Your Opinions of the Weber Signature Series Speakers

[overdrive]

I am looking to replace a broken-down Oxford speaker in a mid-60s BF Champ & was curious if anyone had any experience using the 8" Weber Signature Series speakers in either the Alnico or Ceramic configurations. These speakers were suggested as a cost-effective replacement by an online dealer but I have heard & read mixed reviews about them...some glowing, some not so great (in terms of clarity & articulation).

[stokes]

Although I have used a lot of various Weber speakers,all of which are great,I have never used the 8" Signatures,I do have an 8" Alnico Blue Pup,in a proto type amp I'm working on and it is great sounding.I would have to think the speaker you are referring to would be okay.I mean,it is a $35 speaker,so you cant expect it to compare to a Jensen or high grade speaker,but I think it is safe to assume it is better than the Oxford.Any speaker you read reviews on are going to be quite varied from good to bad,tone,after all is totally subjective.I have been using Weber speakers for a number of years and have found every one to be ideal in each application.I wouldnt hesitate to pony up $35 for the 8" Alnico Signature Series for use in a Champ.

[overdrive]

Appreciate the input. I have used the Weber Blue Dog/Silver Bell 12" combination & they sound absolutely terrific in a closed-back cabinet.

BTW, some folks have mentioned that Webers in particular tend to require a certain 'break-in' period anywhere from 10-40+ hours playing time before they settle-in to their true characteristic tonal qualities. I've heard this comment about both the Vintage & Blue lines as well as the Signature. Is this assessment generally true/correct? If so, this factor would have a bearing on a review or comment based on the speaker being brand new vs played-in for awhile.

When I last used them, the Blue Dog/Silver Bell combo was about a year old & I presume the gradual loosening of the cone material had pretty much already taken place.

[stokes]

All new speakers go thru a "break in" period,how much it affects the over all sound is debatable and most likely varies from speaker to speaker.There is somone advertising a speaker that they sell that is "pre-broken in",I think it is "Hellatone".They take Celestions and inject a sine wave directly into the speaker for a given time which supposedly breaks them in.I've never used one,but some people swear by them.Tone being as subjective as it is makes it hard to pick a speaker from reviews or by actually hearing sound samples from a web site,which I think is the worst way to "hear" a speakers quality.Any given speaker connected to different amps is going to sound somewhat different.Put a different guitar into the front and you haver another variable,now go and put the whole mess thru those top flight computer speakers....well,you can see where this is going.When I chose Weber the first time, I contacted him and told him the circuit I was building,what I was looking to accomplish and went with his recommendation,needless to say,he nailed it and I've never been dissatisfied with any of his speakers since.Unfortunately Ted has passed away,but his son has taken over for him,I think his son has been involved for about 15 years,so I have every confidence that he will continue quite well in his dads footsteps.The Champ is not a very complex animal,I dont think putting a top end Jensen in that amp would make a really big difference,so I cant imagine you can go wrong with a $35 8" alnico.This post has got me thinking,and I just may order the same for the amp I mentioned earlier,although I like the Blue Pup,I'd like to hear how the Sig would compare to it with the EL84 I have for the output,which is kind of chimey to begin with,I have a feeling the Sig may have a smoother response.

[CitizenCain]

You can order your speakers from Weber already broken-in. They'll do a breakin procedure like Avatar does with their Hellatones. They used to not charge anything for this, haven't ordered from them for while though.

[JHow]

I got an 8" weber Sig Alnico to replace original blown oxford in a Thomas Organ Vox pathfinder. I like it well enough. I was thinking of reconing the oxford for sake of "authenticity" but the replacement weber was less ($35 vs. $55) and sounds fine.

[Diablo]

Speaker break-in flexes and loosens up the surround and the spider. On the Weber website they have a calculator to tell you how much AC voltage you should put through a speaker for a speedy break-in that doesn't smoke the voice coil. You can use a Variac hooked directly to the speaker and set it for the calculated voltage, and let it hum away for 10 hours or so. I have a spare transformer that puts out 5 Vac at 3A that I use for speaker break-in. It's this one from Weber......W5V3A.

[overdrive]

Had an opportunity this morning to A/B the 8" Signature 8S (ribbed cone) in both the ceramic & Alnico versions. An acquaintance recently completed a similar project in a 64 pre-BF Champ using the Alnico 8S.

The Alnico 8S is a good sounding speaker...warm & bluesy with a very nice clean/volume tone.

The ceramic 8S was a tad more aggressive-sounding...more of a crunchy tone.

Subjectively speaking, I guess speakers are sort of like beer, wine, women etc. All are essentially capable of doing the job but some offer more complexity than others. I imagine this is the main consideration (along with pocketbook factors) when comparing the Weber Signature Series to their more expensive Vintage and/or Blue offerings.

My conclusion..the SS Alnico 8S is more than adequate as a Champ replacement speaker & a good value.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Speaker break-in flexes and loosens up the surround and the spider. On the Weber website they have a calculator to tell you how much AC voltage you should put through a speaker for a speedy break-in that doesn't smoke the voice coil. You can use a Variac hooked directly to the speaker and set it for the calculated voltage, and let it hum away for 10 hours or so. I have a spare transformer that puts out 5 Vac at 3A that I use for speaker break-in. It's this one from Weber......W5V3A.

Well, with respect to using a variac and 5vac here is the flaw:
it runs at 60Hz or 50Hz.
Although difficult to get this info, go try to find out what the impedance of your speaker is at 50Hz to 60Hz.
You'll see with a speaker at say 20 ohms, the 5vac is only pushing about 1 to 2 watts. Not very conducive to breaking in a 15w-50w speaker is it?
Trust me on this because I probably told Weber how to break speakers in using a variac and MEK or Acetone many years ago... well after Mark from Matchless told me how to do it even many more years ago before that! ha ha...
Hard to say how much AC you need because of the actual impedance of any given speaker at 50Hz to 60Hz. I could be 8 ohms or it could be 30 ohms.

Regardless, 9vac to 18vac at 3a to 5a is probably what you'll need for any average 15w to 100 watt speaker to make much difference using 50Hz to 60Hz.
When you get them to a point where it does make a difference in break-in power to the speaker load... it is crazy loud and super annoying.
You will not be able to sit in the room with it for any real length of time.
I use to leave the shop for hours at a time... until my neighbor (who shared a common wall with us) called the fire dept' cause she thought there was something really bad going on in my shop with nobody there. Ouch fixing the broken door was a drag...

[stokes]

Better to just use the speaker to break it in.A couple of hours at cranked levels will do it.Much more pleasant than listening to an annoying drone for hours,or leave and end up with the neighbors calling in the troops.FWIW I have used a lot of Weber speakers for my self and others amps,I've never found them to be "offensive" when new,but they did soften up a bit after just one night of somewhat hard use,and I dont mean death metal type volume,think a 30 watt amp just on the edge.I think the whole speaker break-in thing is kind of overrated.Some do "need" it,like a Celestion is very edgy to me until you get a few hours on it,but I wouldnt go hooking my variac up to it to do so,just paly it.

[cminor9]

Better to just use the speaker to break it in.A couple of hours at cranked levels will do it.Much more pleasant than listening to an annoying drone for hours,or leave and end up with the neighbors calling in the troops.FWIW I have used a lot of Weber speakers for my self and others amps,I've never found them to be "offensive" when new,but they did soften up a bit after just one night of somewhat hard use,and I dont mean death metal type volume,think a 30 watt amp just on the edge.I think the whole speaker break-in thing is kind of overrated.Some do "need" it,like a Celestion is very edgy to me until you get a few hours on it,but I wouldnt go hooking my variac up to it to do so,just paly it.

+1. Just play it. I have used Weber and Warehouse speakers, and found in each case that the whole break-in thing is a bit overhyped. They sound good out of the box, and get a little bit mellower as you play. That's really it in my experience.

[macpgh]

sonic textures

For 2 cents worth,

when you ears get really good....you can tell how much moisture the paper cones absorb based on humidity in the environment you play....time of year & geographical locations.

I used to live in tampa florida where you could cut the air with a knife the humidity was so high. Where as I come from the pittsburgh area with the 4 seasons....so playing in house in the winter with the heat on makes for an extremely dry climate as opposed to the summer with the heat & humidity.