• Please note that Audiokarma will be offline briefly for updates early on Monday morning, September 28th.

Anyone Heard Of Db Plus 1212 Floor Speakers

3

351sheboygan

New Member
ON THE SPEAKER ON THE BACK SAYS DB PLUS LOUDSPEAKERS 1212
135 TORBAY RD MARKHAM ONTARIO CANADA
SPEAKER HAS 2- 12 INCH WHOOFERS 1- 7INCH MID RANGE 1-5INCH TWEETER
SPEAKER SIZE H-43inchs w-14.5inchs D15-inchs 85 thanks mark
 
Register to hide this ad
DBPLUS SPK, 1212 FLOORSTANDING
Description: BASS REFLEX, (2)12" WOOFERS, 6.5" MIDRANGE
Manufacture Years: 1987 - 1991
Additional Information:
Power: 200w
Retail
MSRP: $1,200.00
USED: $92.00
 
351sheboygan, welcome to AudioKarma!


I did some quick looking and didn't find anything in particular other than one brief comment by 'cubdog' on the Polk forums:

DB Plus Digital Monitors. The parent company Audio Products International is the same Co. that owns Energy. Apparently DB Plus was only in production from approximately 1983 to 1987.
Click to expand...

There's a Cubdog here as well and if its the same person, you might want to send him a PM and see if there's more information to be had.

- JP
 
Really Bolly? Those things were $1200 new? I was never impressed with their sound or build quality. They seemed to me like speakers from a rack system. :no:
 
MSRP means the manufacturers suggested retail price. Thats what they think the speakers should sell for. Most dealers sold for a lot less. :yes:

I remember when I was buying stereo stuff way back when, my dealer used to catch me with the line that the MSRP was say $500.00. Then he would offer it to me for say $395.00 and I thought I was getting an excellent deal so I bought. Not knowing that I was probably paying what he was going to sell the darn thing for anyway.

So I would take it that the $1200.00 MSRP those speakers were going for was a lot less. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
DB Plus is one of my favorite speaker brands. They date from the mid 80's to early 90's. Their parent company was Audio Products International who still make Energy speakers among others. While I agree with Aldo that they don't look like much, they are a very nice warm sounding speaker similar to some Energy speakers of the same vintage. I own pairs of the 440's, 880's and 990's and like all three. They are quite efficient which makes them a good match with a Sonic T amp. All in all a nice underappreciated speaker. Enjoy.

cubdog
 
I had a pair of small dBs, which were quite nice, and I have heard what must be one or two models down (at a liquor store, oddly enough). My impression is that they are pretty good -- not white van/loss leaders as has been hypothesised. I'd give them a listen. The pair I had were not particularly superb in build quality, but were honest real speakers, and though a bit bright by may standards, pretty good.
 
Nat said:
I had a pair of small dBs, which were quite nice, and I have heard what must be one or two models down (at a liquor store, oddly enough). My impression is that they are pretty good -- not white van/loss leaders as has been hypothesised. I'd give them a listen. The pair I had were not particularly superb in build quality, but were honest real speakers, and though a bit bright by may standards, pretty good.
Click to expand...
Nat, I'm confused with your comments. White Van? Never heard that before especially since they have been out of production for over ten years. Again, I'm the first to admit that the cabinets are not exceptional but for sound quality they are far superior to alot of highly reguarded vintage speakers. API has in the past and continues to make quality products. I don't think anything they have ever made could be remotely connected to any White Van speaker. Just wanted to clear this up because anyone that might run across a pair of DB's should pick them up. I'm sure the price would be right.

cubdog
 
What I meant was that dB speakers were not the sort of junk sold out of the back of a white van in a parking lot, the seller claiming they were supposed to sell for a huge sum of money ("See -- the price is printed here on the box!"), but for you, they will only be x amount (a still ridiculous sum for what they are). I was saying this because several of the other posters had suggested they were in that category -- I think perhaps the name suggests a bogus manufacturer.
I agree with your opnion: while they are clearly built with cost in mind -- vinyl rather than veneer, and they are not really aiming to be high end -- they are nice speakers, better than many more well known speakers.
Sorry if I was unclear.
 
Cubdog I think you may have misread Nats post:

"My impression is that they are pretty good -- NOT white van/loss leaders as has been hypothesised."

He said they are -- NOT -- white van speakers. I believe he thinks they are pretty good.

Just an FYI

---------------------------------------

What's the odds of that, I post like 15 hours later and so does nat.
Well disregard my post then!
 
Last edited:
Listed in 1989 AUDIO mag

The October issue of AUDIO 1989 has the db PLUS speakers listed in their equipment directory. The speaker line ranged from the $360/pr model 440, the $500/pr 880, the $600/pr model 990, the $850/pr model 1010, and the top o' the line 1212's @ $1200/pr.

The manufacturer specs for the 1212 indicate a vented speaker design, using a 1" dome tweeter, etc, a freq response of 25-22, +/- 3, and a high sensitivity of 102 spl w/1 watt input. Crossover freq is 300 & 2k.

I had never heard of this brand either, but there were lots of speaker mfg'rs back in the 80's & 90's.

Dale
 
DB+ was custom house brand speakers made(by API) for a company called Majestic that sold electronics back in the 80's in Toronto. They were so popular that other stores started buying them. I sold many of them when I worked for that company. They were considered the poor mans Energy because the used a very similar tweeter. The best of the bunch was the 880's and 990's they were a very well made 2 way speakers with great imaging they were mirror images of each other also. The larger ones were a bit bloaty in the bass.
 
If I remember correctly , Andrew Marshall of audio ideas guide , had a hand in the design of those speakers ? I may be off track but he did a design to a price point to be sold by Hudson Bay stores as a house brand . I may have the brand name mixed up with another one but I do remember seeing those DB+ around up here back when .
 
Here's some pics and specs on some of the dBPlus speakers. I bought a set of 990's new in the late 80's. They still work and sound great in my analog system (vs newer Axiom in my HT). I also just picked up a set of 880's.
 

Attachments

  • DBPlus1.jpg
    DBPlus1.jpg
    111.5 KB · Views: 152
  • DBPlus2.jpg
    DBPlus2.jpg
    145.6 KB · Views: 145
  • DBPlus3.jpg
    DBPlus3.jpg
    34.1 KB · Views: 139
This is a resurrection posting, but having jumped back into loudspeaker restos during C19, I Googled dB Plus, mainly because of an experience I recall from the late 80s. In Toronto, there was either an IASCA sanctioned soundoff or some other audio show, where I saw dB Plus for the first time. What struck me was the magnitude of their display. They had built 2 walls of about 50 or so cabinets per side, took the grills off one wall, left the others on. They were all wired together in what I surmise was a series parallel circuit to maintain either a 4 or 8 ohm load on whatever amp they were running, and as you can imagine, it was literally a wall of sound. Stuck in my noggin all these 30+years in fact. Not cranked, but the amount of air these 100 8's moved was impressive. Never saw them in a shop anywhere that I recall, even Majestic Sound Warehouse..... I've never seen a pair for sale used since either. You're welcome.
 
cubdog said:
DB Plus is one of my favorite speaker brands. They date from the mid 80's to early 90's. Their parent company was Audio Products International who still make Energy speakers among others. While I agree with Aldo that they don't look like much, they are a very nice warm sounding speaker similar to some Energy speakers of the same vintage. I own pairs of the 440's, 880's and 990's and like all three. They are quite efficient which makes them a good match with a Sonic T amp. All in all a nice underappreciated speaker. Enjoy.

cubdog
Click to expand...

I have 2 pairs of the dB PLUS 440 speakers since I bought them new, many moons ago. Sadly, I've replaced the woofers as I wasn't familar with refoaming, but there are plenty of quality 4 Ohm, 6.5" woofers available.
But the dome tweeters in these things are just magical !!!IMG_20250207_144929.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom