Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.

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zieglj01

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Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« on: 7 Mar 2017, 10:40 pm »
They are sort of a mystery and I found them for $19 -- has anyone seen or heard these? They do have an HK logo, yet Harman Kardon tends to spell out their name -- they do have that Infinity sound character and flavor

Sometimes you get a pleasant surprise -- these are Harman Kardon to me. They arrived today and they pass the door knock test. The woofer looks to be the same as the one in the Harman Kardon Ten. They could very well be the former series.

They have some good wood, it was hard to take the screws out of the terminal cup and woofer -- but the terminal cup and woofer still did not come out. It was a pain to put the screws back in. Shinning a flashlight in the port revealed carpet felt padding inside. The same padding that is inside the Ten's that should arrive at my place tomorrow.

The spring type terminals do accept bananna plugs. The sound is robust and some what lively. The sound is slightly forward, yet engaging. The imaging and sound-stage is good. The hard dome tweeter is not harsh or annoying. They are also dynamic with home theater. I prefer them over the Pioneer BS-22, Infinity Primus and their higher Beta series. Their sound and performance is above entry level mass market and many popular speakers past and present. Take Five from Dave Brubeck sure sounded good.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/61sAAOSwal5YMtCT/s-l1600.jpg
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zzkAAOSwaB5Xj9qK/s-l1600.jpg








bummrush

Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #1 on: 7 Mar 2017, 10:56 pm »
If they dont have bananas,sorry but i wouldnt bother,just me

Letitroll98

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #2 on: 7 Mar 2017, 11:22 pm »
Looks pretty sweet for $19, good find.

zieglj01

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #3 on: 7 Mar 2017, 11:23 pm »
People do have their preference and that is cool. However, my speaker cable with banana plugs did easily fit inside the terminal clips.

djbnh

Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #4 on: 8 Mar 2017, 12:03 am »
Did you want to post the eBay "buy" link?

zieglj01

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djbnh

Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #6 on: 8 Mar 2017, 12:34 am »
Thanks!

zieglj01

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #7 on: 8 Mar 2017, 04:40 pm »
Was finally able to pull out the terminal cup for the crossover -- and that cabinet is 3/4 inch thick.






KHotte

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #8 on: 8 Mar 2017, 06:26 pm »
It looks like a bog standard Canadian made API (Audio Products International) OEM product. Meaning, it's a  "HK" (Helen Keller?) label on a API produced product, probably from the early 90's or thereabouts.

It looks like it has wool inside, similar to the loading of he Canadian made two-way 'Tannoy' labeled speakers that showed up at near the same time. Maybe as far back as late 80's, but more likely the early 90's.

Any labels or numbers on the woofer may shed some light on the origins. I'm expecting to see a Cambridge sourced woofer. Such a woofer will have a certain stickered or stamped model number done in a specific format. That's not the Cambridge most know but the Cambridge loudspeaker driver company that all the Canadian companies used to source their cheap stamped basket woofers.

Every aspect, big and small, all the details of it, seem to speak of it being an API produced item.

the only out of place item for an API product, is that screw down plastic faceplate that the cover is inset to.

zieglj01

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #9 on: 9 Mar 2017, 01:45 am »


Well, my other Ebay cheap and cheerful deal came in. I got this for $40 dollars. It is the Harman Kardon Ten. These us to list for around $450 around 1993. Use to sale for around $375 at the former Circuit City. I use to own a pair in the past.

They are a clear step up above the mystery HK speakers. The pair I got from Ebay are in real good shape. The woofer has a better voice coil, the tweeter is 3/4 inch soft dome, and they have a second order crossover on both the woofer and tweeter.

Voices are rich and clean with good depth -- they have good sharp imaging with good detail and definition, the soundstage is good both central and wide. Bass is clean and tight and articulate.

The speakers have piano gloss on the sides, cloth covering on top and bottom, and for the 90's like JBL -- the banana plug terminals are upside down. The tweeter and woofer seems to be sourced from Vifa. They sound much better than I remember.









zieglj01

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #10 on: 9 Mar 2017, 02:56 pm »
It looks like it has wool inside, similar to the loading of he Canadian made two-way 'Tannoy' labeled speakers that showed up at near the same time. Maybe as far back as late 80's, but more likely the early 90's.

Any labels or numbers on the woofer may shed some light on the origins. I'm expecting to see a Cambridge sourced woofer. Such a woofer will have a certain stickered or stamped model number done in a specific format. That's not the Cambridge most know but the Cambridge loudspeaker driver company that all the Canadian companies used to source their cheap stamped basket woofers.

Every aspect, big and small, all the details of it, seem to speak of it being an API produced item.
I may try to open the woofer again -- however, those screws are hard to get out and it will take a tool pic to get under it. Those were the days of the phillips head screws, and I  do not want the screwdriver to slip and put a hole in the woofer.:( The tweeter on the Harman Ten is sourced from Vifa, and the woofer could be also.

zieglj01

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Re: Ebay Find: A cool, cheap and cheerful deal.
« Reply #11 on: 28 Mar 2017, 12:12 pm »
It looks like it has wool inside, similar to the loading of he Canadian made two-way 'Tannoy' labeled speakers that showed up at near the same time. Maybe as far back as late 80's, but more likely the early 90's.

Any labels or numbers on the woofer may shed some light on the origins. I'm expecting to see a Cambridge sourced woofer. Such a woofer will have a certain stickered or stamped model number done in a specific format. That's not the Cambridge most know but the Cambridge loudspeaker driver company that all the Canadian companies used to source their cheap stamped basket woofers.

Every aspect, big and small, all the details of it, seem to speak of it being an API produced item.

I was able to get the woofer out -- another sign that it looks to be API sourced is that they also added pink fiberglass behind the woofer -- like they did with some older Tannoy passive monitors that I use to own.

Woofer numbers are
968691054 [not sure about the 8]
5FGPRB
4 ohm
05331