Goodmans 100c 12" Triaxiom circa 1960 Live Demo

[@michaelsmullen9891]

I absolutely love vintage Goodmans loudspeakers. I have a single mono horizontal lying speaker that uses 1x 12 inch Audiom , 1x Midax horn midrange and 2x Trebax high compression tweeters in an enclosure measuring 38''x20''x20''. It has a boxed Goodmans crossover and I forgot an ARU or whatever their called again, acoustic resistance unit on the rear. I found it outside a tearoom in Glasgow Scotland about 12yrs ago and it sounds brilliant. There have been times I've thought about breaking it and putting the parts on Ebay but couldn't give up on the hope that I might one day find a partner for it and then I could explore the world of valve amplifiers. I enjoyed your demo a lot by the way!

[@HiFiTown]

Thanks for the comments. Yes, Goodmans made quite a few nice drivers over the years. Their "ARU" units were sold along side component kits, for build in and custom homemade cabinets. Other makers took a shot at the vario-vent idea too.

[@bordebomb6631]

marvellous posting..many thanks

[@FRRRRAAANNK]

Very nice. Love the sound.

[@HiFiTown]

@olanzip --- Hello Shane - No Gold's handy at the moment, sorry. If time allows I will feature the Tannoy Red 12" though.... any other requests??

[@mr586308]

Great demo very well done.

[@analogaudiorules1724]

I wish they still made these to exact specs for low wattage set 300b amplifiers, even if it was a premimum price to make it EXACTLY like this... i'd buy them in a heartbeat...

[@HiFiTown]

Hello, thanks for the comment. Very true, I agree - all drivers lose highs and some mid performance when loaded in sealed boxes (worst). Drivers of this kind perform well on open baffles - which will minimize the deleterious effects of that. In regards to testing..camera Kodak zi6 mono mic, NAD 3020 output under 2 watts, source '87 Toshiba 16bit CD player (our std since 1987!). bench tests will all be the same - without loading - so there will be some decent comparative subjectivity.

[@polkiju7]

HFT, enjoyed your video of the Goodmans driver of which I am a big fan. Do you know how to get the cover off the magnets on these things? I want to check to see if I have the feroba II or the alnico. It is a friction fit of some sort and seems like it could be very tough to remove. Also, I want to disable the external attenuator xover since I don't use the HF horn and use a better crossover. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Jason NYC

[@TheBuzzman289]

what would a good pair of 555c go for with crossovers

[@vincenz55]

hi can you look in your book and tell me what it says about triaxiom 615. best speaker ever heard including tannoy

[@djjdiscos9]

Sounds amazing

[@acpadhi]

Amazing Voice Clarity, Do some good Transmission Line / Labrynth cabinet for this speaker, and you will just get this to its best. You would not loose the Highs and also, I can imagine, what soundstage these will produce when you put them into a TL/Labrynth. What is the track that is playing ? so soothing and only enhanced even more due these wonderful drivers. Since the XMAX is not high for these drivers, I think Labyrinth Cabinets will just fit the needs and yet give that smooth and big low end that is missing due to the cancellations from rear and front in the demo.

[@HiFiTown]

+Anand Padhi It would be worth a try -- for sure. I think they would be clearest on OB -- still it's possible to pull off a Lab or Transmission line for these, as they are 2 way speakers -- they will lose some efficiency and get a bit cloudier. Wow, I can't believe this was 5 years ago -- some of my newer videos are clearer -- though I don't have as much time for some of the excellent educational comments....Thanks for the comment!

[@acpadhi]

the more I listen to these speakers,the more I love its sound and its timbre quality, Oh Man,what an eternal bliss on that Vocal/Instruments Timbre quality and that too without any baffle/enclosure. They can never make such good speakers these days. I wish I had these to try out on a TL. Unfortunately, here in my country it is almost impossible to get something like these, and even if one could get them, they would be insanely expensive. On your feedback about OBs, OBs will never be able to produce the low end that a TL can produce, TLs are also kind of OBs, in terms : the back wave is mostly absorbed within the cabinet itself (making it more like an Ideal Infinitely large OB), and at the same time, add up that little extra from the Low End back wave, that gives the TLs, their distinctive edge. I somehow, have never liked OBs or their concepts specially in smaller living areas, because, no matter what you do, unless you have insanely big Baffles and/or super absorption mechanisms in the back, you are still left with room interference/interaction of the back wave, coming and messing up with phases at all frequencies.

[@davidpatricklemos]

Have you experience any of the other Triaxioms? This sounds like perfection.

[@HiFiTown]

Hi Dave, yes, sure I do. Most of the older models sound at least this good. There are of course a few duds from back then. Some of the 8" Triaxioms are particularly good. You can also try some of the early Jensen Duax (like the very nice Jensen H222) and Triax models -- which have a distinctly more american sound (ie crisp midrange, and not overly rich or lush).

[@davidpatricklemos]

I have a Jensen from the mid 60's, sounds amazing. Overly lush is one thing that I can't stand.

[@HiFiTown]

If you can find them, try some H222's -- they are last time I checked still very undervalued. There are other components, like early Electrovoice, Stephens, and Altec (like the 412's etc) that are also quite nice, but they are not such a good value as 1950's Jensen. I would not say these are overly lush (that would be more akin to Tannoy Gold's and other german offerings). You can also construct your own setups out of sleeper components -- here is a more recent, better mic'd demo, (all free air BTW, so not scientific) -- the last 2mins of this video has a brief demo -- the 8" is a simple Jensen full range, with a special Rola all paper woofer from the 1950s -- crossed over at about 800hz - -an arbitrary point as I had that xover at hand. Fast forward this video to 4:20.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZmqZaiajd-Ea6M

[@davidpatricklemos]

Not bad... I am, however, looking for something with around 20-30Hz on the low end.

[@davidpatricklemos]

I'm just loving the Triaxioms because of their intricate design aimed at the spectrum.

[@Hongdiepnuoctuong]

Hello! I have a pair of speakers that have lost the crossover, can you share its schematic? thank you!

[@HiFiTown]

Hello, I'm sorry to hear that - - but don't worry because most of the time these speakers used a very simple Butterworth style 12 DB or sometimes only a filter capacitor. It has been many years since I have had a pair of these, but my recollection is that they used a L pad for attenuation and a filter capacitor to protect the tweeter only. This is very simple arrangement and also sounds very good. Maybe this model did have a more complex crossover I don't recall. There are lots of schematics online with general instruction on how to use this very simple and clean method. The filter capacitors job is to allow only high frequencies to go to the tweeter, the amount of high frequencies is dictated by the value of a capacitor. For microfarad is a good place to start for an 8 to 16 ohm tweeter. This will protect the tweeter and you don't really have to worry about the woofer or as it will naturally roll off. if the tweeter is too powerful, then you can add a low value resistor or if you want to get fancy you can utilize an L pad type control like the original speaker featured. This will allow you to dial in precisely the right attenuation without affecting the impedance of the speaker. Audiophiles like to get picky and wrapped up in complicated crossovers, but really a lot of times this simpler method works just fine!

[@Hongdiepnuoctuong]

@@HiFiTown You give me facebook to contact

[@HiFiTown]

@@Hongdiepnuoctuong Hello, I don't currently have a business presence on Facebook. You can however contact me via WhatsApp, and my phone number which can be found on my webpage. Take care

[@Hongdiepnuoctuong]

@@HiFiTown Give me your whatsapp account QR code

[@Hongdiepnuoctuong]

@@HiFiTown sorry ! I can't find your phone number

[@polkiju7]

@HiFiTown How about an Axiom 80. Not bad in OB so I hear....

[@Aniva66]

please, whar song is that at the minute 2:56 ?

[@Ku6opor]

fantastic!

[@figit090]

Hi! I picked up a pair of similar (rebranded) Lafayette SK 210 3-ways that are much like these, rated at 33watt, 16 ohm. Do you think it would be safe to run them on my NAD 7155, a 55w solid state amp? I'd like to consider making enclosures for them if I like their sound enough to experiment further. Could you also tell me if it's easy to repair small tears in the surround? Either the auction house or I poked a hole in one surround. I'm also wondering, how is this a three way speaker? The small whizzer cone is mounted to the woofer cone so I'm unsure how the coils are constructed to make this a 3-way speaker. Thanks for any insight! I'm excited to test mine further, I hope they're 100% functional...but my brilliance EQ boxes didn't seem to affect the sound much, if at all.

[@HiFiTown]

Hello Andrew, sure you can use the higher power NAD amp -- just use common sense and don't turn up the volume to extreme levels. Also, careful to make all input connections with the amp turned off. Transients and noise / buzz from a power amp can hurt them. Yes, most glues are safe to make small repairs and patches. Less is more, and don't go overboard with the glue, as it can affect the surround stiffness. If the hole is small or medium size, it's unlikely to need immediate repair at all. The whizzer cone is a mechanical radiator, no coil on it. It's practically a 2 way speaker -- the whizzer fixture, is very effective, so no need for midrange complications. Take care and enjoy them.

[@figit090]

HiFiTown thank you very much! Later I'll research how to test them and see if I have it in me to build suitable (large...) enclosures. These seem special and if they can really do well with lower frequencies and handle decent volume I think it would be a fun project. But alas, I have little time for projects, haha. Thank you for your reply. I think they may need crossover maintenance, they sound dull without my treble turned all the way up on the amp.

[@keplermission]

Yeah but, the high frequency efficiency is lost when it goes in the cabinet, right now the bass is being cut down by cancellation of the front wave by the back wave. So you really need to get these in cabinets to give an idea of the high frequency ability. Also you need to show your settings on the amplifier and what type of source you are using, if it is a C.D. or something more vintage.

[@eggshellskullrule7971]

I hv a single Goodmans Axiom 300, alnico, whizzer cone. Compared to Jensen Sigma 220, the Axiom 300 must hv been miles ahead in output performance.

[@HiFiTown]

@polkiju7 @polkiju7 Great question! The Axiom is fabulous on OB. It's better than the featured above Goodmans 100c were later, lower cost product. 80's are detailed and fragile! Axoim 80 drivers will cost about 10 times more than these. The suspension of the 80 is comprised of a phenolic wafer system to keep the high guass magnet coil assembly centered. Over time they fatigue and snap - which -though it can be fixed is a pain!! Better can be had for the $. Early ~ HiFiTown.com

[@PlatinumEagleStudios]

lol back then they considerd that surround to be high excursion. Now they have speakers that have 4 inches of excursion

[@PlatinumEagleStudios]

how the hell is this high excursion. Any speaker that has a 1mm excursion is not high excursion. I'm betting the peak to peak xmax on these is close to 2mm peak to peak.

[@chrisristau8803]

wow

[@Uraim]

tray out bass boosted song (speaker killer) :D

[@erick-gd7wo]

Hardly believe this driver is 20 watt rms....

[@HiFiTown]

Yes, it is isn't it? It is important to remember, that mfrs rated things more often in "peak" wattage, rather than RMS. You should only ever need a few watt's for speakers of this era.

[@erick-gd7wo]

HiFiTown ... I dream about future audiophile with this small amount of Watts like this..... not in 600 Watt RMS.....