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vintage speaker find--are these anything?

returned from one of my regular trips to the local habitat for humanity resale store with a pair of vintage speakers. cabinets are the usual fare--walnut stained cubes 29 by 19.5 by 19.5 inches with that funky synthetic woven tan ubiquitous vintage grille cloth. inside is a pair of 12" full-rangers made by mercury acoustics. the silver oval emblem on the magnet structure of the industrial gray frames reads simply "mercury acoustics-standard of excellence through research and development." haven't taken the drivers out but they have cloth accordion surrounds. currently driving them with a sansui tu-517 via a stock T-amp, and past 9:00 on the output level they get LOUD. sound better than you might think. worst case they end up in the garage. anybody heard of this company and know any history etc.? i have to admit i held my breath when opening the cabinets hoping to see a pair of hartley 220MSGs. but hey, for $20 they can also double as end tables :-)
musicdoc
mechans
3,048 posts
 
I am something of a vintage speaker devotee. I peruse that market. I think what you may be seeing is a rebadge of a more typical brand because Mercury is unknown to me, not that I know all of the brands.
What happens when you google it or try the vintage speaker pages. There aren't many broad vintage speaker pages but with a specific brand you might get a hit.
As far as collectablity goes this is not one I notice people are seeking.
It's broad range and high sensitivity are typical of a late 1950s to early 60s speaker. I'll do some searching myself. For some reason I think you may have a "University" made driver. Have you seen the front is it coaxial?
autospec
451 posts
 
Do your speakers have any rim code numbers on them ?? That will tell you what kind they are....Will
musicdoc OP
320 posts
 
thanks for the responses. my schedule became rather hectic after posting, so i am just now able to return. i haven't had a chance to pull the speakers yet, but i did see that there are two sets of numbers and letters stenciled around the periphery of the frames. one is 121944 and the other is 19EWF110 (the last digit here may be a 6 as it is off-kilter). anything decipherable?
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