I absolutely must have music in the shop. When the music stops, so do I, at least until we get the music going again. We won't get into what kind of music we listen to, only that it must sound good. I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but I do have a great sounding system in the shop. It is nothing fancy, but it sounds like the band is right there.
I use a Zune 120 gigabyte mp3 player and a Pyle mini-amp. Connected to the amp is a pair of Ohm Acoustics Model E speakers. I know all of it is antique, but so am I.
A few days ago, I noticed one of the speakers was a little weaker in volume compared to the other speaker. First thing I did was to swap the wires at the rear of the amp. The same speaker was still weaker.
Now I have had two pair of Ohm E speakers since the late 1970's, purchased new. One pair is in the house and the other is in the shop. These speakers have played daily for many years now.
The Model E speakers are 2 way speakers. They are of modest size for speakers produced in the same time period, being about 22" high, 11" wide, and about 5" deep. They are heavy for their size. Originally, in the late 1970's, the speakers sold for about $200 per pair. They were rated for an amplifier up to about 60 watts. Frequency response was 52 - 16,000 Hz.
I don't think anyone ever bought a pair based on the specs. You had to hear these speakers. The clarity and depth was and is amazing. Over the years I have attempted to "upgrade" my system and have purchased speakers with better specs, in three or 4 way models, and with much higher price tags. But none of them have sounded better than the Ohm E.
When I purchased the speakers, the owner of the shop told me they were the most efficient speakers he had ever carried. He assured me that I did not need a whopping big amp and huge speakers to have great sound, and he was correct. He had several systems set up in the shop, but these speakers were connected to an Onkyo amp of about 35 watts and it sounded better than anything else he had. I bought two pair of speakers and the amp. The amp speaker selector would play set A, set B, or set A and B. We hooked up both pair and chose set A and B, we was rockin!
Over the years the little speakers have continued to amaze friends and guests. I have some Bose speakers and some Cerwin Vega speakers, both much larger than the Ohm E.
But, back to the problem, one of them was a little weaker than the other and I was not about to bring the set in the house out to the shop. I got on eBay and Craigslist to see if I could find another set.
Later on that evening, I found the Ohm website! Yes, they are still up and running! They would even give a person $200 for a pair in working condition towards a trade in. Ah, a glimmer of hope. I found that they offered upgrade kits for the woofer and a kit that adds another tweeter. They also had parts!
I hit the Contact button and explained my problem. Before I went to bed, John Strohbeen, Ohm's president, answered my email. Now we were getting somewhere and getting there fast!
Mr. Strohbeen advised me to move the speakers. Now, I did not understand this, as I had already switched the wiring, and being the kind of know it all person that I am, it really went against the grain for me to put so much effort into something that, in my opinion, held so little promise. But, I figured that if the president of the company answered my email and this was his best advise, I would follow it. It was a miracle! Not only was the weak speaker back up to speed, but it seemed that both speakers sounded better. I cranked the volume up and just couldn't stop my feet from moving. By the time Mama came in to see what was going on, I was in full blown dance mode. No dear, I don't need to go to the doctor. Yes dear, I feel fine. No dear, I am not going crazy. No dear, we don't need your mother.
Mr. Strohbeen further advised that oxidation had caused my problem and that he recommended using gold plated terminals whenever possible. I had never had this problem with any speakers or stereo equipment before, or heard of it. It seems reasonable to me that the oxidation could occur in the shop environment much easier than in the house. A wiring upgrade is definitely in the future.
Now the shop is happy, happy, happy again! The machines are humming and the Ohms are rocking.
