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Goodmans Magnum K2 - would you?

G

GruntPuppy

pfm Member
I've been offered a quite nice fully working pair for £50 - I'm trying to think of reasons not to - apart from the fact that I'd have to get another amp (sigh), are there any reasons not to?

[Edit] atrocious grammar partially fixed.
 
Have fun with them, for £50 that's fantastic!

I found the midrange to be course on all the Goodmans of the era, but that sealed bass is great. Wonderful build quality as well.
 
ABCaudio said:
Have fun with them, for £50 that's fantastic!

I found the midrange to be course on all the Goodmans of the era, but that sealed bass is great. Wonderful build quality as well.
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Thank you. I'm thinking for £50 I'll have a bit of fun building a budget system for my parents, who DO NOT respect volume controls at all (so a 20 watt amp for these, I think). I shall ring the chap to finalise the deal tomorrow. My ex doesn't realise her birthday present to me will be driving to collect 'em :D I shall break it gently...

[edit] deal done :D managed to get hold of the chap online.
 
That’s an absolute steal, Goodmans of that era are great.

I have the Goodwoods, the successor to Magnum K2 and they’re v good, happy on the end of a single ended 5W el84 amp, admittedly in extreme near field (office system).

The elsdon Wonfor Q20 that’s in the classifieds just now with a cheap passive ought to be worth trying, or a Quad 303.
 
That's going to be great fun. I had K2, and the later SL Magnum. I ended up modifying the SL for ages. A friend did the same, with some slightly newer Goodwoods - he went so far as to get RFC to rebuild them with modern mid-range and tweeter!

I later got the Magister, which is a K2 with the 15" bass. Happy days!
 
eastone said:
That’s an absolute steal, Goodmans of that era are great.

I have the Goodwoods, the successor to Magnum K2 and they’re v good, happy on the end of a single ended 5W el84 amp, admittedly in extreme near field (office system).

The elsdon Wonfor Q20 that’s in the classifieds just now with a cheap passive ought to be worth trying, or a Quad 303.
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I was thinking more along the lines of a NAD 7020 receiver, tbh - industrial and tolerant of abuse, plus that tuner for Old Fart's radio programmes - although for purely aesthetic reasons I might look for an old trio receiver or similar, with wood trimmings to tie into the speakers.
 
I was a bit of a Goodmans sl#t in my not so distant youth. I hold my dad responsible for this as I grew up listening to his Magnum SLs!

Off the top of my head, I've owned:
Minister
Minister SL
Havant
Mezzo 3
Mezzo SL
Magnum K2
Dimension 8
Magister
Achromat Beta
Achromat Kappa
Achromat Sigma
Maxim
Double Maxim

All were unrestored, I didn't recap any, so perhaps not an entirely fair comparison given the potential for components to drift off-spec etc. That said, I preferred the Magnum K2 and Magnum SL over the larger Magister; they didn't have as good bass extension but they sounded smoother and more open in the mids and highs to my ears, and generally just more pleasant to listen to.

Do note that depending on when your Magnum K2s were made they will either be fitted with Goodmans own soft dome radiator tweeter (DT2, DT3 or DT4) or Philips "fish eye" AD 0160 / AD 0161 mylar dome tweeter. Troels Gravesen gives the Philips a bad rap, but in the Minister, Magnum K2 and Double Maxim I had with the Philips fitted I actually preferred it over Goodmans own DT model. It does sound a little 'fizzy' but I find the DT variant sounds a bit coarse and dry in comparison, and having measured samples of both recently the Philips tweeter appears to age better (the DTs I've measured exhibit significant variations in their frequency response).
 
Aaaand my parents just threw a spanner in the works. They now want one of those micro-all-in-one abominations. So I shall probably have a listen to these, refurb the cases (not going to take much; they're pretty good as it is), and stick 'em on eBay at some point in the future.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Magnum, Magister, K2 amongst the worst speakers ever offered for sale! Avoid.
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I appreciate the input, but refute it utterly.

I had Amstrad and Wharfedale laser speakers foisted upon me. THOSE are some of the worst. speakers. everrrrrrr.

comic-book-guy-joseph-on.jpg


It looks like I'll just be having a play and tidying them before moving these on. I won't insult PFM with them. Even if all they do is allow me to try out Howard's Restor-a-finish and feed-n-wax, they'll have served a purpose.
 
ToTo Man said:
I was a bit of a Goodmans sl#t in my not so distant youth. I hold my dad responsible for this as I grew up listening to his Magnum SLs!

Off the top of my head, I've owned:
Minister
Minister SL
Havant
Mezzo 3
Mezzo SL
Magnum K2
Dimension 8
Magister
Achromat Beta
Achromat Kappa
Achromat Sigma
Maxim
Double Maxim

All were unrestored, I didn't recap any, so perhaps not an entirely fair comparison given the potential for components to drift off-spec etc. That said, I preferred the Magnum K2 and Magnum SL over the larger Magister; they didn't have as good bass extension but they sounded smoother and more open in the mids and highs to my ears, and generally just more pleasant to listen to.

Do note that depending on when your Magnum K2s were made they will either be fitted with Goodmans own soft dome radiator tweeter (DT2, DT3 or DT4) or Philips "fish eye" AD 0160 / AD 0161 mylar dome tweeter. Troels Gravesen gives the Philips a bad rap, but in the Minister, Magnum K2 and Double Maxim I had with the Philips fitted I actually preferred it over Goodmans own DT model. It does sound a little 'fizzy' but I find the DT variant sounds a bit coarse and dry in comparison, and having measured samples of both recently the Philips tweeter appears to age better (the DTs I've measured exhibit significant variations in their frequency response).
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I have a lot of time for Troels Gravesen - heck, I've still got a pair of TJL 3W's here - but I don't believe he's right 100% of the time. My mother has decided she and my father want a modern microsystem rather than proper audio (the apple has, thankfully sprouted wings and left THAT tree far, far behind!) so I shall just take the time to listen to these, tidy them up if needed (they do look to be in extremely good condition) before moving them on. Being honest, I've been itching to try out Howard wood renovation products for some time.
 
ToTo Man said:
.....I preferred the Magnum K2 and Magnum SL over the larger Magister.......
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Frankly this doesn't surprise me. Even as a former Goodmans employee with the opinion that a many of their designs are sadly under-rated, I thought the Magisters were crap!
 
Beobloke said:
Frankly this doesn't surprise me. Even as a former Goodmans employee with the opinion that a many of their designs are sadly under-rated, I thought the Magisters were crap!
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I was trying to be diplomatic, Adam! ;)

Of all the Goodmans models mentioned above, the only ones I ultimately held onto are the Betas and Double Maxims. My dad still has his Magnum SLs of course as they hold a lot of sentimental value.

As a former Goodmans employee I'm curious how many of the models I mentioned have you heard? IIRC from one of our conversations from the distant past the only model you were really impressed by was the Imagio 5000 (my memory of this is fuzzy so I've probably got the model name wrong)? I'm also curious whether you got to hear any Goodmans models that had the Philips tweeter as opposed to the Goodmans-branded DT?
 
eastone said:
Nuanced as ever!

Can ye elaborate a little?
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Poor drive units in poor boxes with poor crossovers... boom, tizz and screech generally. "never mind the quality, look at the 15" woofers!"

Their last hoorah with the see through polypropylene woofers looked more interesting but I never got to hear them. Achromat etc.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Poor drive units in poor boxes with poor crossovers... boom, tizz and screech generally. "never mind the quality, look at the 15" woofers!"

Their last hoorah with the see through polypropylene woofers looked more interesting but I never got to hear them. Achromat etc.
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Definitely less enclosure colouration (to my ears at least) in the leather-clad Achromat series, but power handling is limited and the tweeter level is a bit sizzly in the highest octave. Again age may be a contributing factor here as I've owned multiple pairs of the same model of Achromat and some exhibited more extreme HF behaviour than others, for example:
https://flic.kr/p/2f4QgXn
https://flic.kr/p/2dEZwf2
https://flic.kr/p/2f4QgCe

I think you can tell which of the three pairs I kept! ;)
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Poor drive units in poor boxes with poor crossovers... boom, tizz and screech generally. "never mind the quality, look at the 15" woofers!"

Their last hoorah with the see through polypropylene woofers looked more interesting but I never got to hear them. Achromat etc.
Click to expand...

Yes... 12" woofers does seem a little on the extreme size as it is - particularly when compared to my TJL's - the long throw SEAS drivers in them (magnesium cone, neodymium magnets and sylised streamlined wooferdicks) do produce some amazing low end. But I shall have a look. It looks like I may have got myself a denon amp, tape deck and tuner for £20 the lot :O
 
ToTo Man said:
I was trying to be diplomatic, Adam! ;)

Of all the Goodmans models mentioned above, the only ones I ultimately held onto are the Betas and Double Maxims. My dad still has his Magnum SLs of course as they hold a lot of sentimental value.

As a former Goodmans employee I'm curious how many of the models I mentioned have you heard? IIRC from one of our conversations from the distant past the only model you were really impressed by was the Imagio 5000 (my memory of this is fuzzy so I've probably got the model name wrong)? I'm also curious whether you got to hear any Goodmans models that had the Philips tweeter as opposed to the Goodmans-branded DT?
Click to expand...

I've heard most of them! Generally speaking the Mezzo/Magnums of all types I would class as pleasant enough but unremarkable. Certainly worth grabbing for, say, less than three digits, but I never found any of them really worth getting excited about. I was hugely disappointed by the Magisters - when I bought mine, the tweeters were blown but I thought they sounded promising. However, when the correct pair of DT3s were sourced and fitted, I was taken aback - hard, splashy treble; shouty, strident midrange and the bass was biggish but an awful mess - the archetypal 'cardboard box' bass drum effect. As a friend of mine commented - "They sounded better with non-working tweeters"!

As to the ones I have liked, the RB65s were very good, as were the 1990s series of smaller bookshelf models that re-used the Mezzo and Magnum name. The 1990s Magnums are standmounters with an 8" bass driver and a 1" metal dome tweeter and really are very good indeed. As you rightly say, I liked the Imagios despite their flaws but the one pair that really blew me away were the Achromat Sigmas - I really wish I'd kept these as they were superb.

I've still yet to hear a pair of Goodwoods and would be keen to try the Achromat 400s as these seem highly regarded. Sadly the cheap pair that were given to me had a blown bass driver and non original midranges, so I parted them out. The ones I'd really like to hear, though, are the Graduates, however I'm not sure these even made it to production!

P.S. - 1990s Maxim/Mezzo/Magnum family shot below!

x9PIghj.jpg
 
Not Goodman's as such I had a set of Naim nam402 they used 8 inch Goodman's drivers with 1 inch Goodman's tweeters. In larger studio monitor case front port presume naim XO. Anyway was pleasantly surprised just how nice they sounded.
Sorry to see them go.
Don't know if that holds any relation to Goodman's own speakers tho
 
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