[Fred Taylor]

I bought these  Fisher stv-890s new back in the early 80s and still sound very good any thoughts on the quality of these? The speakers are big cabinet 40" high and 15" woofer , mid range, tweeter , 2 ports for air movement, from 1 - 10 scale any thoughts? Was Fisher putting out qaulity back then or just average stuff?

[morzh]

Fred

Other than characterizing speakers with measurement equipment (thd analyzer, bandwidth, sensitivity) the sole criterion outside that is: do you like how it sounds?

[jerryhawthorne]

Fred, Mike is right (I hate to agree)! It really all depends on how it sounds to you. They look like quality speakers and of course designed for best performance in their own cabinets. You have a great chance for them sounding great. A much better chance than sourcing individual speakers (new ones) and trying to make them sound good. Construction of cabinets and speakers is an art to make them work well. Some great sounds out of some of the 60s consoles with really cheap speakers but a lot of design work for the cabinets of the consoles. Just listen to them.
Best, Jerry

[Phlogiston]

Speakers with ports have never been my favorite design since they have a tendency to distort potions of the bass response.

[morzh]

Ports are just fine if calculated correctly for the speakers.

[Fred Taylor]

Ports are just fine if calculated correctly for the speakers.

I played some big band music in stereo with those speakers the other day hooked up to a sony receiver rated at 100 watts per channel and had the house rattling. They sound very very good, just wanted to get some feed back on them thinking someone here may have had a pair at one time. I payed 100$ a piece when new at a department store in Houston back in early 80s

[Ron Ramirez]

I have to agree with Russ here. I have a pair of Pioneer CS-77 speakers, the drivers of which were shot. I tried to replace them with good quality drivers while I was still working, but I've never really been satisfied with them. They have one port in each cabinet. I even completely redid the crossovers with new caps and chokes. Still not really happy with them.

On the other hand, I also bought a pair of Teac LS-350 speakers from the same person I bought my CS-77s from. Same story...shot drivers...I replaced all of the drivers as well as the capacitors in the crossover networks and they sound fantastic. No ports. The Teacs have a mid-century look about them. They are probably from the late 1960s or early 1970s.

(Disclaimer: I knew going in that the drivers were shot. I bought these just for the cabinets. As a result, they were cheap.)

[Phlogiston]

The ports improve bass response at a particular frequency/distance calculated to be 180 deg out of phase with the front of the speaker cone. All other frequencies  have less gain than the tuned frequency. This leads to uneven bass response. Why would you need to push the bass up by 3db anyway. It is a gimmick (think Bose here), impressive at first ,becoming tiring at long term. If a speaker/crossover is designed properly there should be no need for ports or passive radiator (edit).

The "house rattling" was what they were hoping for with this design.

Remember, you asked.

[Ron Ramirez]

Now, I forgot to mention my 1960s Wharfedale W-60 speakers. They are two-way speakers with a port in each, and they do sound good. Not quite as good as my Teac cabinets with new drivers, though, but better than the Pioneer cabinets.

Based upon my experience with the Pioneer cabinets and Russ' comments, I am tempted to seal the openings in the Pioneers. Those aren't the typical tuned ports anyway, but merely a rectangular opening below the woofer in each cabinet.

[Phlogiston]

Ron, it might be worth a try, but if the cabinets and woofers were designed with the ports, it is hard to predict the results. But if boomy bass is a problem, stuff something in the ports to see if they sound better. They used to sell a pressure relief port, designed to decrease back pressure without affecting the bass (much).

Found it:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/fl...-vent-ssv/

One of the most impressive things that can be done to a lot of old speakers is to rebuild the crossover. Pull out the old bi-polar electrolytics and the iron core chokes and replace them with film caps and air core chokes (where it is practical). You might need a new board for the larger parts. I just did this with a set of speakers I built years ago. I used a set of off the shelf Dayton (Parts Express) crossovers, not junk, but no match for the custom pair I just built. It was like taking a paper bag off of your head. I did one speaker at a time so that I could compare before and after. This can cost close to $100 per speaker, which is why the OEM did not do it in the first place.

[Ron Ramirez]

Very interesting. Incidentally, I already rebuilt the crossovers, using film caps and air core chokes purchased from Parts Express last summer before my job was eliminated. It helped, but the sound still isn't quite to my liking. Like you, I rebuilt one set of crossovers at a time so I could do a comparison of new vs. old. The new crossover with Parts Express components was (is) definitely better.

Well, I'm afraid we've totally hijacked Fred's Fisher speaker thread. Sorry, Fred. To get back on topic...by the 1980s Fisher quality had pretty much gone down the drain but the most important thing is if you like how those speakers sound, then that's all that matters, right?

[Phlogiston]

Sorry.

True. Everybody hears differently and age does not help.

[jerryhawthorne]

I use to be able to hear and enjoy quality sound. Now down 100 db above 2000 Hz. AM radio, not bad. TV, most stuff without sub titles no sense in watching. Next to being blind, which I'm not, hearing is a serious problem. Groups of people talking at the same time, noisy backgrounds I just smile. If those speakers sound good to you great. There is a lot of art involved in designing a speaker system which the designers feel is right to their ears. Take care and glad you still have good hearing.
Jerry

[Chuck Schwark]

I have a "Mixed Blessing."  I can still hear up to 10-12K, although, some dB down, but having Tinnitus hissing/ringing in both ears at about 5-6K, makes for a lot of "What!?  at home when we're opposite ends of the house.

High frequencies get soaked up in drapes, carpets and walls and all I hear is the hissing/ringing.

Chuck   

[Fred Taylor]

Very interesting. Incidentally, I already rebuilt the crossovers, using film caps and air core chokes purchased from Parts Express last summer before my job was eliminated. It helped, but the sound still isn't quite to my liking. Like you, I rebuilt one set of crossovers at a time so I could do a comparison of new vs. old. The new crossover with Parts Express components was (is) definitely better.

Well, I'm afraid we've totally hijacked Fred's Fisher speaker thread. Sorry, Fred. To get back on topic...by the 1980s Fisher quality had pretty much gone down the drain but the most important thing is if you like how those speakers sound, then that's all that matters, right?

Hay Ron can you relate to this the data plate on these speakers were talking about. Is it just a gimmick placing the data plate on cabinet or is it true in what it states.