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  #1  
Old 02-10-2009, 11:18 PM
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jeyurkon jeyurkon is offline
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Question Field Coil Speakers

I sent a speaker in to Speakerex to get reconed. I received a call today from a very eloquent person explaining what the charges would be and asking for approval. The problem was that it didn't sound like my speaker. In fact, he was describing a different speaker. He then correctly described mine and explained what needed to be done.

The speaker I sent in has a permanent magnet and the transformer is attached. He kept saying that it was a fieldcoil speaker. He said that it was called that because the transformer was attached.

I'm sure they'll do a good job of reconing it. But, I was concerned that they kept referring to it as a fieldcoil speaker. He said he had six years experience and the tech who referred to it as a field coil, twenty years.

Am I off base? Is a speaker with an attached transformer commonly referred to as a fieldcoil speaker even if there is no fieldcoil?

John
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  #2  
Old 02-10-2009, 11:52 PM
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leadlike leadlike is offline
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I wouldn't think so. That transformer does nothing to put the voice coil into an electromagnetic field. While *a lot* of the electrodynamic speakers that I come across do have them, that was only for space issues ( I guess). Although if I was looking across the room at an old speaker and saw that transformer, I would wager it was an ED rather than a PM. Either way, you may have caught them in a goof that they tried to backpedal on.
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  #3  
Old 02-11-2009, 03:47 AM
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The guy is obviously in error. A speaker has either a permanent magnet or electro magnet (field coil), regardless if the output transformer is attached. As was said previously the output transformer has nothing to do with what kind of speaker it is. It either has a field coil or permanent magnet, and that is how they are distinguished. Strange if the fellow has so many years of experience that he would describe them this way.

Gilbert
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  #4  
Old 02-11-2009, 08:35 AM
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Basket mounted output transformers are fairly common and are obviously not used to create a magnetic fields for voice coils. I question their validity if they can't distinguish the difference between a PM speaker and a field coil speaker.
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  #5  
Old 02-11-2009, 10:09 AM
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Tom Bavis Tom Bavis is offline
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Well 20 years of experience isn't enough to have dealt with field coils... they fell out of common use about 60 years ago. Only us antique radio and audio geezers know anything about 'em...
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  #6  
Old 02-11-2009, 11:03 AM
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Well, I guess I'm an old geezer then. Still, you'd think they'd know the difference.
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  #7  
Old 02-12-2009, 12:07 PM
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Reece Reece is offline
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Tell that guy I've been doing this for over 50 years and if it has a PM on it it ain't a field coil speaker. Whippersnappers...

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  #8  
Old 02-13-2009, 09:08 AM
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that's probably a big oops. sometimes the guys at the counter doing the checkin work see one thing and mis-identify it or just get stuck with the wrong word in their heads. they usually do- and of course- should know better. in reality, the reconing work itself doesn't change for us whether it is a field coil, ceramic or neo magnet so the results should not have been affected by this error. we do see quite enough real field coil speaker repairs that anyone here should know the difference. I do apologize on their behalf for the confusion and sincerely hope that they will consult me if they have any identifying questions in the future. I'm 99% sure that I qualify in the geezer catagory and can correctly identify just about any speaker we run across. I hope you were satisfied with the results if not the first phone conversation....
cathy@speakerex.com

oops (mine this time) again, I see that the speaker has not been returned to you yet. I saw the 10/08 date and thought that was when you posted, not when you joined AK. anyway, I have now seen your speaker and as you probably know, your speaker has an alnico magnet with a transformer mounted on the side. I'm not really sure why the tech got confused but it has been cleared up here now and hopefully won't occur again. I'll contact you when you have received your repaired speaker and make sure the end result was as anticipated.
C
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Last edited by speakerex; 02-13-2009 at 09:32 AM. Reason: not the full story
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  #9  
Old 02-13-2009, 11:02 AM
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jeyurkon jeyurkon is offline
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Thanks Cathy. Even though the counter person and I disagreed on what it was called, we did agree that it wasn't relevant to the repair. He did seem quite knowledgeable about the construction of the speaker otherwise, and what would be needed to restore it.

John
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  #10  
Old 02-13-2009, 11:22 AM
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thanks for the understanding
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  #11  
Old 02-23-2009, 11:50 PM
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Speaker reconed

I received the speaker last week. I just got around to giving it a test. The speaker looks great! They did a nice job.

I don't have it back in the cabinet yet since I need to do a lot of work on it, but even on the bench the speaker sounds quite good. I can't compare it to the original since it was missing the cone when I obtained it.

John
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  #12  
Old 02-24-2009, 01:15 AM
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Sir.Byrd Sir.Byrd is offline
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Can you take some pictures?

Glad that its a success!
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  #13  
Old 02-24-2009, 04:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Bavis View Post
Well 20 years of experience isn't enough to have dealt with field coils... they fell out of common use about 60 years ago. Only us antique radio and audio geezers know anything about 'em...
Field coils are back!!! We saw them at the AK Fest 2008, Classic Audio Reproductions here in Brighton, MI had them on display, wow, what a sound!!
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