Philips Hi-Fi International Vintage Amp & Speakers

[reubensm]

Dear all, not sure whether I'm breaking the rules but could not resist the temptation of posting this due to interest shown by some forum members in getting hold of a vintage Philips Hi-Fi International amp and speakers. Check this out:

MUSIC SYSTEM , PHILIPS HI Q INTERNATIONAL AMPLIFIER WITH TUNER & SPEAKERS - Kozhikode - CDs - Records

 

[satyajib]

Do you still have the speakers?

 

[quickboy]

saw this pretty late, OOPS , a lot of people asking for this CRAP speakers, Just burned a pair few days earlier, THe thing was gathering white ants in our store in the out-house, SO just took the drivers and all from inside and burned that box, Took some photos at the time, Those remained in the camera SD card, So posting it as a memorial,

Sorry if I sound negative, these were in my Late Dad's library, along with a rectangular Ampli/tuner called AH-798 or something, THere is not a single piece of wood on these, Burning near 40 year old straw and wood shavings is a good fun, It is environment friendly, (Burns completely, no residue)


Enjoy the pics

This was working, but flutter was so much, so took a look inside, white ants did their job well, Wondering how sound comes from these in this condition

 

[quickboy]

Continued, The circuit inside looks like some filter arrangement, STill looks like new, Good one

This is one loudspeaker on FIRE

 

[captrajesh]

No offenses personally speaking but this reminds me of Bamyan Buddhas.

 

[quickboy]

No offenses personally speaking but looks like this can be equated with Bamyan Buddhas.

BAMYAN was never eaten by white ants, Well nothing is lost except a box made of straw, other things including the cotton filled pillows are here, What about making a new box from proper wood ? Will they be any good if I get it reconed

I did not spoil anything , which was already not spoiled, See the pics, How well I have recovered all those drivers

 

[santhosh]

Hope you took measurements/templates of the box before burning them.

Btw, the straw like box has very good acoustic properties compared to plywood or mdf but is also very brittle. Recently, I tried to check the model of the driver in my Pioneer CS-15 speaker and damaged it a bit before I could realise it was made up of this straw like material. Luckily, it is on the rear portion of the speaker and damage is only cosmetic.

 

[captrajesh]

BAMYAN was never eaten by white ants, Well nothing is lost except a box made of straw, other things including the cotton filled pillows are here, What about making a new box from proper wood ? Will they be any good if I get it reconed

I did not spoil anything , which was already not spoiled, See the pics, How well I have recovered all those drivers

That material of which the "straw box" is made is called particle board AFAIK. In fact my first real hifi setup had kenwood speakers made of similar material. The disadvantage is, they absorb moisture and develop permanent swelling. Mine got swollen after my living room got flooded by water from tap that I forgot to close. I got new boxes made from MDF. Looks like you need to do extensive restoration by De-rusting and repainting the spiders and also re-coning them

 

[quickboy]

That material of which the "straw box" is made is called particle board AFAIK.

Well, I know that, I'am thinking of a teak wood cabinet , Well are they worth all this trouble is the question, THe other box in the pair seems to have a good body even though the suspension part is eaten, The tuner was making some noise , on the SW part, well donated that, There is also some remainings of a turntable, along with this, I do remember my DAD brought home this with much fanfare, sometime after the Emergency period, Was talk of the village for many days, Rs. 7500 or something, and had to be purchased from Madras in those days,(I wish he changed his LANDMASTER instead, Everyone made fun of me at school for that car too, Anyway it did not remain a big attraction for long as my Uncle presented an AKAI cassette deck with three band radio two separate speakers, pretty good looking ones, from Dubai and this went unceremoniously to the library), Indian products always looked like cheap and sounded cheap compared to Japanese stuff, anytime

See this picture

What wattage are these speakers? any idea,

 

[santhosh]

Wow, I love Landmaster(Morris Oxford) and dream of owning one in this lifetime along with a World War II Jeep, VW Beetle, VW Splitwindow Microbus and a Mini Cooper. If you still have it and have even the faintest idea of burning it or selling it, please let me know.

 

[captrajesh]

Well, I know that, I'am thinking of a teak wood cabinet , Well are they worth all this trouble is the question

Old items as dilapidated as these are restored either for their antique value or for sentimental reasons. I'm not too sure of their antique value. Sentimental reasons? Only you can answer that. Solid teak would not only be expensive but may alter the timbre & tonal characteristics of the speakers. You may be better off using MDF but the boxes must be of the same dimensions.

What wattage are these speakers?

No idea. You may ping Reuben who had them.

If you still have it and have even the faintest idea of burning it or selling it, please let me know

Is the pun intended?:lol:

 

[venkatcr]

Wow, I love Landmaster(Morris Oxford) and dream of owning one in this lifetime along

Santosh, I know your passion of vehicles. I owned a Landmaster for over 20 years and had to sell it as I could not get any spare parts. This was when Ambassador was alive and in production. With Ambassador shut down, it will become even more difficult to maintain it.

If you are very particular, the best place to lay your hands on one will be Delhi or Calcutta.

Cheers

 

[santhosh]

No idea. You may ping Reuben who had them.

You can also check with n_thacker. He has a pair of Phillips speakers for sale too, check if it is the same box and the condition as well.

Is the pun intended?:lol:

Well...not sure. Because, I still can't stomach the fact that someone can burn a speaker...but thats just me. So just in case quickboy is eyeing the landmaster next (the car that his classmates teased him about), he knows whom to contact, I'd be glad to take it off his handshyeah:

EDIT: saw Venkat's post

Santosh, I know your passion of vehicles. I owned a Landmaster for over 20 years and had to sell it as I could not get any spare parts. This was when Ambassador was alive and in production. With Ambassador shut down, it will become even more difficult to maintain it.

If you are very particular, the best place to lay your hands on one will be Delhi or Calcutta.

Cheers

Thanks Venkat. Yes, spares are difficult to come by and to me, though frustrating at times.... that's the fun part in owning these classics. Calcutta supposedly still has a lot of Landmaster and Ambassador spares.

 

[quickboy]

Wow, I love Landmaster(Morris Oxford) and dream of owning one in this lifetime along with a World War II Jeep, VW Beetle, VW Splitwindow Microbus and a Mini Cooper. If you still have it and have even the faintest idea of burning it or selling it, please let me know.

Really offtopic
Sorry, we had a morris minor and this landmaster, Well no good cars were available at the time, hyeah:, Did not have to burn them, Lucky me.

Dream of owning one LOL, We really sighed a relief when my dad finally bought a Mark-2. Trust me, those were in fact 4 wheels and an engine specialised to simply convert petrol to carbon di oxide, Not good for anything else, Especially the morris minor, I have suffered so many insults, every friend of mine either had a gleaming Mark-2 with shiny chrome grills or FIAT Elegant those days all with white-walled tires, One even had a Chevrolet Impala, Finally I refused to go to school in those and My grandpa interfered, Well then came the Mark-2, What a car it was, with an HITACHI cassette/receiver deck with an antennae that went up when I turned the radio on hehe, The only other car I really enjoyed was the DOLPHIN My dad bought me when I did my college and turned 18 ( read driving license), That was "THE CAR" dear , Till I graduated to a ZEN

 

[reubensm]

Looks like I forgot to close this thread, my apologies for that, thanks!!

 

[reubensm]

Well, I know that, I'am thinking of a teak wood cabinet , Well are they worth all this trouble is the question, THe other box in the pair seems to have a good body even though the suspension part is eaten, The tuner was making some noise , on the SW part, well donated that, There is also some remainings of a turntable, along with this, I do remember my DAD brought home this with much fanfare, sometime after the Emergency period, Was talk of the village for many days, Rs. 7500 or something, and had to be purchased from Madras in those days,(I wish he changed his LANDMASTER instead, Everyone made fun of me at school for that car too, Anyway it did not remain a big attraction for long as my Uncle presented an AKAI cassette deck with three band radio two separate speakers, pretty good looking ones, from Dubai and this went unceremoniously to the library), Indian products always looked like cheap and sounded cheap compared to Japanese stuff, anytime

See this picture

What wattage are these speakers? any idea,

These Hi-Fi International speakers were one of the legendary speakers of the late 1970s...the best available in the market probably, at the time.

 

[ram36480]

Hi every one.
To quickboy, I want to say thanks for posting those pics -- they were great.
I would appreciate it if you post a closeup view of the front panel and rear panel of the tuner-amplifier unit that drives these speaker enclosures. It would help to see the model no., input and output jacks, various controls and features available, etc. I would also like a close up view (taken right above) the cross over network to see how the three drivers (woofer,
tweeter and 2 nos midrange) are connected to the crossover and if possible also to see how the individual capacitors and inductances are interconnected. I know the grey cable with the red sleeve on one wire is the incoming speaker cable from the speaker out jack on the amp.

Regarding your remark that this system sounded cheap when compared to the Akai you got from abroad, I beg to differ. I have a Philips hi-fi amplifier and speakers along with the cassette deck (launched in the 80s) and I must say that they sound fabulous even today. It delivers excellent high and low frequency response that rivals and in some cases even out performs some of the best audio sytems today; some of which have dedicated active subwoofers. The bass is 'tight' and undistorted and the treble is sharp without sounding harsh, screechy or tinny.

 

[quickboy]

Hi every one.
To quickboy, I want to say thanks for posting those pics -- they were great.
I would appreciate it if you post a closeup view of the front panel and rear panel of the tuner-amplifier unit that drives these speaker enclosures.

I have already posted it,THat was donated, Had to convince the fellow that this is radio with FM stereo (LOL, and he would still ask, Does it work?)

That was not an AMP, It was a stereo receiver, AH-798 or something, Ha a wooden body, with some ventilation slits on the left and right sides, Had two Din plugs, one said tape/aux and another said MD/PHONO, (They each had five pin connectors), I remmber from past that the centre pin was just ground and on either side you had a pir of red/black wires in the cables, The speakers themselves were connected with a two pin male connector which fitted the sockets on the rear, (The top pin was flatter and lower one round, in each connector)

THe front had a volume/BASS/TREBLE control , sliders all, Then the tuning dial and a few buttons below, for tape/phono /etc corresponding to the connectors behind, If I remember correctly these never came with a phono pre-amp, The TT supplied by Phillips India has built in amp or something like that, I think those could drive speakers themselves, Since I rember seeing a volume control on that TT

I would also like a close up view (taken right above) the cross over network to see how the three drivers (woofer,
tweeter and 2 nos midrange) are connected to the crossover and if possible also to see how the individual capacitors and inductances are interconnected. I know the grey cable with the red sleeve on one wire is the incoming speaker cable from the speaker out jack on the amp.

yes, I can do that one, That network is lying around, Kept it for curiosity part, THose two oval drivers were simply connected in parellel,

Regarding your remark that this system sounded cheap when compared to the Akai you got from abroad, I beg to differ. I have a Philips hi-fi amplifier and speakers along with the cassette deck (launched in the 80s) and I must say that they sound fabulous even today. It delivers excellent high and low frequency response that rivals and in some cases even out performs some of the best audio sytems today; some of which have dedicated active subwoofers. The bass is 'tight' and undistorted and the treble is sharp without sounding harsh, screechy or tinny.

Differ or not , what I said is the truth, We used to have something called a SONY TCK-60 tape deck with dancing LCD meter those days connected with this receiver, My dad used to listen all those Classical and sort of those stuff on this, Seemed to have liked that, But i can swear any time that the AKAI was far better

 

[ram36480]

Thanks, quickboy for posting those pics. In fact after my post, I checked for a few days but there was no response except for an acknowledgement from Santosh and Reubensm. I thought this thread does not have much activity and so I didn't log in until today when i saw your reply and pics.
I know you have posted pics of the crossover network - but they were taken from the side. There is only one picture taken from above which also shows the four drivers as well. I tried zooming in but couldn't see the connections clearly. That is the reason why I asked for a close up view from above the network. These pics are great, thanks once again. I must say it looks almost brand new even though it could be well over 3 decades old. You should retain it incase you decide to restore the drivers or you
could use it with new drivers of the same impedance. Is the green component (top right) a capacitor or resistor ? . . . . seems like
a resistor to me.
The description of your tuner-amp is quire interesting too. I remember seeing this model in the main Philips showroom in Mount Road, Chennai in the mid-seventies as well as in several ads (the 3-way speakers seemed to be the USP - they used to be the main focus of the ad) in magazines, newspapers etc. It was the hottest selling 'high end' model from Philips at the time.
If I remember right, the 3 sliders were on the right and the tuning knob below. I didn't know it had FM stereo too. It is surprising to note that there was no phono pre-amp. How did you use your TT?
The 2 DIN sockets on the rear panel is so typical of audio products till the 70s. In my amp there are RCA sockets for all input and output lines, though the cassette deck has a DIN socket (apart from RCA male connectors for line-in/out). The DIN sockets are more compact since you can have both line-in/out (L&R) with centre ground in the place of 4 RCA sockets for the same
purpose. The plus point is the latter provides superior connection compared to the 5-pin DIN socket and connector since dust accumulation in the 5 holes and oxidation on the pins along with the relatively smaller contact area tend to cause drastic deterioration in the signal (which must be avoided in hi-fi applications) . . .. it sounds awful and I'm speaking from experience!
If the ground pin does not make proper contact you will hear a hum even if the L and R channels are ok. (The ring/cylinder surrounding the 5 pins is also supposed to be ground.) The speaker jacks are identical to mine but it has the same problem since the round pin is the same thickness as the pins on the DIN connector. Scraping off the oxidation reduces the 'thickness' and thereby 'tightness' of the plug.
I can say much more but it will make this post too long. Before I wind up I want to clear any misunderstanding about my remarks (and yours as well) regarding sound quality. First of all this is purely subjective - what sounds good to one may not be the case with others and vice versa. Secondly, you are probably right because a lot of japanese equipment (Sony, Kenwood, Aiwa, Technics, Nakamichi etc) of the 80s gave remarkable performance. So I suppose your AKAI delivered great sound too. There is another technical issue (regarding this) which I cannot get into now because it is too detailed. Thanks for your response.

 

[miroflex]

Really offtopic
Sorry, we had a morris minor ...

Hi Quickboy,

Are you aware of any Morris Minor convertible or even saloon or van for sale?

Regards.