[Soonerbass]

My most recent audio journey began at a Thrift store. As so many have before. Now many moons and after an inordinate outlay of treasure I will be reaching the next step in my journey soon. Or, so I hope. The speakers I am working on are from a Japanese Co. that was the largest in Japan. They ere the top of the line audio series from the mid-1960’s and were very expensive. I believe there were only a 100 or so cabinets made. So maybe 50-60 pair produced. These were not sold in the US markets due to import restrictions. However, I live next to an Air Force Base and these were probably brought in by someone very highly ranked back in the day. These are not the less expensive Pioneers that were sold in flat packs by a long shot. I am searching for some additional information on these to add to my research. Plus I am hoping Danny will find interest in these and help me with some final tuning.

[E-Zee]

Those are beautiful speakers.

I may be alone in my thoughts on this, and I'm not claiming full expertise. I'm only sharing as an alternate perspective.

Similar questions come up in regards to mid-century credenzas / cabinets with integrated record players / receivers.
What should I do with this? How can I restore this to its maximum value?

There are a few valuable /collectible vintage speakers, probably most known being the Klipsch heritage series such as Cornwall, Heresy, LaScala.
Outside of that type of specifically sought after models, most vintage or mid-century speakers are of low value and moderate performance at best.

Similar to the credenzas, the highest value for most of those medium sized vintage speakers would be retain and preserve the original appearance, but to replace all components with current technologies. I don't mean finding a new driver that fits the old openings, I'm suggesting an entirely new front baffle, completely new speaker.

Those speakers are particularly beautiful, and if I was just playing odds, I would guess it's highest value would be to reference its internal volume, and front baffle size to try to identify a modern speaker design that could still perform within those slightly different but close enough parameters.  It appears like a wider baffle, than the 14" width of GR-Research Bully, but I would still rather repurpose those beautiful cabinets with a similar modern design. Even with some performance penalties for wider baffle, searching amongst a variety of current DIY designs, you might find something that could be easily adapted to those cabinets.

I'm suggesting that your enjoyment and value may be greater in pursuing modern performance standards while retaining the appearance that you love, than it would be trying to restore to original. 

I'm certain Danny could design a new crossover for those speakers with current drivers, but the unknown would be the performance potential and longevity of the old drivers. Shipping to Danny is a viable option if he's willing.  I would only approach it with some caution that many speakers of that era were critically flawed from the start.

I'm adding a couple photos I grabbed quickly from Google, to show one of the cross-pattern diamond style grills that were popular for a while, that I really like. Many brands in that era had models with similar designs. One day I hope to modify something similar to house a GR-Bully or similar design. And these aren't even as distinct and clean as yours.







Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Elon

ezeescrossovers.com
 

[Danny Richie]

You are welcome to send one to me and I will have a look at it.

[Soonerbass]

Thank you Danny. You are amazing. I wish to address the differences between the YL Harmonia and the mass market speaker that was posted by E-zee. This is a hand made luxury speaker pair made by the engineers at YL at the time they left and all founded their own companies. The typical Pioneer speakers available around this time such as the CS -77 A which is a 4-way was priced around $28 a pair or ¥9700.
This is based on many months of research as well as a discussion with Grok on the X platform.  The Harmonia’s were priced to the Japanese luxury market including royalty. They cost ¥159,000 or $460 APIECE. That is the equivalent of 5-6 months wages for a typical Japanese male worker in post-war Japan in other words an entire YEAR worth of wages. Heavy price controls were in place and these speakers were not legally exported when they were made. I believe they came from a Bird Colonel or General from our local giant Air Force base. Where my dad weighed and inspected B-52’s for 25 years. I am preparing a packet for Danny if he is reading. I am waiting on my deal with a man in Vietnam for a pair of NOS 30cm drivers. So it is still in progress. Thank you very much for both of your responses.