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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I have been trying to do some research on the stack of Audient speakers I have. They are the 12", 15" and horns used in the Ovation combos and cabs.
Somewhere in the cobwebs I recall something about Ovation using re-branded University speakers, and never really thought about it. But did they re-brand them as Audient ? |
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Location: NJ | that was my cobwebs university sound
rebranded cts? |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | What I find interesting is I can't find ANY references to Audient speakers anywhere except in Ovation catalogs.
Beal ??? |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | As I read this earlier thread, I did find some info that put University Sound as the horn drivers and if they also used them for the Speakers or thru Audient branding that might make sense. I guess the question is are there re-cone kits available for those??? If CTS or some other brand how to identify the model number to search out repair kits is the next challenge!
Gary |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | I'm looking for a Audient 9702 12" if you have a good one kicking around you want to part with. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Send a PM to Miles (Mr. Ovation). He had a lot of Ovation electric stuff, including speakers. There are a couple of Audients on ebay currently, but I don't think they are the 9702. I haven't opened up my K-6300 amp yet to see what lurks inside. One of these days I'll have some time. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Yes I saw those 15" Audients on E-Bay but I need 9702 12". I will contact Mr Ovation.
Gary |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I couldn't resist, so I opened up the back of the K-6300 last night, after playing it a bit and noticing a fair amount of scratchiness in the controls. I was hoping a little cleaning would do it.
Rather than open the whole back, I just opened the electronic panel and found some surprises. The speaker (a 15 inch Audient 9725) appeared to be in good shape from what I could see and feel from the back. The wiring was another issue. One broken wire that someone had attempted to solder. It might explain why the tweeter volume control didn't seem to work. I tried to crimp that together, but failed. The two other wires from the back panel to the speaker had spade connectors in the middle that didn't look original. There were two dangling wires with male RCA plugs on the end. One was repaired and taped heavily. I don't know what those are for. I couldn't find any female connectors inside the cabinet. Two of the speaker wires were connected with little alligator clips. It looks like someone cut or broke all the wires connecting the speakers and then did a poor job of connecting them back up.
The worst news is when I put the panel back on after lightly cleaning the dust off, nothing worked. The light came on, but no sound out of either speaker. I took it apart again and couldn't find any loose wires, so I put it back together and set it aside for when I supposedly have a lot more time to spend tinkering. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I forgot to mention that most of the labels for the input and output jacks are scratched off from years of use, but the warning not to open the back because there were "no user serviceable parts inside" was still very readable. Obviously, I and others during the 50 years of its existence ignored that label. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | My K6100 cab was a disaster when I got it. Horn driver missing which made a perfect portal for the mice that was living in it for who knows how long. One speakers magnet separated from the frame the others coil wires chewed completely off and the power amp was totally caked in mouse crap! its been a slow process but I eventually got the cabinet cleaned (bleached) and a used power amp I found on E-Bay is on the way so speakers I'm and a horn driver away from putting it back together. The K-6002 head is another story. It actually works but some functions missing like reverb, tuner, and fuzz. I'm picking away at it a piece at a time. It'll be a nice amp once its all functioning and an addition to my tube amps although I'm not sure they'll take a liking to a "solid state" amp in the herd (lol)! Best of luck. BTW, are there any sources for wiring diagrams for these? I did find one site with some Ovation amp schematics at various prices. Hoping there's some being shared among the OFC. |
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | mileskb - 2010-03-17 1:50 AM
I have been trying to do some research on the stack of Audient speakers I have. They are the 12", 15" and horns used in the Ovation combos and cabs.
Somewhere in the cobwebs I recall something about Ovation using re-branded University speakers, and never really thought about it. But did they re-brand them as Audient ?
There should be a numerical manufacturers code on the rim or cone somewhere to indicate who made them. The CTS code is 137, Jensen is 220, Oxford is 465, etc.
Wayne |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I will get out to the storage unit this week. We had some "issues" around here last week and I just ran out of hours.. I'd go out there now but the alarm will "bing bong" in the bedroom and wake Lisa... and sorry.. but no speaker is worth that risk  |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | No problem. Appreciate whatever you can due. I'm in no rush.
Gary |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Sign me up for the 9702 12"
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | I am also looking for a reverb module circuit diagram. After taking apart my K-6002 it appears as though a component (resistor most likely) is missing on the board. Reverb doesn't work but it seems a component was de-soldered from the board. The board number is a 6-0010-240 if that's of any benefit. Its also the last component on the bottom far left (connector end). I done some searching and there isn't much out there for these vintage giants. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Was down with the flu or cold or whatever creepy crud it was all weekend. Will pursue the storage unit tonight and update |
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Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | The art of soldering is something worth mastering. Never again will you be bothered with excessive resistance due to inadequately crimped joints. Crimping has no place in electricity anyway!! Plus watching the solder flow to the heated and properly cleaned and fluxed wires can be a religious experience secondary to none!! |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Brrr... so I have six 12" speakers. 2 each of 9422, 9424 and 9442 Audient's. Not sure what the difference is. I have some horns and speakers in cabinets that aren't doing anything that I will need the weekend to get to. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I happened to plug in the K-6300 this weekend and it worked! Don't know why I couldn't get any sound out of it last time. Sounds great! Scary loud. The controls on the back are kind of a pain and the horn doesn't work, but the big 15 inch speaker sounds fantastic. I'll fix the wiring for the horn when it comes up on my list of projects.
I haven't tried it with the VXT or any acoustics yet. I'm anxious to see whether it works as an acoustic amp. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | No manufacturers codes on the ring. These are gray wrinkle painted frames and are either University/Altec or something similar. I've viewed many speakers from various manufacturers and these are a step up from the typical Oxford, CTS, Jensen, Utah, etc just in the materials and the craftsmanship that went into these speakers. Aluminum screw terminals for the speaker leads, etc. They are close to what I've seen in pictures of Altec Lansing and University Sound (now EV) from the early years. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | I got the K-6002 head working all but the Reverb. The fuzz brings back memories (Rolling Stones - Satisfaction!!) and actually sounds pretty good with the blend controls to get different fuzz sounds. The G Tuner works marginally but not a big deal. Shot all the controls with tuner cleaner/lube and they perked right up. I Also cleaned all the input jacks with a brass 22LR rifle brush to clean out the oxidation and that fixed another issue. Ran the head into another power amp and so far so good! I have a couple of odd speakers kicking around I'll use until I get a good pair of Audients. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You may have inspired me to open the K-6300 up again this weekend and fix the wiring to the horn and see if I can get it working. I couldn't get the reverb to work on it, either. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | I noticed a component missing on the Reverb module and wondered if that was a failed component but without any wiring diagrams to go on its a crap shoot. However, if yours has the Reverb module intact maybe you can post a close up picture so I can identify the missing resistor, cap or whatever was in that spot? I'm assuming the Reverb module/card would be the same across models but again, I don't know but the card part numbers are usually on the PC board, so that might help. Appreciate it if you can.
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Another option is to test the reverb can in another amp. Mine seems to be ok, the springs etc intact and I cleaned up the RCA connections. Its hard to say what else can go wrong on those. Its pretty basic stuff except for the electronic modules. At least that might eliminate the can as a source of the problem. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I assumed the reverb was electronic and didn't see any springs. Your mention of the RCA plugs got me thinking that someone may have taken out the reverb. As I mentioned in my 12/4 post above, I found two RCA connectors that weren't attached to anything and one had a bunch of electrical tape covering it. This might be more of a project than I have time to tackle next weekend. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Sounds like the Reverb tank is missing. The circuit board is part of it but I don't recall Ovation using all electronic reverb. I don't think that was available then? There are a number of sites that have reverb tanks (E-Bay, etc) for not much in the $25 range? You could always borrow one from another amp if you have one just to try it. BTW, I had an Ovation K-6001 with a (4) 12" speaker cab with two horns. Getting a good distortion was tough but one trick I used was to jumper the two RCA's plugs together (bypassing the reverb tank) and it kicked it up the gain a notch. There use to be a Fender mod that had a little jumper module that did the same. Anyway, good luck. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I took the whole back off yesterday and discovered the reverb tank mounted to the top. Either the RCA plugs had fallen off or I pulled them off when I opened it up the first time. The wires were so short that they pulled out as soon as the back was opened a couple inches. I fixed the broken wire to the horn, took some pictures and closed it back up. The reverb tank has a female output jack on one side and an input jack on the other. I plugged the RCA plugs in, but the reverb didn't work. I couldn't tell which of the male plugs was the output and which was input, so I switched them and still nothing. The amp sounds pretty good, though. I'll try to post some pics this weekend.
Edited by Mark in Boise 2015-01-02 11:30 AM
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Sounds like progress at least! My sounds good so far. Once I get a horn and wire the speakers to the power amp and close up the back I'll get a better idea how it all sounds! Did yours have insulation on the back panel? I know most closed back cabinets usually do. Mine had some stapled on but its not original for sure. The amp had been recovered, and a new grill cloth done at some point. I had a role of Fender black grille cloth kicking around to replace the torn cloth previously used. Once I get it all together I'll share some pics as well! |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | BTW, my reverb tank was mounted using some rubber shock isolators on all four corners. In addition, there are two ground wires from the tank mounting bolt around the rubber isolator mount to chassis to maintain the ground. Make sure that is also intact since that would affect the operation too. I hope this makes sense. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I didn't check the grounding of the reverb tank. I did get some popping noise when I turned the reverb on after I hooked it up the first time. After I switched the RCA connectors I didn't get anything.
Yes, there was some dense foam, like carpet pad, about 2 inches think at the top of the back panel of the amp and some staples where it looked like similar foam had been attached to the bottom of the back panel. The foam that was left was falling apart, and was probably original, but I didn't have any suitable replacement. Another project.
I'm still not sure the horn is working correctly. The adjustment knob on the front doesn't seem to do anything, but the treble seems much stronger and the treble control makes a big difference. It didn't seem to do anything before I repaired a broken wire. The sound is far from crystal clear, but it's not bad and it sure is loud. The front cloth is in good shape and appears original. The side handles have been replaced with metal ones and the vinyl has some tears. It's been used so much that the labels for most of the inputs and outputs on the back are scratched off and the back has been removed so many times that most of the holes for the screws is stripped out. Somebody added a couple of new screws and moved the old ones just to hold the back panel on. I had a few screws missing by the time I turned 50, too. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I put some pictures of the amp innards in my album. I'll try to move some here when I get a chance. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | I found that my reverb actually works but there is a problem with Channel 1 which just hums as if a ground or open somewhere. When I cranked up the treble control on Ch1 and tapped the reverb tank I can hear it come thru. So some progress made. Ch2 (using the Ch2 isolated speaker output) works fine but the Reverb doesn't. So somehow it maybe tied to the Ch1 problem or someone rewired it and without a schematic it will take time to chase this down. Next step is to swap Ch1 and Ch2 preamp cards to see if the problem moves with the card. Had the chassis completely apart last night to investigate the reverb channel switch board since that is also where the speaker outputs connect to. The missing component on the reverb card is not the issue since the circuit etch goes to a terminal on the card socket that is not connected to anything! Interesting comment on the "popping" sound when using the switch for your reverb. I have the same issue but only on the "Fuzz" switch. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You are into it way deeper than I am. Fortunately, my amp is a bit simpler. If you can figure out which RCA connector goes to each end of the reverb tank, that would give me a start. 
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Ok, my reverb tank is actually stamped "input" on the right as I'm looking at yours above, and "output" on the left. I didn't notice at first since the stamping was a little hard to see with the oxidation of the housing. Mine looks identical to yours and is horizontally mounted. Not sure who the manufacturer is since there are no distinguishing model numbers etc on it! But it looks like a common Accutronics from that era. I also noticed that one of the RCA cables has a shield but is NOT connected. Since the outer ring on both input and output jacks are riveted direct to the housing(no insulator), they are essentially grounded so only one cable shields needs to be tied to ground. I thought it was a mistake at first but I found some good documentation on reverb tanks that says certain models do this! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I could see the stamping on mine, too, but couldn't figure out which of the RCA plugs was for the input and which was for the output. I put all the screws back in the back panel. The foam is falling apart and makes a big mess, so I may wait to get some replacement foam before I take it apart again. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Ok another angle. The "output" RCA cable on mine does NOT have the shield landed on the connector for the reverb circuit card. Only the input cable had the shield landed. So that may be an easy way to distinguish which one is which. If all Ovation amps used the same reverb tank then hopefully the same grounding scheme as I mentioned earlier. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I assume my reverb had some issues before I bought it, because one of the RCA plugs was heavily wrapped in electrical tape. I might not be getting a decent connection to the reverb tank no matter which way I plug in the connectors. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | There's a "Little Dude" listed as an Ovation K6323 on ebay right now, supposedly working well with bidding under $12 and no reserve. The horn has been replaced, though. If Miles has an original horn, that might be nice for one of us Ovation Collector's. It's the same amp that I have, but I mine has both original speakers. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | interesting for sure Mark. I've been scanning E-Bay, Craigslist etc for anything on these old amps but not too many pop up. I wonder how many they made in the short time they existed?? |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | The shipping to my house was only $45! I think that estimate may be low for that beast. You'd probably pay 10 times the cost of the amp to ship it to Massachusetts. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Yes from California to Mass would be crazy. Nice little unit though and all working!!!
Anyone remember the Ovation TUB speaker they came out with in the late 60's? I was working at a music store at the time after school and the owner came back from the NAMM show with a show special he bought. It looked like a big wash tub mounted on a pivot bracket to a large base that housed the power amp. I don't know how many were actually made but I've never seen one since!!! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I don't remember that tub speaker, but that was a couple years before I got into Ovations. The 6323 is up to $26! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I just remembered to check ebay and the Little Dude amp went for $150. Not bad for either side. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Maybe a few more will pop up and I can find some parts for mine! |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Hey Mark,
Just bought a real nice 9702 speaker on E-Bay for my restoration. Still need one more, but one step at a time. I'll post a picture next.
Gary |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Great! I need some motivation to fix up my amp. |
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Location: Pewaukee, WI | It looks like there is one of these speakers at Dave's Guitars in LaCrosse WI. a 9722. Taking the bell cover off, it has a stamp of being manufactured by Eminence.
http://davesguitar.com/products/eminence/12-alnico-speaker/
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Yes it looks like some of the speakers I've seen on E-Bay and the one in Mark From Boise's amp. Its different than my 9702 that I posted pictures in a different thread. That's good info however for most of the Ovation Audient speakers I've seen!! A little piece of info here helps to narrow down the missing info on these speaker variations! Thanks! |
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Ovation Speakers