Finally landed a pair of Frazier Dixielanders

[timspell]

I finally tracked down a pair of vintage Frazier Dixielanders. It required a 10-hour drive , but it was worth it.

http://s1047.photobucket.com/albums/b47 ... ochure.jpg

If you've never heard of Fraziers, the company's lineup during the '60s and '70s were classics -- mainly horn speakers -- akin to Klipsch.

[sreten]

Hi,

104 dB/W !!!!!! that is incredible if true.
Bring on the flea power amplifier.

/Sreten.

[timspell]

104 dB/W !!!!!! that is incredible if true.
Bring on the flea power amplifier.

Very efficient. I was told to limit power to 30 watts.

[sreten]

Hi,

If it is true 30 watts is far more than you'd need domestically.
10 watts will do 114db, that is the same as an average 87dB/W
speaker with a 500W amplifier !

A really nice, simple, but very good design : http://www.lundahl.se/claus_b_se.html

/Sreten.

[timspell]

Sreten,

A small tube amp, like that one, would be tailor-made for the Dixielanders.

I think the specs are correct and it does take next to nothing to power it. I might use my 14-watt Heathkit tube amp.

I'm wondering how many audiophiles have even heard of Frazier speakers. If you like horns, they're (pre-1983) good ones to get acquainted with.

[Alec124c41]

I had one once, I think. Bloody huge and heavy, and didn't really have the sound I wanted, anyway. I sold the drivers, still have the string of 10 big 3mf wax & paper caps for future reference.

Cheers,
Alec

[timspell]

I had one once, I think. Bloody huge and heavy, and didn't really have the sound I wanted, anyway. I sold the drivers, still have the string of 10 big 3mf wax & paper caps for future reference.

There were a few versions -- mine has a pair of 12 uf caps.

They are fairly heavy -- the sound is spectacular -- but in the ears of the beholder. If you like Klipsch, you'll like Frazier.

[timspell]

Hi,

104 dB/W !!!!!! that is incredible if true.
Bring on the flea power amplifier. -- Sreten

I e-mailed a guy who was the business manager at Frazier in the days when the speaker was built, and asked him about the accuracy of the Dixielanders' efficiency ratings. Here's his response:

"We actually under rated all of our specs. When we measure the efficiency, we used 1 watt pink noice @ 1 meter in an averaged sized living room. Now, our averaged size living room happened to be our sound room which was 20' x 30', with hard and soft walls, making it a perfect listening room, and because of it's size, if we rated say the 11 @107 db, it would probably give you 108 or 109 in a smaller room."

I'm wondering about the standards of today's speaker manufacturers?

[sreten]

Hi,

Modern efficiency standards are anechoic @ 1m (if they can be trusted).

The simple fact is speaker size goes up with efficiency and also
with the the bass extension, that is why PA speakers with high
SPL and efficiency are poorly suited to domestic environments.

But for a low power amplifier domestically they do make sense if
you can live with the size of the speakers. Also high sensitivity /
SPL speakers have lower distortion generally for the same SPL.

If the numbers are true they will have b****r all bass for their size,
that is just the physics, and the apparent construction would agree.

They would be great for period equipment and recordings IMO.

For modern stuff to keep up with them (with 10W to 20W)
you would ideally need two high powered subs, run higher
than usual (presumably) and because of that run in stereo.

/Sreten.

[timspell]

I had one once, I think. Bloody huge and heavy, and didn't really have the sound I wanted, anyway. I sold the drivers, still have the string of 10 big 3mf wax & paper caps for future reference.

Cheers,
Alec

I was told that the very early Dixielanders with the 8-inch woofers had the giant row of paper caps. Mine are later models with 10-inchers.

The early units were like these on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-FRAZIER-F33 ... tronics_R2

I've heard the oldies sounded great (if you like horns).

[Alec124c41]

Mine had a 10" woofer, loose screening, was about 3 feet square, and weighed ... a lot. Constructed with 3/4 in. plywood. I suspect it came out of an arena. And yes, a whole string of big fat yellow paper and beeswax caps. I kept those.

Cheers,
Alec

[timspell]

I'd loved to know what speakers you had. Obviously heavy-duty commercial types used in night clubs, arenas, churches, etc. These were very expensive back in the day.

Wonder if they were Texans?:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Frazier-Speaker-Cab ... tronics_R2

[Bigears]

Beware efficiency figures as they do not tell the whole story and its a myth that just because a speaker is high efficiency, that a flea powered amp will drive them properly.

My Agathons are also 104 db/1w and my amp is 40w which drives them adequately. In my room (15ft by 30) I probably get a true bass extension of 45hz pretty cleanly despite the loudspeaker's extension to 25Hz in an idealised laregr space.

Phase angle, room size and amplifier design/matching play an imortant role. Some manufacturers quote the sensitivity at a specific frequency, and this is unlikely to be the lower frequencies which typically take more power to control bass. Control is the keyword. Low powered amps may drive the volume, but unless they can control the speaker (damping factors etc come into play) then the sound won't be anything like maximum potential.

The old addage stands and that is you cannot over-amp, the danger lies in under-amping.....

Your set up should work just fine but it might pay to request the phase angle and nominal impedance figures to double check the amp's suitability. Valve amps like small phase angles and linear impedance curves. Trannies do better with larger phase angles and peaky impedance curves.

[rkegerize]

just purchased an old theatre.got a pair of perfect frazier dixielanders .anyone looking and how much are they worth?