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Not remotely rare, they were sold by the bucket load as kits for DIYers by Philips in the 70s and early 80s.

Anyone who read ETI or EA and built HiFi gear had a pair or two of Philips speakers. A few of their drivers were OK, but most were pretty crap, it was all that was available to us DIYers back then.

I have a few large ones, same array as yours, floating around in the storeroom. I always pick up Philips based speakers as the drivers can be useful- they were used in all sorts of things, ranging from the early DCM Timewindows, to HiFi store house brand speakers.

You're in Brisbane- Todd's HiFi used to bang together their own speakers (Auditone) using Philips mids and treble units and big Etone cast basket, Aussie made woofers in the 70s and 80s and sell them for a fortune. They were putrid sounding too.

Here's a couple of ads I just scanned from the era:

Last edited: Nov 1, 2017

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^ reminds me of my dad, assembling his Richard Allen and Heathkit stuff

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  Not remotely rare, they were sold by the bucket load as kits for DIYers by Philips in the 70s and early 80s.

Well I'm just going by what I've been told by a speaker expert who examined mine.

Apparently mine are not the DIY kit but the factory units made in Belgium (also marked as such on the back). I bought them from the original owner who also backed this up.

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  Well I'm just going by what I've been told by a speaker expert who examined mine.

  Apparently mine are not the DIY kit but the factory units made in Belgium (also marked as such on the back). I bought them from the original owner who also backed this up.

Well that's great!

At least you know you can find drivers here in Australia pretty cheap by hunting around the opshops. That treble unit looks to be an AD-0140 T8, the bass driver, an AD12100/W8 and the mids can't remember the model number- but I'm not a 'speaker expert'...

Here's a closeup of your tweeter- I picked up in a pair of speakers the other day for $5pr.

What's interesting is that the tweeter in yours is possibly the cheapest dome tweeter Philips ever made*, I reckon it may have been replaced as the bass drivers and mid deserve a whole lot better. Originally, anyone who wanted to use a 'nice' Philips tweeter used the AD-0160 T8 or T4 (8/4 ohms). It has the same diameter mounting plate, but a mylar dome and a much bigger magnet and a way 'smoother' response.

Your screws are a mixture of slotted and Philips suggesting drivers have been pulled at some stage. You can check the tweeter holes- if there are 4 under the existing dome tweeter, it should have a AD-0160 in it and it has the wrong tweeter installed or perhaps Philips Belgium was just cutting costs.

Both those tweeters were available up until about 10 years ago as NOS through Australian suppliers. If you pull the midrange and check the part number, post it here and confirm those part numbers I have posted too if you get a chance.

*see post below for clarification.

Last edited: Nov 2, 2017

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I've got some Pye Pro-Lab speakers with those 'nice' Philips tweeters in them. Great sounding three way speakers, punch well above their weight.

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Philips MFB 544 active bi amplified 3-way speakers

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The motional feedback speakers above use the same tweeter, perhaps the rare metal domed version of the AD-0160, the mid looks to be a AD-0210 SQ8 and the bass driver I would guess looks to be a AD 8066 W8.

The first number of the part number is the size in inches. The suffix (W=woofer, SQ=squawker, T= tweeter) and the number at the end is the impedance IIRC.

Homer, your midrange I think it is an AD-5060 SQ8 , making it a 5" midrange. Your tweeters could also be AD-0163 T8 or AD-0164 T8s (you'd have to look) which are likely older and have a bigger magnet than the AD-0140 T8. Whether they are a better tweeter, who knows.

Last edited: Nov 2, 2017

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Early Philips capacitors in that MFB speaker- what a nightmare axial rebuild! Eeek. The Philips capacitors are all time bombs.

Last edited: Nov 2, 2017

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Thanks John. I really appreciate your input.

Maybe my speaker guy wasn't such an expert after all!

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No worries mate, the part numbers are really handy- you can then key them into eBay if you ever need parts, and other people can cross check their speakers too.

There's plenty of original parts out there if you have a party and blow them which is pretty amazing considering they can date from the mid 1970s onwards.

Incidentally, the DCM timewindows used the Philips AD-0140 T4 or T8 tweeters and special 7 (sometimes 5 ohm) ohm Philips woofers (can't recall the part no) and in the Timewindow 1as, they used a Vifa D19 tweeter. I've got a box of DCM woofers/tweeters someplace too.

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Bringing back an old thread!! Resorter-john, have you ever seen heard the Dcm time window2 or squared. I have a pair, best Dcm out there.

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Phillips Craftsman

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^{^} That's a Phillips, but not a Philips. I have a Philips that's not a Phillips...

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I acquired this a couple of weeks ago as a gift. The transformer has short-circuit turns, so will have to get it re-wound.