a200's I have pictured behind them. So much so I'm getting rid of the Yamaha's and using these as my mains.

Have another question about these though, it seems there is distortion in the voice mid-frequency range (lower female voice tone) at moderate to high volumes. Does this mean one of the midranges my be blown? Or some crossover components need to be replaced?
 
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I'm assuming what is on top is a different speaker? Any shots of the rear? What are the dimensions? Look fairly large, though that doesn't mean quality. Early Fisher (way before 80's) were nice speakers, not great, but not bad either. Those appear to be later model speakers because of the "rings" around the drivers. That was fairly typical of later era speakers.

Most of these had the grills glued on or screwed in from inside the cabinet. If you don't have a removable rear panel you won't be able to pull the drivers even if you removed the grill since they were often attached from the inside. Not saying that is the case here, just a high probability.
 
The type of distortion you describe is more likely a driver problem than a cross-over issue. I'd guess that the drivers experience a voice coil rub as the excursion increases with increased volume. With woofers rotating them 180 degrees in their mounting position can sometimes help (offsets surround and spider sag issues) but with midrange drivers there is typically nothing you can do but replace them.

The speakers look like Japanese sourced units from Panasonic as came with MCS stereo systems from J.C. Penny stores or were marketed as Panasonic "Thrusters" (as they utilized passive radiators in addition to the single active woofer). Later Panasonic/Matsushita marketed speakers in the US under the Technics brand name and many of their inexpensive models sounded far batter than they had any right to. If those are Fisher speakers, then they likely would have been sourced from Foster/ Fostex. Of moderate priced Japanese rack systems in the late 1970's and 1980's the Technics and Fisher speakers tended to sound better than the comparable Kenwood, Sony, and Mitsubishi system speakers.

The only way to get to those drivers is to cut the grille cloth and pry off the trim rings so you could get to the screws (assuming the drivers were mounted from the front that is!). Good luck!
 
These are definitely fishers:

speaker2e.jpg


And they definitely aren't low-fi speakers. Especially in the mid to high range (even with the distortion). It's a shame that these grills might be glued or if the speakers are mounted from the inside (there is no back panel). I guess I'll have to live with it until I upgrade (maybe to a HPM100). But these are definitely much better than my Yamaha's.
 
If you like them, then that is all that matters. I am a fan of vintage "The Fisher" speakers, but if the label doesn't say "Long Island City 1 - New York" on them, I pretty much leave them alone. I prefer the 'XP' series over others. Almost all of the 'ST' series is considered to be non high-quality and I don't disagree with that assessment. But again, what you like is all that matters. Wish I could help you with the specific model number, sorry.
 
Odd, but maybe my Yahama's were so shitty I think the later series fisher sounds good. But I have a pretty good ear for audio and these sound very decent.
 
Ummm I don't want to burst you bubble but they look like cheap rack system speakers. But hey if you enjoy them, whatever...

Tiptoes away...
 
No reason not to fix them, then! Seriously, you have to with what sounds good to you, and everyone has different taste.
 
I recently got the same speakers on Craigslist and was wondering if you did any work on em, i was thinking of restoring them but the grill is on there pretty good and it seems to be built on to the speaker, im still not sure which model they are either because they have a slight difference from the st430
 
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