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Help IDing a pair of Trusonics

gonzothegreat

gonzothegreat

Super Member
A friend stumbled upon a pair of Stephens Trusonic speakers but I'm completely ignorant of the brand. The cabs are nicely built with some faded factory labels and badges. They measure 25"tall x 15 3/5" wide x 11 3/4" deep.

Bad cellphone pics
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Haven't opened them up yet and it won't happen until late next week. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
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Too bad some mutt used these for "target practice".

Thanks for the links. Most of the info I saw was for the Altec-ish horns/woofers/coaxes and not for the bookshelf models my friend has. Didn't see anything in the Allied catalogs that looked like these. Once I get inside I'll have a much better idea of what he has. The circular crossover controls are a good sign as they were used on the early models and not the later stuff.
 
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Pics but I didn't have time to open them up. Trusonic model 816 that according to Google had an 8" 80FR midrange/woofer and RT1 tweeters. No pics available on the net so I thought I'd snap a few color glossies for the fans. Note that the grilles are mirror imaged though I don't know if the drivers are. Ran them for a few minutes on a Marantz receiver and they worked fine. Even the pots were smooth and noise free. Consecutive serials 1394/1395 but the earlier one is missing the label.

Any hints on how to clean up the grille stains? I was going to suggest foaming degreaser and paper towels to wick away the cleaner.

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Wasnt Stephens Trusonic founded by a former Altec Engineer in the late 40s/early 50s? Im pretty sure I read that somewhere, but it escapes me. I know many of their larger coaxial drivers are highly sought after, going by ebay prices of course.
 
Stolen from a Lansing Heritage post...

The Stephens Tru-sonic Manufacturing Company was established as early as 1938 by Robert Lee Stephens, former draftsman at MGM studios and participant in their groundbreaking Shearer Horn Two Way Loudspeaker project along with Jim Lansing, John Hilliard and others. Stephens left MGM and built up his very successful enterprise through the postwar era until his death in 1957. After that, Bert Berlant of Concertone tape recorder fame ran the company for awhile, then it passed to the people associated with the Standel guitar amplifiers in Temple City, CA for a time, then finally to the people behind Utah speakers, by then located in Indiana. It is interesting that your speakers contain drivers from both latter locations/ownerships. These drivers were built in the earlier tradition of strong Alnico V motors and cast baskets, but have no particular connection to Altec Lansing aside from this general similarity in design.
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While the coaxes are desirable, the net consensus seems to be that they aren't in the same league as Altec 604s or Tannoy concentrics no matter what the ebay flippers claim.
 
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BadassBob said:
I know many of their larger coaxial drivers are highly sought after, going by ebay prices of course.
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Indeed..... stuff like this. (Stephens 206ax 15" coaxial speaker) In fairness, most of the Stephens stuff is collectible. Congrats to the OP on a nice find !!

My recollection of Stephens locations are Los Angeles and Culver City though I cannot remember which was first....

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gonzothegreat said:
While the coaxes are desirable, the net consensus seems to be that they aren't in the same league as Altec 604s or Tannoy concentrics no matter what the ebay flippers claim.
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Thanks for the heads up. I wasnt sure as there isnt much info out there about them other than a few eBay ads and forum posts.
 
The 80Fr is one of my all time favorite 8" drivers. I built mine into some rather ugly looking voight pipes and they are amazing little speakers. Good stuff upstream and these will let you know they are the good stuff. I am not familiar with the tweeters but I matched the 80fr's with some emits crossed over at 9-10k for that little extra on top. Great find do give them a go with the best low power set up you can muster.
 
gonzothegreat said:
Stolen from a Lansing Heritage post...

While the coaxes are desirable, the net consensus seems to be that they aren't in the same league as Altec 604s or Tannoy concentrics no matter what the ebay flippers claim.
Click to expand...

Consensus among what group? The (Altec ) Lansing heritage folks?

The Stephens coaxials are desirable for good reasons..... build quality and sound quality.......not 'flipper claims'.
 
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All of the players had speakers with some sterling qualities. Stephens was the one who came up with the technical reasons for building the horns with 17 degree septums.
 
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