Help, please |Seeking estimate & potential buyers for a set of Electrovoice speakers

[nilesmanor]

Hello,

My boyfriend's family is seeking to sell a set of vintage Electrovoice speakers and an Electrovoice woofer. The model number for the speakers is 1350 EV. They were all custom made for his father in Buchanan, Michigan by Electrovoice in about 1967, and do not carry a serial number. The speakers are 2' 10" high by 3' 1" long and 2' 1" in width. They appear to be made of cherry wood.

We are looking for market value estimates, and potential interested buyers.

I have posted some photos of the speakers on this site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/107913968@N06/

In advance, thank you very much for your time and consideration.

 

[nilesmanor]

I forgot to add that these are called Electrovoice partition speakers. Additionally, there is an Imperial brand turntable and a Sony reel to reel and cassette tape player under the lid of one of the speaker cabinets. Thank you for any help!

 

[TLS Guy]

I forgot to add that these are called Electrovoice partition speakers. Additionally, there is an Imperial brand turntable and a Sony reel to reel and cassette tape player under the lid of one of the speaker cabinets. Thank you for any help!

It is impossible from the information you have provided to give you any approximate valuation.

The cabinets have a crude home spun look to them, and likely are worthless.

The only items likely of value are the drivers. You need to take the cabinets apart, so we can see the loading arrangement of the drivers. The drivers need removal and photographing, and model numbers need posting. Some vintage EV drivers have significant value. The crossovers also need documenting.

The Imperial turntable is an auto changer with crystal cartridge made by Magnavox. This is a poor low end unit with a value of $20 to $30 max, if you are lucky.

The Sony reel to reel and cassette deck's value will depend on model and condition.

The market for reel to reel machines is limited and Sony machines were not highly regarded. Reel to reel enthusiasts are generally after classier machines, like Revox, Ampex, Ferrograph, Brenell, Otari and Tascam.

Most likely the only thing of value would be the loudspeaker drivers themselves and that will depend on what is there. You are likely to get the best value parting all this stuff out.

The fact that the turntable is a cheap low end unit, suggests this was not a high end system, so prepare for bad news.

 

[nilesmanor]

Hello all,

Thank you for your patience with this post. I’m not an audiophile in the least, but I have additional details to share as the day has gone on.

They were likely made with components from EV patrician speakers. Two cabinets, each contain an EV T250 horn, an EV T350 tweeter, and another lower range EV speaker as well, model number unknown. The third cabinet contains a large subwoofer that we have never seen. I believe it is floor firing.

The crossovers are Electrovoice. I do not know the model.

These 3 speaker cabinets were custom made by a carpenter, with the sole intent of holding the speakers by Electrovoice (EV). The cabinets are rosewood (not cherry as originally indicated).

The turntable is by Empire and not Imperial. It is not a linear tracking turntable. The cabinet is custom build for the turntable. There are also slots for LP records. The amplifier used to be an old tube amp but was replaced by a Kenwood solid state amp in the 1980’s.

The Sony tape player and reel to reel are in one speaker cabinet.

Please note: We have since uploaded several additional photos on the Flickr site:
Flickr: pgocommercial's Photostream. We also have added additional photos indicating the manufacturers (i.e., Electrovoice, Sony, Empire turntable (not Imperial as stated before), etc). We plan on posting better photos in the next few days.

Some additional information (from nilesmanor’s boyfriend):
My late father owned these speakers and he had the cabinet custom built for the EV speakers. My family lived close by to EV in SW Michigan and he had friends that worked there. They are rosewood. I also suspect they were build by a local carpenter my father knew who was outstanding and originally from Germany.

As an historical aside, my mom recalls EV's sound team coming to our house probably in the late 60's or early 70's to help set up this system and optimize the sound. She said this team was often going to Las Vegas to work on EV sound systems there. She recalls they would take their car keys out of their pockets and jingle them. She asked what that was all about and was told there was nothing better to test the range of what (I presume) were microphones and recording devices. I suspect times have changed!

Thanks again for your interest and for additional thoughts and estimates on the worth of these items. My dad was quite proud of these speakers and I do not think he would have ever parted from them while alive. However, I think he would be happy to know that there is interest and appreciation for them after all these years.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello all,

Thank you for your patience with this post. I’m not an audiophile in the least, but I have additional details to share as the day has gone on.

They were likely made with components from EV patrician speakers. Two cabinets, each contain an EV T250 horn, an EV T350 tweeter, and another lower range EV speaker as well, model number unknown. The third cabinet contains a large subwoofer that we have never seen. I believe it is floor firing.

The crossovers are Electrovoice. I do not know the model.

These 3 speaker cabinets were custom made by a carpenter, with the sole intent of holding the speakers by Electrovoice (EV). The cabinets are rosewood (not cherry as originally indicated).

The turntable is by Empire and not Imperial. It is not a linear tracking turntable. The cabinet is custom build for the turntable. There are also slots for LP records. The amplifier used to be an old tube amp but was replaced by a Kenwood solid state amp in the 1980’s.

The Sony tape player and reel to reel are in one speaker cabinet.

Please note: We have since uploaded several additional photos on the Flickr site:
Flickr: pgocommercial's Photostream. We also have added additional photos indicating the manufacturers (i.e., Electrovoice, Sony, Empire turntable (not Imperial as stated before), etc). We plan on posting better photos in the next few days.

Some additional information (from nilesmanor’s boyfriend):
My late father owned these speakers and he had the cabinet custom built for the EV speakers. My family lived close by to EV in SW Michigan and he had friends that worked there. They are rosewood. I also suspect they were build by a local carpenter my father knew who was outstanding and originally from Germany.

As an historical aside, my mom recalls EV's sound team coming to our house probably in the late 60's or early 70's to help set up this system and optimize the sound. She said this team was often going to Las Vegas to work on EV sound systems there. She recalls they would take their car keys out of their pockets and jingle them. She asked what that was all about and was told there was nothing better to test the range of what (I presume) were microphones and recording devices. I suspect times have changed!

Thanks again for your interest and for additional thoughts and estimates on the worth of these items. My dad was quite proud of these speakers and I do not think he would have ever parted from them while alive. However, I think he would be happy to know that there is interest and appreciation for them after all these years.

This helps, a lot.

As I suspected the cabinets are nothing special. They were made before the Thiel/Small paper and the cabinets are crudely ported. The cabinets are not worth the freight.

The drivers are very valuable as long as they work. Unfortunately the diaphragms are prone to rust and seizing. No diaphragm replacements are available.

In good order, the EV T 350s are worth $750 each. The T250s $550 each.

I think the woofers are EV S15s, if that is so, they are worth about $150 each, may be up to $350 on a lucky day.

The Empire turntable is collectible, and should fetch about $800 to $1000 less cartridge.

I note a Shure V15 cartridge box an that will fetch probably $250 in good working order. The model should be on the box.

The reel to reel will fetch probably at the most $100, the old cassette unit practically nothing.

The Kenwood amp will depend on the model.

We need to know more about the sub, if it is the rare 30W driver, it will fetch at least $2000.

That is the wild card and I need to know a lot more about it.

The crossovers are hard for me to price, but probably at least $100 each.

I note in a picture a vintage Cecil E Watts Parastat, that will probably make $30 or more as a curio.