Elac Speakers

Used by JMI from 1960 to 1968.

This for the time being is little more than note. Elac speakers were the product of "Electro Acoustic Industries Limited" and manufactured initially in its factory in Tottenham, North London. In the late 1940s the company's main business was spares and components for television and radio sets. In the early 1950s it began to branch out into elliptical speakers and then larger conventional drivers, primarily (but not exclusively) for hi-fi applications. Below, an advert placed by Elac in "The Gramophone", March 1958.

"The Gramophone", March 1958.

In 1960 JMI began using Elacs for its smaller amps - in particular the AC6 (Spring 1960) and AC2 (late 1960). The 8" drivers adopted were by and large old stock, generally with 1958 date codes. Early AC2s can be seen .

In the summer of 1962, JMI turned to Elac for a new 10 inch driver for its range of split-front AC10s, having largely used Goodmans up to that point. At Jennings's request, Elac sprayed the frames of the new speakers blue (as Celestion had done for the T530 for the AC30). Later, in 1963, two further types were commissioned.

Mid 1962: - 10N/81 - 10 inch, around 10-12 watts handling, 15 ohm, Jennings blue frame. Used in AC10s, wired in parallel for a total impedance of 8 ohms; and in early Line Source 40 speaker columns (late 1963), four wired in series/parallel for a total impedance of 15 ohms.

Late 1963: - 10N/82 - 10 inch, around 10-12 watts handling, 4 ohm, Jennings blue frame. Used in Vox Line Source 40 public address columns, four wired in series for a total impedance of 15/16 ohms. Also used in threes (wired in series) in Vox AC30 Transistor Lightweight amplifiers.

Late 1963: - 10N/83 - 10 inch, around 10-12 watts handling, 8 ohm, Jennings blue frame. Probably made for Watkins. It is possible that pairs were occasionally used in certain AC10s, wired in series for a total impedance of 15 ohms - but this is not certain.

Elac 10N/81 in an AC10 Twin.

During the course of 1964, JMI asked Elac to spray the frames of its speakers hammertone silver/grey - to accompany the move to new blue/grey amplifier control panels. The speakers were given a new set of model numbers:

Mid 1964: - 10N/85 - 10 inch, 15 ohm, silver/grey frame. Used in pairs in AC10s, wired in parallel for a total impedance of 8 ohms. The early 10N/85 had a magnet of the same size as the 10N/81. Later 10N/85s had smaller magnets, and magnet covers ("bells") with rounded ends.

Mid 1964: - 10N/86 - 10 inch, 4 ohm, silver/grey frame. Used in Vox Line Source columns, four wired in series for a total impedance of 15/16 ohms. As in the case of the 10N/85, the early 10N/85 had a magnet of the same size as the 10N/81. Later 10N/86s had smaller magnets, and magnet covers ("bells") with rounded ends.

Early 10N/86 with "tin-can" style drum. See the picture also at the foot of this page.

One sometimes finds 10N/86s in AC10s (wired in series for a total impedance of 8 ohms) - for instance, AC10 Twin serial numbers 1890 and 2505. Others are clearly replacements / later substitutions, cannibalised from Line Source columns. One can normally tell by the orientation of the Vox label in relation to the solder terminals.

So far it has not been possible to track down a 10N/84 - likely to be 8 ohm.

Notes

Cones: - either made by Pulsonic, stamped in white with a code along the lines of "xx/434/001" (there are variations); or by Kurt Mueller, stamped "1469" followed by three letters. Pulsonics are by far the most common. It should also be said that cones were often stamped with large double digit numbers ranging from 11-16.

Cork gaskets: - normally stamped with the model number and a five digit numerical code which may be the date code. Occasionally the five digit sequence was stamped on the frame (particularly on certain blue Elacs produced for Jennings).

Frames: - stamped with a four digit number. No recognisable pattern has emerged so far, except that "8461" seems to have been the standard number for silver Elacs for Jennings (both the 10N/85 and the 10N/86). Many silvers have no stamped number though, the code perhaps having been overpainted with the silver/grey hammertone finish.

Vox LS40 column with early silver Elac 10N/86s.

For earlier AC10s see the .