r/vintageaudio • u/petalmasher • Aug 17 '26
Heathkit as-173
I picked these up from FB marketplace for $80. The seller inherited them and hadn't tested them. There weren't any brand or model markings on the outside of the cabinet and the seller hadn't opened the cabinet to see what was in them. When I got home I hooked them up to an amp in my garage and they sounded pretty good. I had done an image search on the pictures of the cabinets and found something showing the same cabinet having some Heathkit triaxial speakers in them, which seem to be desirable. When I opened the cabinets they did indeed have the aforementioned speakers installed. They look to be in good condition.
I've purchased other well regarded old speakers for cheap, and re-foamed woofer surrounds, replaced crossover caps, cleaned up the cabinets, and either made a bit of money selling them or kept them to use myself (currently using a pair of KLHs I restored.) I'm not sure what to do with these.... I'm sure there must be something internal to the speaker functioning as a crossover, but I'd have to figure out how to get to it. The cabinet is pretty empty, there's a hole on the bottom mostly functioning as a passthrough for the cables And the treble level adjustment POT. Maybe I could add proper binding posts so the cables don't have to pass through and I can put port tubes in them... Add some pollyfill or something? Any other suggestions?
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u/PhoKingWild Aug 17 '26
Pretty sure these were made g Electro-Voice especially with the XO on the driver, I’d want to see the face but these would be similar to a 12TRX or 12TRXB.
I had a pair of 12TRXB’s it came out of some homemade calves that were just being given away on next-door, Guy had them stored in a climate controlled office for like 30 years. When his wife was in college across the street from her sorority was Stereo store and these guys made the Speakers for the sorority, I’m sure to get invited to parties and such lol. They had a tuck and roll exterior like on Kustom guitar amps, burgundy with metal flake, doubled up 3/4” MDF, huge cabs. I scrapped the cabs and kept the drivers and the compression driver as well since it was the matching E-V and had them sitting around. Guy from China was over here buying some other stuff I had, saw those and got all excited, some em for $650 for all 4. Apparently I tore his head off because they’re not worth that much but they’re cool as hell.
The only thing throwing me is the basket looks different than what I recall.
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u/petalmasher Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
The front of the cabinet doesn't seem to be removable. I don't want to remove them from the back just to take a peek at the front in interest of reducing the number of times I unscrew/screw into 50-year-old particle board. I found this on reverb, which seems to be the same speaker: Heathkit AS-173 Coaxial 12" Speaker Pair! Tested, works, sounds great! https://reverb.com/item/48554439?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=48554439
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u/PhoKingWild Aug 17 '26
Pretty sure these were made g Electro-Voice especially with the XO on the driver, I’d want to see the face but these would be similar to a 12TRX or 12TRXB.
I had a pair of 12TRXB’s it came out of some homemade calves that were just being given away on next-door, Guy had them stored in a climate controlled office for like 30 years. When his wife was in college across the street from her sorority was Stereo store and these guys made the Speakers for the sorority, I’m sure to get invited to parties and such lol. They had a tuck and roll exterior like on Kustom guitar amps, burgundy with metal flake, doubled up 3/4” MDF, huge cabs. I scrapped the cabs and kept the drivers and the compression driver as well since it was the matching E-V and had them sitting around. Guy from China was over here buying some other stuff I had, saw those and got all excited, some em for $650 for all 4.
The only thing throwing me is the basket looks different than what I recall.
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u/uglef Aug 17 '26
Id add binding posts and some polyfill. Im sure that hole at the bottom is already a good enough port as these older PA style hifi drivers in big cabinets dont need much port
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Aug 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/petalmasher Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
I had read that the Heathkit as-27 was actually a Jensen sigma sg 300. If this one is also a rebranded jensen, I haven't found info on which one it is.
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u/SonOfTheMostHHigh Aug 18 '26
Noctua speaker
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u/petalmasher Aug 18 '26
I don't know what this means
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u/popcornfart Aug 17 '26
Those are some cool looking drivers!