I am looking to build a radio shack based three way. I have a pair of realistic 40-1390 ribbons, some sealed back 40-1282 sealed back mids, and one 40-1014a woofer, as well as one 40-1036 woofer.
I also have a pair of 40-1276b mylar dome tweeters and a pair of 40-1022b 4” woofers.
Plan is to run a 10” woofer and the ribbon tweeters, but I wanted a better mid than the regular sealed back.
So I guess I’m looking for either a single 40-1036 or a single 40-1014b to make at least one matching pair, and perhaps a pair of 40-1197 (fe103) mids.
If anybody has any of these they would part with please message me.
The sealed back mids are probably not much good at this point, I believe they are ferrofluid cooled and the FF is usually pretty dried out after 30 or 40 years.
I have an extensive collection of old Radio Shack drivers, but don’t really have what you are looking for. I know the FE 103 drivers command a premium for some reason. The 40-1022 would be fine as a dedicated midrange, should play high enough to meet the tweeters.
Thanks JR. I never knew ff dried out, so good to know. Maybe I’ll measure them one day to see what they look like. I mostly wanted something a little better sounding than the traditional 4” sealed back mid, plus they usually have a nasty frequency response to deal with.
The 1022b is a nice little driver, very stout. They would make a great mini two-way with that ribbon. I’d run them in a heartbeat as a mid, but they are only 84 db, so I’d have to rely full bsc and maybe even a little band pass bump to get them to be loud enough for the woofer.
I saw a response of the 1197 and it looked pretty nice, which was pushing me toward them. Looks like they are some Japanese Fostex driver so the full range guys are gaga over it. Suspecting that is the price issue. I’d be willing to pay more if you had them.
The other option I am considering is the soft dome mid, which you ran in your Irish Rose iirc. My only holdback on the dome is I feel like I remember you saying they weren’t perhaps as great of a mid as you hoped. Would you mind letting g me know your thoughts on those?
So in short I guess I would need at least one of the two 10” woofers to make a pair, and a pair of mids, either the 1197, or the domes if you didn’t dislike them, or another pair of the 1022b and I could run them mtm.
The 1289 is a great little driver, as far as I know.
The dome mid just had some distortion issues that I compensated for by dropping it in level a db or so across the pass band. Otherwise it is fine, little ragged response but manageable. Look for NIB as I think some of them have issues with the tacky dome coating coming off.
I used to go to the mall and drool over all those Radio Shack drivers! I never mowed enough lawns to buy any Fast forward a few years and I had a job and bought a Realistic 40 watt 5 band EQ booster to power my Jensen 6×9 coaxials fed by my Pioneer tape deck.
Yeah those drivers always fascinated me, but I didn’t get into speaker building til later. Now definitely just want to live the shack dream I didn’t back in the day. It’s funny I sit now and drool over the few shack drivers I have all the same lol. There is nothing special about them but at the same time they are amazing lol. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
Thanks for clarifying on the dome, I won’t rule it out then, or the 1289.
Stuff is generally available on eBay. If you have anything on my list that you would be willing to part with maybe just shoot me a pm with what and price. If you don’t wish to break up your shack driver museum I totally get it. I’ve seen pics you’ve posted before and it is fantastic. Thanks!
It’s a bummer that I went and drooled over the speaker drivers there and had a few of their speaker building books, but never managed to pull the trigger at the time..
lol, why? I’m sure those 30 year old electrolytics are in tip top shape! A few years ago I measured the one that comes attached to the ribbons and I think it was like 12 ohms or so esr!
I foresee a fresh matte black baffle and some bracing in some big Sony cabs I have in the attic. Golden Oak vinyl - Quite period correct for a build like this!
I have a quad set of Radio Shack 40-1030 4" woofers on my shelf that I have not used yet. They are very similar to the 40-1022B units that Radio Shack sold back in the day. These are a more recent version of this classic midrange/woofer and they use a polyproplyene cone instead of a paper cone.
I’ll let you have them for the same price that Wolf charged me for them several years ago (i.e., free). I think these were originally part of Matt’s estate and Wolf gave them to me so that I could use them as backups for the eight 40-1022’s that I am using in my Symmetrical Isobarik MTM speakers. I’ll bring the set of 4 woofers along to Indy in April if you want them. They would probably make for a nice retro type Radio Shack Minimus 7 build.
If you’re redoing the baffle , you probably need some ART-54F tweeters for the high end. Got a pair , these are basically pioneer/radio shack built tweeters. You pay the trip.
Fast forward a few years and I had a job and bought a Realistic 40 watt 5 band EQ booster to power my Jensen 6×9 coaxials fed by my Pioneer tape deck.
