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Help me ID these heavy vintage Loudspeakers!

OK finally I've cracked open this nut and have pictures to share ...

The Smaller pair of speakers are 15 ohm - 8 inches from edge to edge.
The Large pair are a mismatch - one is a Goomans Mezzo II 8 ohm, and the other is an unknown 15 ohm - 12 inches from edge to edge (including the metal frame).

So it would have been 15 ohm woofers all round if it wasn't for the Mezzo II imposters.







 
Interesting find.

Circa 1968, Goodmans began selling Mezzo II both as a complete two-way speaker system and as a kit called Mezzo Twin Kit, the latter including 2 x 10" Mezzo bass/mids, 2 x 2" Mezzo tweeters (later changed to a Seas H-087 1.5" dome during the 1970s), 2 x crossover boards/wiring, and 2 x terminal blocks.

It's too bad that the larger bass drivers aren't a matched pair, as these were extremely well built drivers for their day and would form the basis of a really nice two-way DIY project with proper tweeters.

Can you post a pic of the crossover board?
 
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The woofers have different baskets, but appear to have matching cones and surrounds.
 
Well strange those!
I agree with Yank, I think both the woofers are Goodmans Mezzo units just different ages? Pity if they are different impedances though.
The 8 inch ones must be 'full range' units like a cheap Axiom 8. (The cones look very similar.)
Need pics of the rear of the woofers and x-overs now then!
 
Interesting find....

It's too bad that the larger bass drivers aren't a matched pair, as these were extremely well built drivers for their day and would form the basis of a really nice two-way sealed box DIY project with proper tweeters.

Can you post a pic of the crossover board?

Well strange those!
I agree with Yank, I think both the woofers are Goodmans Mezzo units just different ages? Pity if they are different impedances though.
The 8 inch ones must be 'full range' units like a cheap Axiom 8. (The cones look very similar.)
Need pics of the rear of the woofers and x-overs now then!

I'm afraid the crossover is nothing complicated - see pics...



 
I had a similar, though smaller pair of wood fluted speakers back in the 70's and they came as part of a package with a stereogram.
I can't remember the make of the stereogram though.

The fact that the wiring appears to be standard mains cable suggests however they are home built or modified.
 
The woofers have different baskets, but appear to have matching cones and surrounds.
That's the oddest thing about these, as the black anodized basket came along much later and these typically have none inverted butyl rubber surrounds (i.e. drivers were commonly being front mounted by then) and smaller, flatter dust caps.

I wonder if the original owner had one 10" driver go and ordered a replacement from Goodmans, which they supplied from then current 8ohm stock but with the same inverted surround for mounting from within the enclosure.
 
I think the Goodmans Mezzo kit with a later repair whilst Goodmans were still in business in the 70's to explain the differences in cages.

I wonder if they were Ferguson cabs up cycled by the private maker
 
That's the oddest thing about these, as the black anodized basket came along much later and these typically have none inverted butyl rubber surrounds (i.e. drivers were commonly being front mounted by then) and smaller, flatter dust caps.

I wonder if the original owner had one 10" driver go and ordered a replacement from Goodmans, which they supplied from then current 8ohm stock but with the same inverted surround for mounting from within the enclosure.

Any comment on the crossover? I can only see a coil and single elcap capacitor. Is this unusual too?

Funny how when I first tested these out before dismantling them that I did not notice any detrimental affect on the sound even though one woofer was 15 ohm and the other 8 ohm? Probably because I just had them on the bench/table and they were too close together (not in a serious listening configuration).
 
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Any comment on the crossover? I can only see a coil and single elcap capacitor. Is this unusual too?

Funny how when I first tested these out before dismantling them that I did not notice any detrimental affect on the sound even though one woofer was 15 ohm and the other 8 ohm? Probably because I just had them on the bench/table and they were too close together (not in a serious listening configuration).
In my ignorant view it normal for the time which i assume is very early 70's.

just before multi driver TL speakers became the hi end norm like IMF etc with transistor amps

things were much simpler before computers arrived

My 1974 JBL's have a very simple arrangement too
 
Without being able to see which internal wire goes to which speaker driver, It is hard to be exact, however, it is likely to be 1st order Butterworth, aka 6dB/octave applied to both drivers.

Any idea what value the Elcap is? I can see what appears to be 50V via the second pic, but it is the uF value that will dictate the HPF rolloff Fq; which I would expect to be quite low, what with the 'full range' smaller driver.

Regardless, there is likely to be a lot of overlap between these two drivers.
 
Well strange those!
I agree with Yank, I think both the woofers are Goodmans Mezzo units just different ages? Pity if they are different impedances though.
The 8 inch ones must be 'full range' units like a cheap Axiom 8. (The cones look very similar.)
Need pics of the rear of the woofers and x-overs now then!

The rear woofer of one of the 12 inchers is easily identifiable as an 8 Ohm Goodmans Mezzo II because it is labelled such; but there is no label at the rear to id other one shown in the picture below... does anyone recognise it?




41869196272_e84d3b0785_c.jpg
 
99% sure that is a Mezzo as well. Just different age / older basket style.
The cross over looks very home made too, could even be a hand wound coil? The cap should go to the smaller unit and coil to the 10 incher...
 
If this was a home made design, what on earth possessed the engineer concerned to mix a 8 ohm woofer with a 15 ohm woofer - surely that not going to help produce a 'balanced' sound? Or won't it make a considerable difference?
 
Have you measured the coil resistance of the woofers? The impedance is determined by the coil, not the sticker... One or the other may have been reconed?
 
99% sure that is a Mezzo as well. Just different age / older basket style.
I'm 100% sure.;)

The early baskets were cast round and then had the flange sawn off to fit within slimmer enclosures. The later black (and silver grey) anodized ones were cast with the necessary narrower dimension, however, by then Goodmans had begun mounting drivers to the outside of the front baffle. Still, the narrower basket flange allowed a 10 inch (cone) to fit where only a fully round equally broad flanged 8 inch driver normally would.

Later edition Goodmans Mezzo SL with front mounted bass/mid and the famous Seas H-087 1.5" dome (aka Britain's best response to the Dynaco A25)...

162570-goodmans_mezoo_sl.jpg
 
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Have you measured the coil resistance of the woofers? The impedance is determined by the coil, not the sticker... One or the other may have been reconed?

That's a good idea - it could be that the drivers are matched after all in the design - never trust a label.

I'm 100% sure.;)

The early baskets were cast round and then had the flange sawn off to fit within slimmer enclosures. The later black (and silver grey) anodized ones were cast with the necessary narrower dimension, however, by then Goodmans had begun mounting drivers to the outside of the front baffle. Still, the narrower basket flange allowed a 10 inch (cone) to fit where only a fully round equally broad flanged 8 inch driver normally would.

Later edition Goodmans Mezzo SL with front mounted bass/mid and the famous Seas H-087 1.5" dome (aka Britain's best response to the Dynaco A25)...

How do you rate the Goodmans Mezzo's out of interest?
 
It's been more than 3 decades since I've heard a pair of Goodmans.

If I had a working pair of those bass drivers, I'd be keen to knock up a clone of the Mezzo SL pictured above, perhaps with leanings toward the SEAS A26 Kit.
 


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