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Beveridge 3 speakers - I received these this week. The

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shipping crate is huge. My wife thinks we should use it as a fake coffin for Halloween in the front yard.
The speakers are visually quite nice; they are 6'-6" tall and 22" in diameter, with a nice light tambour wood finish. I plugged them in and fired them up. One of the speakers has a very prominent static with or without audio signal. The signal does pass to the speaker but it is unlistenable. It appears uniform across the entire length of the tranducers so I am hoping it is in the power supply. An electrician friend is going to see if he can troubleshoot.
The other speaker sounds great. Peering into and looking at the ESL devices, they look to be in very good condition. The sound is crystal clear and very smooth and non-fatiging (as much as one channel can be) These speakers have the Beveridge lens, which is a series of bended heavy cardboard shapes that taper the wave to a 180 degree dispersion. The cardboard shapes have warped and deflected in many places. I wonder if I might be able to replace these with a thin aluminum shape?
These also have two woofers in them and an inmate strongly suggested removing these and adding subwoofers. This, I will do, in time. I may try the NHT 1259 subwoofers and build a pair of nice cabinets and use an electronic crossover.
So, this will certainly be a labor of love - but once done, I think I'll have something to behold.
Any suggestions from you guys would be appreciated and I will post a mini review once everything is working properly.

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Re: Beveridge 3 speakers - I received these this week. The - David Yost 08:23:18 10/17/06 (1)
Are you using them in the classic "Beveridge" position or in a normal equilateral set-up?
Best wishes...and I still kick myself for passing on a pair of 2SW's 15 years ago, and a pair of 3's about 7 years ago.
David
- I have them in the traditional Beveridge set-up. They - audiogatorjim 13:18:17 10/17/06 (0)
  are on the sidewalls facing each other. The imaging and "speed" are quite unbelievable. I don't even have them set-up properly. I have them in a narrow room and, although they are on the side walls, they are not in a good room for optimum performance.
  These have a typical ESl sound but are very robust and full sounding.
  By the way, I think there is a pair of Bev 2's on ebay now (or there was) for about 2K. They have been listed several times, with no buyers. These have the built-in amps and are crossoverless. I bet they sound great.
Re: Beveridge 3 speakers - I received these this week. The - MIchael Samra 00:52:52 10/17/06 (1)
Jim
I remember my model 3s very well..They were one of the most beautiful sounding speakers I have ever owned and now I have martin logan monolith 2s and I just bought new panels from logan very cheap.
The only reason I got rid of my model 3 Bevs was I live in Michigan and the damp climates were not good for that speaker lens and I was tearing it down every 2 weeks talking to Harold Beveridge on the phone trying to fix it..I didnt buy them new and I didnt lose a dime on them but if by chance one your panels is bad and Rick Beveridge rebuilds them,let him do it because those speakers are a phenom in themselves..I didnt care for the bass but the newer woofers are improved and what I would do is pack the cavity inside the cabinet and put a good woofer in and take it down to 100cps and then go into a sub woofer.That cabinet was always hollow on bass but now with new woofers they may not be but I have my doubts..
I have an audio transformer left for a model 3 if you need it.You either have a bias problem like a diode or open resistor or a transformer..Email me and I can help you over the phone because I have free unlimited long distance.
Mike
- Michael, I opened up the base to the offending - audiogatorjim 05:51:21 10/17/06 (0)
  speaker and was going to switch the bases to see if the problem followed the base (power supply problem) Lo and behold, one wire to the ESL was almost completely off and hanging by a thread. I reattached it and the static was almost gone. I left the speaker on all day and tried it again. This time, nothing but spectacular beautiful music. A friend said a cap may have reformed itself.
  The speakers are magnificent - and they are presently powered by a Marantz 2220B receiver. I just bought an Audio Research Classic 60 and will try that out on the Bevs today.
  Other than that, the speakers are in great condition. I agree, and others have pointed out the woofers are not great. I will biamp at some point but may also try stuffing the cabinet.
  I really cannot believe how well they sound. I will most likely be selling my 57's and my AR 9's. I just can't see playing those speakers while the Bev's are up and running properly. I wonder what kind of "drop-in woofer" would work? I also might try the NHT 1259 woofers for subwoofer purposes.
  Thanks for the advise and your kind offer.
Don't sweat the lens appearance. - Al Sekela 14:00:49 10/13/06 (2)
I believe they all looked like this until recently. Rick Beveridge has developed improved techniques for making lenses, and could make some nice replacements for you if appearance is a concern.
The sound doesn't seem to care about the minor wrinkles in the lenses, but changing the lens material to aluminum could be a disaster. The lens material and treatments were chosen because the finished lens is acoustically inert. Aluminum would ring, and be difficult to dampen. The overall curvature of the lens is important, and an approximation would not work as well.
- Not one minute after I read your reply post, I opened - audiogatorjim 18:24:53 10/13/06 (1)
  up a response to an email I had sent to Rick Beveridge; he said exactly the same as you, do not fool with the lens. He sent a nice email and some troubleshooting tips for the inoperative speaker. I appreciate him taking the time to respond and your reponse as well.
  - Re: Not one minute after I read your reply post, I opened - 90493m 21:01:46 10/20/06 (0)
    I have a pr of refurbished Model 2's and had a similar 'static' problem. After talking with Rick about it we concluded that the the static 'ground' strip that grounds the panels to the chassis was not working porperly. I took a thin ga copper wire and attached it to one of the chassis screws and then ran it out to the aluminum channels that surrounds the lens and holds the foam grill cover. I just ran a length about 12" up into the channel using the foam tension to hold it in place. Voila! no more static.
    Try it.
    PS Kent; I have owned the PK Quads and while they are very good the Bev's (especially with Rick's updates) simply take the ESL sound to whole new level. Its basically everything you like about Quads but more of it. Not very descriptive am I?
Re: Beveridge 3 speakers - I received these this week. The - kentaja@yahoo.com 07:04:14 10/13/06 (1)
Hopefully you can get the defective speaker working without too much trouble.
Can't wait to hear your impressions of the Bev versus the Quad ESL. Ahh, the tough assigmnents!
- Stay tuned!! - audiogatorjim 10:31:35 10/13/06 (0)
  .

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