Allen ADC 2110T internal speakers?

[dlutrumpet]

I have recently put an Allen 2110T in my living room with two external Allen speakers. They take up a lot of space and wishing I could just use the internal speakers instead but there is no sound if the speakers are not hooked up. The organ does have an added headphone jack maybe the internal speakers are hocked into it?

Also having issues with the the card reader. (Card reader is installed) I play an MOS-1 122 at my church and brought some cards home to test it out. Every card I tried sounded like a percussion stop and was not very loud. Is the card reader not working or do I need the Beta type cards?

Going to get my organ service man come in a couple of months to service it and see what all needs done but just curious as to what I can do.

[toodles]

The MOS-1 cards won't work in the ADC-2110--you need the silver MADC cards, here: https://www.allenorgan.com/store/tonecardsmadc.html Note that the Beta cards won't work in this organ, either.

There should be tabs for console versus internal speakers, probably labelled "main" and "antiphonal". Turn on the "antiphonal speakers" tab--you'll probably find the internal speakers work then.

If not, perhaps your installer wired the external speakers in place of the internal ones--then it would require you to rewire the internal speakers back to work as main speakers. It would just be 4 speaker wires to change out.

[dlutrumpet]

Thanks for the card info and link. The antiphonal stop turns on the headphone jack and turns off the external speakers. The main organ off seems to do nothing.

[toodles]

Sound like the antiphonal is wired to handle the headphone switching--maybe done without antiphonal relays. You'll need to rewire the speaker installation in order to get the internals working.

[jbird604]

The 2110T would have been sold with external speakers only. If yours has internals, they are a customized later addition. It was the 1100 series of the Allen MADC organs that had internal speakers.

There should actually be room in the console knee board for speakers, as there isn't anything inside the 2110 that isn't inside the 1110, other than a second expression pedal. But you'd have to cut the right holes, arrange the wiring, provide the proper drivers and crossovers, etc. Probably not a project for the faint of heart.

A better solution would be to use much smaller speakers than the ones you got with the organ, which are probably HC-14 or HC-15 boxes, quite large and heavy. Channel 1 of this organ carries only manual stops, so it can be played through any decent full-range quality speaker, though I'd recommend using one with at least an 8" woofer. Channel 2 carries the heavier stops, such as the 16' pedal stops, and therefore needs to be attached to a pretty good sized speaker cabinet. You might consider keeping that channel on an HC box, but getting a smaller one for the other channel, if that will save you some space.

Another solution that some owners have used is to play the organ through a compact "home theater" sound system. There are systems with a set of four or more very small "satellite" speakers and a single woofer cabinet that supplements the bass of all the channels. These systems will have a two-channel auxiliary input that can be used for an organ like yours. You just disconnect the RCA plugs from the two-channel ADC amplifier in the floor of the console, and run a two-channel RCA extension cable to the home theater amp. Pull the power cords out of the amp as well, to save power and keep it from running all the time.

Then you no longer need your big organ speakers at all, and some people even think the sound coming from this type of system is quite good. A theater system that can add reverb or ambiance to the sound would be a plus. Also, the theater amp will probably have a headphone jack as a bonus.

Be aware that if you do it this way, you will need to turn the ORGAN on BEFORE you turn on the theater amp because if you don't you will hear a thump or pop in the speakers. Also turn the AMP OFF FIRST and turn the organ off LAST. Otherwise you may get a turn-off transient in your speakers. That's a simple routine to learn, once you do it a few times.

You've gotten yourself a good organ. Best of luck with it, and good luck with your playing!

[dlutrumpet]

Thanks for all the info and help. I know the basics of “under the hood” of an organ so I will let my service man decide what to do. For now I am happy I have one at home now to practice on and can't keep my hands and feet off lol.

[jbird604]

That's the point of having an organ at home! Good luck and keep up the good work.