Sure, I Got Lucky! But It Pays to Be Expert!

[batcap]

I didn't know what I was buying when I got these speakers about 2 weeks ago. I bought them because the price was right ($5), and because I've spent some time studying home audio speakers. I hauled home two big pressed-wood cabinets, completely unlabeled, with (I swear!) a real live black widow spider crawling up the side. I shooshed the spider away and took a good look at my luggage.
I'm ignorant about textiles, and sewing machines and a whole world of other things, but I know something about speakers. My biggest sale ever was for speakers, and this sale is number two. If I didn't know better these would have slipped away, even after I got them home.
So, my advice is to get knowledgeable about something. Make it your thing, and use that knowledge when the opportunity arises. You have to be able to lose $5 on a mystery once in a while. It's gambling, but now the odds are on your side.

Lafayette 8" Speaker SK 130 by Goodmans of England Using Axiette Parts | eBay

 

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[mojjax]

I've been one of your watchers - congrats ! Awesome !

 

[Beachkid23]

I have a set of telefunken. I have let them sit in my garage for a yr. I should probably list them too. Mine was in the cabinet as well. And I thought it was just a nightstand until I turned it upside down. But awesome find on them. I bet they commonly get overlooked. I know I don't notice them very often. By the way I think it took me about three days to figure out how to get them out of the cabinet!!

 

[Tallone]

Nice score, batcap! I wonder if you know anything about these:



I bought these for about $30 at an auction a couple of months ago. I haven't been able to find much information about these speakers or the company. The cabinetry is good quality. The large box on the bottom holds a 10" speaker while the 5 smaller bookshelf speakers each have two small speakers (one 4" and one about 2"). I have hooked up the bookshelf speakers to my home theater setup and they sound great.

 

[batcap]

Those are some interesting looking speakers at first glance. Nice cabinets. I probably would have parted w/ $30 to learn more, especially because your first hit is SEAS speakers if you Google "Sea Loudspeakers". They don't seem to be the same company, and the SEAS company website is oddly vague about their products anyway. The only link I could find was this loudspeaker reviews, showing a more modern version of your 4.0, and nothing from the audiophile sites.
SEA Speakers 4.0 Series Floorstanding Speakers reviews - Audioreview.com

At this point I would take a screwdriver to them. Some speaker cabinets can be notoriously hard to find a way into, but most will let you loosen screws around the drivers and pull them out for a closer look. My clue in the auctioned speakers was the maroon felt and the "Made in England" on the sticker. I've had some good luck with Goodmans in the past so I knew they weren't junk. However the cabinets were thin, scarred up and stuffed with old newspapers, so they were probably a DIY project.

Anyway, Pull out a driver, the biggest one you can find and have a look for labels, part numbers, and especially MASS. Good (vintage) loudspeakers used solid baskets and big magnets, even the tweeters. At the same time you can check for things that make the speaker driver stand out, like bold colors or unusual materials, like a clear or aluminum cone or a tweeter that looks like a fried egg yolk. Cheap drivers will have few to none of these clues.

"White Van" speakers will have pretty cabinets, a name similar to a "Big" name to fool the uninitiated, and sometimes impressive looking graphs on the outside. On the inside you may find very generic / plain speaker hardware, and sometimes completely fake speakers (resonators) that have nothing on the back side. Those can be a legit engineering function, but it's also a cheap way to make a creppy speaker more impressive looking.

If you like the sound and appreciate the fit and finish of the cabinet there's nothing wrong w/ so-called white van speakers, especially 2nd hand for $30. And, you could easily come across some hi-end drivers in decaying cabinets that need a new home. I would definitely find out what's inside those Sea cabinets.

 

[batcap]

I have a set of telefunken. I have let them sit in my garage for a yr. I should probably list them too. Mine was in the cabinet as well. And I thought it was just a nightstand until I turned it upside down. But awesome find on them. I bet they commonly get overlooked. I know I don't notice them very often. By the way I think it took me about three days to figure out how to get them out of the cabinet!!

Telefunken are amazingly collectible. I only have one beat-up (unusable) little table top speaker I'm still trying to figure out what to do with.
I'm not advocating always dumping the cabinet. There are lots of speakers where the cabinet is integral to the design and value. Collectors value seemingly little things like original grill cloth and badges, so just because I only recovered the drivers this time doesn't mean the rest is always worthless. That "could" be like selling a piece of Tiffany as scrap silver.

 

[2Minnesota]

http://www.usedprice.com/items/car-stereo/southeast-acoustic/car-stereo-speaker/index.html

Don't know how much these will help but you never know. Sounds like car speakers? I think "SEAS" and "SEA or Southeast Acoustic" are two different companies. I also read somewhere that they may have been used in conferences etc. I am in no way familiar with this stuff but found s few things to share.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/62062-sea-speakers.html

 

[Tallone]

Thanks for the info! From my research, I believe SEAS is a Norwegian company. The label states that these are made by Southeast Acoustics. I opened up the bass speaker cabinet and took a couple of photos:



The markings on the electronics don't mean anything to me. The speaker itself appears to be in excellent condition and is 10" in diameter. One thing I don't understand is why there are output jacks on the base speaker box. Are the electronics in the box an amplifier of some kind?

 

[batcap]

The electronics are capacitors and coils that together make up a "crossover network". This definitely takes it out of the "White Van" category. I don't know if this crossover is just to filter out high frequencies from the woofer, or if the other speakers attach to this box also. It's heavy duty, for a high wattage system. Maybe they are home-made converted from car audio setup?

 

[tamrock]

Dang! I've probably walked by money making electronics a few times. Still when ever I try to expand into areas I'm not so well versed in I fowl up usually. Good info there batcap. Thanks for sharing.

 

[batcap]

. . .

The markings on the electronics don't mean anything to me. The speaker itself appears to be in excellent condition and is 10" in diameter. One thing I don't understand is why there are output jacks on the base speaker box. Are the electronics in the box an amplifier of some kind?

I just noticed that part. Looking back at your first pics then, this was designed for an amp that doesn't have a dedicated subwoofer output. You connect the amp Front speaker outs to the subwoofer inputs (and set as large if you have that option), then connect the L + R front speakers to the subwoofer outputs. The crossover grabs the low signals for the sub, and passes the rest to the FL and FR speakers. The other three speakers would connect direct to the amp as left and right rear, and center.

 

[batcap]

Don't worry Tamrock...
Most electronics out there make better boat anchors.

Others are just a pain to sell.

I just bought a Bose Lifestyle 25 system... 5 redline cubes and sub...
Complete with antenna cables... disks etc...
MINT perfect condition...
Payed 50 bucks.
Worth 750
offered for 300 for months.

Indeed! A pain to sell. You might fall in love with something just because you have to check it out thoroughly for an accurate listing. And vintage (a little earlier than the Lifestyle 25) HiFi equipment is bulky, weighty and fragile. I have 10 pairs of the nicest speakers you'd ever want to hear, all different, wide price ranges, all in great shape, some restored, some didn't need it, all stacked up and daring me to list them. I'm 49% afraid they will sell and I'll have to put some serious effort into packing and shipping, and 51% afraid they will sell and I'll never hear them again. I wouldn't care if they didn't sell, but I don't have a place to listen to them all. The speaker hoarder's dilemma; it's a disease.