New user looking for a speaker ID

[Saavedro88]

I picked this up today off of Craigslist for a song. Although it doesn't actually "say" that it's a Leslie on it anywhere, I do know that it came out of a Hammond organ, which would mean it has to be a Leslie, correct? But I can't find any information about a model or a year of manufacture from what's on here. Can anyone here help me out?

Aside from the identification of the actual speaker, my intention is to turn it into a guitar speaker for my dad. I'll either be building or retrofitting a speaker housing for it, so I also need some information about how the wiring works. There's a 6 pin connector, but again, I don't know which one this is, as I understand there are three different types? It looks pretty basic, two pins go to the large motor (Fast speed?), two pins go to the small motor (Backup? Or slower speed?), and two go to the speaker itself. Does the polarity of the motors really matter - as far as which side is power and which is ground? And what kind of voltage can I put through these motors, can I just run them essentially straight to the wall or will I need to build some sort of voltage reduction in line somewhere? What's the maximum of watts I should risk putting through the speaker, 10? 15? 20? 200??? :o

Looking to the future, can I throw a potentiometer in line with the large motor to make the speed more variable (if this is indeed a two speed speaker), or is that not such a good idea for these old motors?

I appreciate any help anyone here can offer, I'm really looking forward to getting this set up and handed over to my Dad, I know he's going to love it.

https://imgur.com/tQssTGi
https://imgur.com/1B0QZkb
https://imgur.com/gQcBGv3
https://imgur.com/uczyimI

[Jaim]

These tremolo units can be found in any number of organ makes.
1) I would imagine that the speaker wattage wouldn't be over 20 watts.
2) As you described - it appears each motor has a pair of power leads. Just apply the rated voltage to one or the other. Polarity doesn't matter. As these units were used in the US and European countries - check the motor for the rated voltage.
3) Motors are a shaded pole type - speed is determined by the input frequency. Dimmers are a bad idea - will cause the motors to over heat. You would need a Variable Frequency Drive to change the rated speed.
4) If the unit has a 6 pin amphenol connector - you could remove it and roll your own.

Jim

[Saavedro88]

Thanks Jim. So this is NOT an actual Leslie then, is that correct?

[Jaim]

Over time, the term "Leslie" was used to describe any thing that had a rotating speaker effect - so in that sense yes.

Jim

[andyg]

That is a genuine OEM Leslie unit from an organ from the 1960s through to the mid 1970s. After that time, the OEM Leslies went from having the pressed steel bar to a wire tripod, to hold the rotor in place.

Now it does say 'Hammond Tremolo Unit' on the label in one of the photos, but Hammond were, of course, using genuine internal Leslies from the J200 and T200 onwards.

Speaker will be 8", probably 8 ohms and a maximum rating of around 35 watts - it might have come from a model T, which had a 34 watt amp.

[Saavedro88]

Thank you very much! That post was very helpful.