Anybody heard of Falcon Acoustics?

Timbrel or Tabor, Anyone?

OK, so back in the early 80s, I found a Falcon Acoustics catalog, I think, available via a Stereo Review advertisement. I managed to get a copy - it was a spiral-bound type catalog, maybe 1/4" thick, at best.

There were two kits in which I was interested: one was the Tabor and the other the Timbrel. I opted for the latter and purchased the components from Falcon. I built the kits using 3/4" Baltic birch.

The LF / MF driver was a 6.5" "bextrene" driver, with a 25mm or so voice coil. The high end was handled by what was likely a Peerless or SEAS tweeter - that classic rectangular plate (with chamfered corners) and a soft dome. 

As far as the crossover is concerned I *think* it was a symmetric 2nd order. I say this because I distinctly recall the phase of the HF driver being wired 180 degrees out of phase, although for some reason, I recall mention of a 3rd order for the top, though not necessarily for the LF/MF...which is a puzzlement in its own way.

Anyway, I have written Falcon and they basically said that they could not help me. You see, I had these on the back doors of a van that I used to drive, powered only by the aftermarket cassette deck. They were low sensitivity - maybe 83 dB/W/m - but to my ears, they were quite good, and reasonable down to 50 Hz or so. HOWEVER, one day, my brother borrowed said van, and "temporarily" removed the speakers from their perches for some outdoor gathering - you see where this is going - long story longer they were left outside, in the pouring rain, and get this, facing upward.

Not long after, I had the opportunity to pick up a pair or Mordaunt Short Pageant, Series II (which I still have suspended above my pool table) at cost, so I replaced the Timbrel with the MS Pageant II.

However, I have always wanted to rebuild the Timbrel, but as I mentioned, the folks at Falcon say they cannot help me out, which was a bit of a let down.

Oh, one more thing about the crossover...I could swear that at least one of the inductors had a core - not something obvious like iron, but something iron-related. I think there was a dropping resistor for the soft dome HF driver as it was roughly 6 dB higher sensitivity than the LF/MF driver.

ANYWAY...if anyone knows of this speaker and has pics, or even more useful information for my quest, I would really appreciate it. I can't recall what the Tabor looked like or which drivers it comprised, but yeah, I'd love to rebuild those Timbrel.

Thanks in advance,

Mark Alan Jay

@fredapplegate 

Irving M “Bud” Fried was an entrepreneur, an audiophile and, as befits an entrepreneur, an opportunist.  John Wiright, John Hayes and David Brown were the owners and directors of IMF Electronics and they designed, developed and manufactured the range of IMF Transmission Line loudspeakers in the UK.  Bud had nothing to do with the design or manufacture of these speakers.  He imported them into the USA and sold them.   John Wright was the true genius and creator of the TL range of speakers, though others came before him, notably  Radford and A.R. Bailey who wrote the 1965 paper that kicked the whole concept off.  John Wright designed and built some TL speakers for the express purpose of Bud demonstrating, at the NY HiFi show, a turntable and tone arm that Wright and Hayes had designed, along with a new wide range Decca cartridge.  The demonstrations were successful, Bud took some orders for the speakers, though they were not yet in production, and as the speakers had no name he appropriated them as “IMF”, his initials.  The UK engineers were naive enough to allow that and even to call the company they formed in the UK to manufacture the speakers IMF as well.  It later went very sour, there was a court case, and the manufacturing company became TDL.  Read John Hayes first person account here:  https://www.surrounddiscography.com/uhjdisc/imfhistory.htm

Whatever, they are great speakers.  “Are” because many of them still survive and thrive.  I am lucky enough to have owned and enjoyed 4 pairs, CM2s, TLS50 MK ii, TLS80s, which have gone to my son, and my current RSPM Mk IVs.  Drivers may have improved, modern loudspeakers may be able to produce higher sustained SPLs, but as an overall package there are very few loudspeakers that are superior.

Falcon’s IMF200 model closely resembles the TDL Monitor. There was nothing like that in the original IMF range.    
 

cheers

@wooly_mammoth 

Good to know. I was wrong. Thanks.