Surprising find Omni Audio 12.3 [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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PreferVintage
09-10-2007, 03:07 PM
I'm new to AudioReview but not to audio. I'm 51 and when I moved to Virginia at 17 in 1974 I met a neighbor near my age (with money) and heard his Pioneer SA-9100 through his home-made speakers with 18" wooofers I was blown away! He also had a Revox A77. He knew nothing then about speaker design. Later we together built him a pair of Altec Lansing "Voice of the Theatre" speakers. He was much happier.
Anyway, I had caught the HiFi bug. I decided to do research (how did we do that in 1975?) and chose to build a Dynaco PAT-5 pre-amp and a pair of Southwest Technical Products Tiger 01 60 watt mono power amps from kits. Used them for many years with a pair of Dynaco A-25 speakers and a B I C 940 turntable. I still have the speakers although I recently had to replace their tired drivers and chose Polk Eosone 10' woofers and 3/4" tweeters. They don't sound that great. I was hopeful, but something needs to be done.........More than I wanted to mess with.
In this room (the office/library/museum) I have another Dyanco PAT-5 (to replace the deceased original), FM-5 tuner, Stereo 400 amp (200 wpc), and a few other toys. In the living room I have Mitsubishi Dual mono equipment from the late 1970's with 300 watts total through RS Optimus Pro 4000 speakers. Phenomenal sound! A few other toys attached. All but the speakers plus what's in here are via ebay. There are also two surround sound systems in the house. To say great sound is important to us is, well true!
Now to my thread title.
I searched on ebay for something to replace the Dyanco A-25's but really wanted something different and the shipping for heavy speakers would be a lot. Modern high quality speakers are more than I want to spend so thrift stores and pawn shops were prowled extensively. I found a pair of Klipsch Tangent 500 tower speakers for $249. but they are very large for this room and missing the grilles. I thought I might talk them down...........but no need now. Read on.
I stopped at the local Salvation Army and they had nothing worth considering. Walking out I gazed to my right and say "Mom's Antiques". What the heck, take a look. In a back corner, there was a variety of old speakers, mostly junk. Behind all of them I spied a pair of large all-black ones and moved everything to get to them. "Omni Audio 12.3" was on the back on a sticker with the specs. Hmmm. Never heard of them but a LOT of companies have come and gone. Acoustic suspension 12" woofers, 5" midrange, dome tweeter with front L-pads for both. Surrounds good. Hooked them up to a receiver with the wires I had in the car for just such a situation. Hmmm, sound pretty good. All the drivers work as do the L-pads. Price? $50. for the pair. Sold!
I did some research and found some for sale on ebay here and abroad in several countries. All identical to these. Further research revealed these were probably sold originally out of the back of a white van! I don't care! They sound fantastic! Even the cannons on the two versions of Telarc's 1812 CDs are handled fine. I'm delighted. Someone, somewhere built fine speakers and perhaps wanted more profit than they would get selling them through stores. I'll never know.
Feel free to comment on any part of this VERY long thread.

dingus
09-10-2007, 10:00 PM
its a shame you replaced the drivers in the Dynaco A-25's, it is a dynamite vintage speaker that has few rivals in its class.

PreferVintage
09-11-2007, 04:56 PM
I found to my surprise that those Dynaco A-25's that I bought in 1975 (which were floor demos) that one of them had the drivers replaced and the cabinet stuffed with fiberglass.
So much for my "golden ear". I found one of the woofers had a buzz and only on removing the glued on covers did I find the replacement no-name drivers. That was the buzzing woofer. As 10" Seas drivers are not often seen plus I'd need a Seas tweeter as well, I elected to replace all four drivers.

dingus
09-11-2007, 06:05 PM
bummer, still they are well worth restoring.