My wife is a saint, new (to me) mono speaker project

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I’ve been on the road for a couple days In pursuit of some audio history that I geek out on. Here are some of pictures my newest toys/project that my wonderful wife encouraged me to pick up for a father’s day/birthday gift. She's a saint for encouraging me in my hobby and for tolerating hours on the road. More details to come after I’ve rested a bit.

Made It!
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Safely unloaded
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Back home and in my messy garage.
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Is that substantially larger than the 835 box or just deceptive because of positioning?
Anyways, super cool and great your wife is on board. 😊
 
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Is that substantially larger than the 835 box or just deceptive because of positioning?
Anyways, super cool and gals your wife is on board. 😊
There is some optical illusion happening because it’s closer but it is still substantially larger than the VOTT cabinet.
 
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Most of these early Stephens cabinets don’t survive. This particular cabinet was one of 3 that was used (until recently) in an old theater. The other two had water damage from a leaking roof and were beyond repair. Most of these are parted out when they are found. If the cabinet doesn‘t sell, they are typically disposed of because so few people have the space for a speaker of this size. I feel fortunate that I was able to save this one. It will take me a long time to come up with the components to fill this.
 
Well at least you got the horn for it.....maybe. It looks like in the add photo the horn has 2 rows of cells.
The Stephens 120FR drivers I have are easily some of the best vintage drivers in my collection. Yes, the P-52L might be difficult to source.
 
Well at least you got the horn for it.....maybe. It looks like in the add photo the horn has 2 rows of cells.
The Stephens 120FR drivers I have are easily some of the best vintage drivers in my collection. Yes, the P-52L might be difficult to source.
The horn that is pictured is a tar-filled Altec 1505. I wasn’t planning on purchasing it but did at the last minute so I can use it as trading bait for a Stephens horn later on, if needed. Once again, my supportive spouse gave me the ok so I loaded it up in the little space that was left. I drove the whole way home with my seat as far forward as possible. Uncomfortable, but worth it.

I’m in full agreement with you regarding your 120fr drivers. They’re worthy of building a system around.
 
Interesting that it was priced at $630. For the time that was a very expensive speaker.
It certainly was an expensive speaker for it‘s time. I have found a couple of different prices in older catalogs and advertisements. The 1950 Stephens catalog has it listing at $540. It became cheaper over time, apparently. It was not made over very many years. I have only found documents mentioning this specific model from 1947-1950. This particular speaker was installed in the theater in 1947.
 
I had an enjoyable conversation yesterday with audio historian, Steve Schell. Steve is one of the founders of the Lansing Heritage site and knows more about this era of audio than anyone else that I know of. We have talked about Lansing and Stephens history in the past so I was excited to tell him about my latest acquisitions.

One of the things I was curious about was trying to determine the age of the 1505 horn and throat since when these were found, there was a Lansing 287 field coil driver attached. The throat is identical to an Altec 30166 except it is unpainted, has different part numbers and has no Altec markings. Steve and I suspect that it may be an original Lansing or a transition period Altec.

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On the H1505 horn, Steve confirmed that Altec continued to use Lansing horn part numbers and the age is not easily determined by the model number. Since it‘s color is battleship grey instead of a more blue hue that Lansing used, it is most likely a post WWII Altec that was painted with surplus paint.

When I told him about the P-63 Stephens cabinet, he knew exactly what it was right away. He told me to check out it’s unique combination horn/bass reflex construction. The cabinet has a shelf separating the horn and the woofers. The shelf doesn’t quite go all the way to the back panel, leaving a small gap. He told me the gap loads the woofers similar to the tuning of a Karlson enclosure. I’m excited to find and install woofers to see how it compares to my Karlsons.

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I‘m thankful for the time Steve spends chatting with me and the knowledge he shares so freely.
 
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We used a ratchet strap, cardboard, moving blanket and a 2 wheeled cart to move it downstairs. My dear wife kept tension on the cabinet as I held onto the cart and lowered it slowly down the stairs, step by step. It's nice to have extra room in the garage and I'm excited to be able to work on it in the house!

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We used a ratchet strap, cardboard, moving blanket and a 2 wheeled cart to move it downstairs. My dear wife kept tension on the cabinet as I held onto the cart and lowered it slowly down the stairs, step by step. It's nice to have extra room in the garage and I'm excited to be able to work on it in the house!

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sounds like a big effort; hats off again to your supportive wife:Bow
 
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