Allen Organ

[Ron32288]

Greetings everyone! It's been a while since I have posted. Today I picked up an Allen 301-3c from an old church throwing it away. The organ was in working condition when it was removed from the church this week. I got home and wedged it ever so slightly through the front door to its temporary spot while I move things in my music room. The organ had speakers, but were taken a day before I picked it up.

I, very enthusiastic, plugged it in and turned it on. As I tapped the crescendo pedal while holding a key, nothing happened. I then realized I made an extremely dumb mistake, it has no internal speakers .

Now, I am trying to figure out what goes where. It has no amp or speakers and I am wondering if there is a way to bypass the amp and speakers for my own stereo speakers. If there is, what could I use? I apologize for my limited knowledge on this.

Here are pics of the organ:

[Ron32288]

Here are pictures of the wires. The red and black screw things are on the back of the stereo speakers.

[myorgan]

Ron,

Are those wires coming from the back of the organ? If so, what is the other end of those wires connected to? It might help to know.

Also, you may be interested in another person who has just placed an Allen 301 organ in his house. John (jbird604) has just posted quite a treatise on tracing the signal through the MOS organ. The thread is located here: https://www.organforum.com/forums/showthread.php?48579. I hope you find that thread helpful.

Michael

P.S. I've seen some HC-12 speakers available in southern Michigan recently. You might be able to get your hands on those speakers, and they'd work well for your organ.

[Ron32288]

myorgan,

Here is what the cables coming out of the organ leads to:

I have been following along with the thread you mentioned and John did post a lot on how to. I will definitely read the thread again and look for those speakers in Michigan!

[jbird604]

You're in luck! Those are antiphonal relays, and just below them appear to be S-100 amps. So the only thing you're missing is some speakers. If you can figure out which wires go to which amp channels, you can hook up some generic speakers and have it playing. As Michael says, some Allen HC-12 speakers would be perfect for that model, but you could get by in a pinch with something more ordinary.

I see three antiphonal relays, so you must have the optional third channel, which can drive a subwoofer. As I said in the thread mentioned above, the organ is in fact just two channels, but the third amp and sub will certainly give you more oomph in the pedals, if you can find a suitable speaker to use with it. You don't need any powered speakers of any kind, just some ordinary passive speakers. Unfortunately, non-powered subs are harder to find these days than powered subs, due to their usage in home theater systems.

[Ron32288]

John,
I was looking into the wires that connect to each amp. One is yellow and black and the other is green and black. Is this what I am supposed to be looking for? I tried connecting both to the speaker but no luck. On the left bottom of the organ, it shows speaker 1, speaker 2, and speakers 3, but they are all different colors from what is in the amp. Why is this?

[jbird604]

Yellow/black and green/black are commonly used inside an Allen console as the wires from the amps to the relays. After the audio goes through the relays, the color code is not the same. Post pics of the amps, relays, and the speaker output terminals and maybe I can help you sort them out.

If you connected your speakers directly to the amps and got nothing, you may have dead amps for some reason. You'll have to follow the troubleshooting procedure outlined in the link Michael mentioned above to find out where you are losing the signal. Once you know that, the fix may be obvious.

[Ron32288]

Here are the pictures of the amps, the relay, and the output terminal.

[jbird604]

I can't make much sense of the wiring at the antiphonal relays, as these are the old-style relays and the wiring is different from today's antiphonal. But you don't have to connect there anyway.

You can start fresh by connecting your speakers directly to the amplifier output terminals, the screw terminals marked "output" on each amp. Just disconnect the green, yellow, and black wires from the amps, then connect a piece of speaker wire (such as common zip cord if you have nothing else) to each amp. Connect the + wire (which is the "ribbed" side of the zip cable) to the "4 ohm" terminal where there is currently a green or yellow cable, and connect the other wire to the "common" terminal. At the other end, connect to the plus and common terminals of your speaker cabinet. That should give you at least some sound. If you don't get sound from both channels, you'll have to follow the detailed troubleshooting procedure referenced above.

I see some modifying has been done by somebody, and probably not the factory. there are three relays, and one of them is a "bass softer" assembly, which makes me think there is a third amp which was used to drive a subwoofer. It's not essential to have it hooked up though. I see, I think, a "Y" cable has been attached to one of the amp inputs, and that may well go to the sub amp.

If you are not experienced with electronics and sound system setup, you may have to call in someone who is, as this may be more than a simple wiring job.

[Al Offt]

I hesitate to day anything because I do not have experience with this particular organ but looking at the far right picture in post 1, all General stops may be in the off position. That would mean that the Antiphonal Organ may be Off. On my Model 120, I learned the hard way that the 'On' position for these General stops is with the front part of the buttons down (like a tab stop).

[Ron32288]

Apologies for such a late response. I was busy with having both of my grandparents in the hospital.

John, I think I am just going to call a tech. I am very inclined with sound systems besides hooking up my stereos. I appreciate all your help with this organ.

All Offt, I thought the same thing you did! I moved the switch while testing to see if I can get sound but to no avail.

[Ron32288]

Hello Everyone! I thought I would update you all on the organ. I called a tech and he connected the wires to the speakers and the organ is now playing!