ASS,Gauss,Martin,etc old brochures. |
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madboffin
Old Croc Joined: 03 July 2009 Location: Milton Keynes Status: Offline Points: 1537 |
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Yes, they are the Eastmill mids. They were fitted with a custom-built 9" ATC which had a phase plug bolted to the pole piece
Most of the the loudspeaker systems manufacturers didn't own woodworking shops. The systems would be designed and prototyped in house, and cabinet production contracted out to one of a select few woodworking companies. These were run by people who had acquired the specialised knowledge needed for building speaker boxes that would survive life on the road without developng rattles and buzzes or falling to bits. As SP members will be aware some cabinets, especially folded horns, are quite complicated designs and it's not quite the same thing as general cabinet making! A lot of Martin woodwork in the early days was contracted out to Heathpoint Timber - Heathpoint Acoustics - ASS. Mega may have built some too, but I can't confirm this. Maybe Tony (ASS) will know. I'm sure SSE never built cabinets for Martin. In the late 1980's a lot of Martin cabinetry was done by Airstream Acoustics in Leicester. At the same time, boxes for the CX / BX range were built at the Ohm factory in Knutsford and by a small company in mid-Wales whose name I can't remember. In the 1990's Martin was using Calne Cabinets in Wiltshire for a lot of their box work. |
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colint
Old Croc Joined: 06 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 5222 |
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Calne cabinets, there's a name I haven't heard for a long time, Dick Bishop was the man I believe, they also made all the cabs for us (JW Parker) and also Citronic I think what ever happened to them?
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Never criticise another man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Once you have, call him what you like, you're a mile away and you've got his shoes!
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Robbo
Old Croc Joined: 05 December 2005 Location: Shropshire Status: Offline Points: 4221 |
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Calne cabinets also used to make all of the WEM range of plywood/vynide covered cabinets--all very nice quality build.
Mega did make a lot of Martin Audio cabinets in the Seventies when they were based on the Great West Road as Martin Audio were in the factory under the massive Mega first floor unit. |
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madboffin
Old Croc Joined: 03 July 2009 Location: Milton Keynes Status: Offline Points: 1537 |
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Thanks for the info on Mega. I had a vague memory of Dave Martin saying they used to build his boxes but wasn't quite sure.
But it was ATC (who supplied a lot of drivers to Martin) who had the unit adjacent to Mega on the Great West Road. I visited them there a few times. Martin Audo was then in Stanhope Street, near the Euston Tower, along with Midas and MCI. Edited by madboffin - 29 July 2013 at 10:54am |
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Robbo
Old Croc Joined: 05 December 2005 Location: Shropshire Status: Offline Points: 4221 |
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Martin Audio were definitely in that same building for a period--may have been just for storage or some kind of temporary solution and at that time ATC were just down the road--IIRC Worton Hall ind estate.
We went down to Mega one day to collect some CP monitor cases in our 7.5 tonner, loaded the cases up, paid Chris Sherwin in the usual cash way and he could see that I had a load of extra cash with me and took me on one side for a quiet word---Apparently, Mega had built a load of empty cabinets for Martin Audio downstairs and they could not pay their bill and Chris had become a little p-ssed off with them to say the least---end result was that cash changed hands and we returned back up the M1 with a truckload of brand new Martin Audio cabinets. |
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madboffin
Old Croc Joined: 03 July 2009 Location: Milton Keynes Status: Offline Points: 1537 |
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That's a most amusing story. In those days Dave Martin, and other similar manufacturers, usually took the precaution of dealing on the basis of "50% in advance / 50% on delivery" unless it was for a well-trusted major customer, so somebody must have stitched him up over a large order.
Another way cabinets would leak out unofficially was when a batch was rejected on the grounds of quality control or a disagreement over what the drawing really meant. A disgruntled woodworker wasn't going to put them on a bonfire and they were likely to be perfectly usable, if not quite to spec. I guess the warehouse space was temporary storage. There wasn't a lot of room at Stanhope Street, even after a couple of containers were installed in the yard. At one point DM added a portacabin for his office, but it still didn't keep him at a safe distance from the rest of us... Edited by madboffin - 29 July 2013 at 12:26pm |
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jbl_man
Moderator Group Joined: 12 January 2005 Location: London. Status: Offline Points: 11154 |
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A bit more Gauss.
Edited by jbl_man - 12 October 2013 at 1:29pm |
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Be seeing you.
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TONY.A.S.S.
Old Croc Joined: 21 February 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 6878 |
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Nice one Ian, seeing that picture reminds me of how bad the HF horns were. It was the inspiration for the 570MH2, that we did. We were asked to copy the Guass horn , but refused, but I did do a horn, this was the one used in a lot of the Hill Systems, usually painted silver.
The original Gauss one was a surprise, when you consider how the speakers were revered. Regarding the horn, you could get you thumb and first finger and squeeze the mouth of the Horn together. They were thin skinned and filled with foam very dead of course, but were very pliable. Did me a favour though.
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Robbo
Old Croc Joined: 05 December 2005 Location: Shropshire Status: Offline Points: 4221 |
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Tony--From what I can remember your 570 horns had top and bottom mounting flanges as well as the usual side ones all made from fibreglass and I think that Leech copied your horn without the top and bottom flanges which were resin moulded and used to break off at the four bolt side mounting points due to fitting heavy Fane HF100 drivers with no support inside the boxes.
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TONY.A.S.S.
Old Croc Joined: 21 February 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 6878 |
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That is correct, they bought a machine to mould them quickly, but I never worried because the cost of the machine meant that they had to produce a lot of horns and sell them every week. I new that the market wasn't that big. It didn't last too long. At the time and for a good few years I had to produce around 60 horns a week of different types. I had 2 guys moulding and one cleaning up ready for paint. It was good seeing them in so many places. The Horns introduced me to a lot of the PA companies at the time including Tasco and Brit Row.
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soundforyou
Registered User Joined: 14 June 2011 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 299 |
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sorry to "pop in" to this discussion, but if anyone could help, it must be Robbo, Tony (ASS) or JBL Man,I have 4 x Martin BSX 2 x 18" Boxs that need loading, I've been told that they were designed for Celestion speakers (Martin Branded) ...I really dont know, would anyone tell me whats the best driver, A) if cash was no problem B)on a budget ?? Help Please
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Life is Now
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jbl_man
Moderator Group Joined: 12 January 2005 Location: London. Status: Offline Points: 11154 |
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I think the old original BSX had RCF 18's in,(cant remember the model number off-hand) but most quality drivers designed for reflex will work well,Fane 18XB is a good one,JBL 2241's would also work.
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Be seeing you.
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