22H Woofer I.D.

[curiousart]

Hi Folks,

I picked up a fairly abused 22H last night. I hooked up the woofer to my 147 to test it, and it's definitely going to need a trip to the speaker shop --low frequencies aren't resonating, and it sounds pretty lifeless. I'm wondering if anyone can identify the woofer in the attached .jpgs? The only numbers I can find are printed on the cone,"92025." No identifying stickers, or the common Jensen, Rola, or Heppner codes stamped into the basket. Out of a boatload of Leslie pics that came up in a Google search, I did manage to find one pic with this speaker sitting in the cab, but no other info.


Can anyone tell me if this is original to the cabinet, or a replacement speaker? Is it worth reconing?

Thanks,
Art

[muckelroy]

That looks like a Realistic 40-1315 (Radio Shack). No way it's original. Junk.

- - - Updated - - -

Even if it wasn't junk, I am fairly certain it's 8 ohms. You'll want a 16 ohm woofer.

[David Anderson]

I recently reconed a speaker that used the same basket, and it was a CTS speaker, OEM branded for Ampeg, which was part of why it was being reconed. If it is a CTS speaker, you might find codes under the magnet cover. Eminence also used a similar basket.

In your photo, I can't see the size of the magnet structure due to the cover. A solid aluminum dust cap and seamed, ribbed cone suggests that it was intended for full-range sound, up into the higher frequencies. Speakers intended for use as low-frequency drivers usually have a vented dust cap or a vented pole-piece to reduce back-pressure under the dust cap. Woofers also tend to have heavier molded pulp cones. All this would suggest that the parts choices that went into assembling this speaker were not made for things like organ pedal tones.

Also, we don't know the impedance. A Leslie woofer should be 16Ω.

I'm pretty sure that the only stock woofers in 22H cabinets were Jensen P15LLs.

As muckleroy says, it could be a Realistic speaker, but Realistic didn't make their own speakers, so it might be CTS, Eminence, Pyle, etc... I wouldn't call it "junk," just not ideal for this application.

[curiousart]

Thanks for the useful information, guys--you just saved me about $150. Here's a pic of the magnet. Still no codes or identifying marks. I guess they weren't too proud of their creation ;) Mystery meat speaker. There were only 3 screws holding this thing in the cab, so someone was in there dorking around at some point. It measures about 5 ohms.

When I tried it out last night, I thought it was odd that it was doing a better job (relatively speaking) of reproducing the mids and highs than the low frequencies. So, I guess I'm off to find a suitable replacement.

The tweeter also measures around 8 ohms. Is this wrong for a 22H, too? There's a sticker on the back of the tweeter, with a code of 2206428, so that's a Jensen code, no? I'm guessing someone was trying to use this cab for guitar--the amp is gone, too.

[muckelroy]

220 is definitely Jensen. Typically if you are measuring speaker impedance, you're probably using a DC ohmmeter. DCR is always going to be lower than actual impedance. Actual impedance can only be measured with an impedance bridge.

It's possible you have a 16 ohm driver there. I am not certain though. V21 drivers usually measure between 10 and 12 ohms.

If the amp is gone, then you can do what you wish. If the goal is to get this thing back to how it left the factory, you'll want to find a suitable Leslie amp, of course.

Also, don't take it personally that I called your woofer "junk" earlier, just I had never seen that type of basket except in a Realistic speaker. David is the expert on speakers around here, and it's nice to know this basket was used by multiple manufacturers.

[curiousart]

Muckelroy--I appreciate your input! I've lived in NYC for 15 years, if I took everything personally, I would've had a stroke years ago :) It definitely sounds like junk, for sure. Or, as David said, wrong for the application.

I used my DC ohmmeter to test. I was too lazy to go grab my good one, so I used the el cheapo Eico. Just to be sure it was in the ballpark, I tested the speakers in my 147, and they both gave a reading of around 15 ohms. So, I think I'm close.

I bought this thing with the intention of using the guts to build a modular Leslie with a seperate amp head, to use with my portable VB3 rig, so it may be a stroke of luck that I have at least one good 8 ohm Jensen driver. The cabinet turned out to be nicer than it appeared in the Craigslist pics, and now it's tempting to have a nice, stock 22H. At the very least, I think I'm going to use the 80 or so hours it'd take to design and build a cabinet for something else (like music), and just use the existing cabinet. Then, I can return it to factory spec later.