Snell type 1?

[Rolf Zetterberg]

In a patent application the swedish loudspeaker designer Stig Carlsson(Sonab) refers to the Snell type 1 as having both woofer and tweeter being placed very low,almost at floor level.A reflecting surface just beneath the drivers is said to control the sound to avoid early reflections.

Now,why can't I find anything on this type 1?Was it ever produced?

[Guest Bluzmaster]

Hi Rolf -

How's it going?

The Snell Acoustics website list no such critter. Either they've got the wrong model designation or, like you implied, it never went into production. I've never seen any reference to this model.

B

[Guest jones]

In a patent application the swedish loudspeaker designer Stig Carlsson(Sonab) refers to the Snell type 1 as having both woofer and tweeter being placed very low,almost at floor level.A reflecting surface just beneath the drivers is said to control the sound to avoid early reflections.

Now,why can't I find anything on this type 1?Was it ever produced?

Hello Rolf!

Stig Carlsson is right, there is a Snell type One, and it has both the woofer and tweeter placed all the way down at the bottom of the box, its a very weird looking speaker.

It was actually produced from 1979 to 1983. Im setting up a snell website with images and info on all the classic snells, i have both info and a image of the Snell Type One. Check out www.snell.no within a couple of days and you will be able to see images and read the info. I will post an update on this forum when the site is done.

[Carlspeak]

The Snell product history listing (found at Post #54 at the link below) shows it was sold from '79 to '83 for $1350, was rated from 50-150 watts, 4 ohm, 34-22 khz, 86 dB eff, with an 8 inch woofer and 1 1/8 inch tweeter.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Boar...ost&id=3412

[Guest Bluzmaster]

Carl to the rescue again!

Unless I am totally blind, the Snell site no longer has that product history list available. I wonder why they would take it down...

I also don't see any support for the "One" in their replacement parts list.

[Carlspeak]

Carl to the rescue again!

Unless I am totally blind, the Snell site no longer has that product history list available. I wonder why they would take it down...

I also don't see any support for the "One" in their replacement parts list.

Yes B, I noticed that also. I'm glad I printed a hard copy out back during the old CSP site days.

[Guest jones]

Yes B, I noticed that also. I'm glad I printed a hard copy out back during the old CSP site days.

Does that hard copy have more information than www.zt.no/snell.htmp ??? If yes, any chances you could email it to me?? snell@snell.no

[Carlspeak]

Does that hard copy have more information than www.zt.no/snell.htmp ??? If yes, any chances you could email it to me?? snell@snell.no

Couldn't link at first. Discovered you had a typo in your URL address. Should be htmL.

Your list looks the same as mine exept you've added some 'QB' models.

[Guest marcjs]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum, but thought I'd contribute to this thread as I have a pair of Type 1's sat in front of me. They are indeed peculiar in their design - both from the standpoint of having the woofer and twweters down low, as well as for having a hinged-panel protruding in front of the speaker to reflect the sound upwards at the listener.

When I first saw them at an estate sale following the passing of a recording engineer in the Chicago area, I knew I had to purchase them if only for their unique appearence. I have since listened to them and am quite impressed by their sound.

The previous owner purchased them new and took extremely good care of them (as well as a pair of Ohm Walsh's). It is hard to believe they are 30 years old, and the quality of the construction is very evident - even the foam grill has machined rebates in it to clear the dome tweeter and to locate over features in the baffle.

I am not sure how to go about posting images here. Do I simply attach a file? If someone would let me know I'll post some images soon.

[Guest jones]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum, but thought I'd contribute to this thread as I have a pair of Type 1's sat in front of me. They are indeed peculiar in their design - both from the standpoint of having the woofer and twweters down low, as well as for having a hinged-panel protruding in front of the speaker to reflect the sound upwards at the listener.

When I first saw them at an estate sale following the passing of a recording engineer in the Chicago area, I knew I had to purchase them if only for their unique appearence. I have since listened to them and am quite impressed by their sound.

The previous owner purchased them new and took extremely good care of them (as well as a pair of Ohm Walsh's). It is hard to believe they are 30 years old, and the quality of the construction is very evident - even the foam grill has machined rebates in it to clear the dome tweeter and to locate over features in the baffle.

I am not sure how to go about posting images here. Do I simply attach a file? If someone would let me know I'll post some images soon.

wow! Your a very lucky man! I would love to hear the Type 1! Would you be so kind and email me some pictures on snell@snell.no ??

[lt_texan]

wow! Your a very lucky man! I would love to hear the Type 1! Would you be so kind and email me some pictures on snell@snell.no ??

I auditioned a pair when I was a college student in Austin TX I'd say in 82 or 83. They blew me away.

I've seen Type A's and owned E's and K's, but I started to wonder if Type 1's were all a dream or I just not remembering correctly - there's nothing out there on the 1's, Snell doesnt seem to say much and a google hits pretty much nothing.

I stumbled on this post and now I know it was for real.

I found a guy in Florida who has a review of the Type 1 in a 1981 hifi mag. I'm going to pay his $6 for a copy.

I'll share when I get the hardcopy

Dan

[Guest aroostookme]

Hi, I have a pair os Snell Type 1s. So, yes they do exist. I also have a pair of C's and (believe it or not) three pairs of the original A's. I owned the B's at one time also.

About the 1's. The description is here is pretty accurate. In reality they are odd-looking ducks. Very heavy and sort of trapezoid shaped. I expect Peter Sell was trying to avoid parallel surfaces inside with the shape. I have been inside and they are typical large coil and cascaded cap Snell crossovers. The box is fairly heavily reinforced also and has a center post that adds structure to the MDF cabinets. The crossover has an external adjustable wire resistor on the speaker connector panel also. Typical looking Snell speaker posts other than that.

They are stuffed fuller with wool fiber than any other Snells I have seen. And, like the A's they are signed inside by the people who made the pair.

It's a 2-way and I don't think Snell made many of them and I bet it is because of WAF (wife appeal factor). OR maybe because they were so vulnerable to physical damage when they were open or being played OR how much they cost at the time.

They have an odd speaker grill that works in harmony with a fold down heavy front panel. The tweeters are matched so they are close together when the set is facing you like Proacs are. But the other writers are correct, the woofer and the tweeter are on the floor at the bottom of the speakers.

And that's fairly odd. I know of no other and it pays credence to Peter Snell's innovation. To be honest, if these were not in my family and passed to me I would not have thought they would be worthy of a "real" listen because of the design. It looks like poor design.

So how do they sound? Well. two-ways are the easiest speakers with a crossover to work with and I would guess that Snell hand-tuned these carefully to get the most out of these two speakers. That's what you feel like as you listen - like this is the most anyone could get out of this tweeter and this woofer.

It's a typical open Snell sound. A lot like the Type A's. But of course the A's beauty is that they are a 3-way with a lot of space to work with (like the Dahlquist 10's have space to work with).

They can take a lot of power. But they also are really pleasing on 60 watts out of a Creek amp. Depends on room size and how loud you listen.

Here's what they do REALLY well and what I go to them for: British folk music like Fairport or Steeleye Span (Walk Awhile and King Henry notably), current Americana like Joe Ely (Whenever Kindness Fails) or Greg Brown (Poet Game / Elvis and MArilyn). They are okay with other things like rock (Zepplin or Who), but exel with sparser fine recordings. They will take Brubeck's "Take 5" to another level, and they make Diana Krall or Joe Henry just shine.

Still, if I were looking to add one set of classic Snells to my audio room it would be the Type A's. The 1's are great and rare, but the A's are one of the best speakers ever made. Should only be available to the very rich yet you can get them now on eBay for under $1,000 regularly.

That's such a bargain.

Enjoy

[lt_texan]

Well, I got the copies of the High Fidelity October 1981 review of the Type 1's. I scanned these and they are big (17meg each page), so I'll add a link to the pdf's.

Jones, I'll email these to you so you can post on your website.

Dan

Snell Type 1 page 1

Snell Type 1 page 2

[Carlspeak]

Thanks Dan for the uploads! Great archive material. PM Mark (site admin.) to let him know where he can find them. They belong in the library.

Did you scan with the color mode on? If so, it roughly quadruples the file size you would get vs a B&W scan setting. Now you've consumed about 2/3 of your available upload file space.

[lt_texan]

Thanks Carl, I'll check if I scanned in color or not. I'm hosting this on my webspace so hopefully it doesnt eat into my space here - but they are whoppers nonetheless.

Shame I dont have color copies to scan.

I'll let Mark know where to get them

Dan

[lt_texan]

more manageable sizes

dan

SnellType1p1.pdf

SnellType1p2.pdf

[Carlspeak]

Image quality is still very good with the B&W scans. Now you need to go into your file managament area and delete those original two scans so free up your available file space.

[Guest aroostookme]

These are great PDFs.

I am going to try to attach the pictures of my Snell Type 1s. Let's see if I can do this on firsdt try. If not they are also at: http://i44.tinypic.com/fmure0.jpg

I have them for sale on eBay until the Jan 2 or 3rd. IF you are interested in a pair they are there, but the reason I am posting again is to see if I can add any information before I sell these and they are off to the new owners?

Questions?

Aroostookme@aol.com

[lt_texan]

Well, now it seems I am now the proud owner of a couple of these speakers that I haven't been able to get out of my mind for about 26 years. And I'm happy to report that these speakers do not disappoint (unless you count the WAF). I've got these in my main system (6550 push pull tube amp, Nottingham Analog deck, Clearaudio Signature cart, Linto phono pre, CAL cd) and after a few hours of listening, they have a really great sound. But, they are revealing. They do show poor recordings. Donald Fagan's Nightfly absolutely blew me away. Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots imaged like crazy. XTC Oranges and Lemons.... Well, I have a lot to listen to. I replaced my Snell EIII's (modded with external and recapped (hovland music cap) crossovers) with these and where the EIII's are pretty damn good, Type 1's extension on the low end and speed and imagining was evident as soon as I put the needle to a record. I do like these speakers.

I'll post a few pics now:

I had to take a LF driver out to figure out which bi-wire posts were for tweeters and woofers (I bi-wire with a twisted/braided CAT5 cable using 4 pairs for tweeters and 8 pairs for woofers). I was amazed at the crossovers. Seven air-gapped chokes(!) (yes one came unglued). I will have to diagram this out when I put in new caps. (But not just yet.) And note the gold and green tweeter wiring.

Here's a picture to give you some scale of the loudspeaker

This is where they'll live for a while. (The box in the middle doesn't help, by it was quickly put there before my wife got home!)

I'm enjoying this so far.

Dan

[Guest marcjs]

Hi all,

I haven't visited this forum for some time and wow - lots of activity on the Type 1's.

If any member is in the Chicago area I am offering my very nice shape Type 1's for sale. I'll be listing them on Craigslist, but if anyone here is interested please let me know A.S.A.P.

The attached pictures don't do them much justice, so I'll add some more later. I'm looking to get $450 firm for them.

Regards,

Marcel

[lt_texan]

Marcel, good luck on the listing. I am REALLY enjoying mine. Interestingly, mine do not have the tweeter shield and are set up for bi-wiring.

Oh these speakers do sound good.

And I do not believe the 4 ohm rating.

I am using 8 ohm hookup with my push pull 6550 valve amp with no problem what so ever.

At Marcel's price, you can't go wrong with these.

[Guest marcjs]

lt_texan , thanks for the positive endorsement and for your post on the Type 1’s in general. I visit this forum very infrequently so apologies for the delay in my response.

I have had these speakers posted on an audiophile site called 'Audiogon' for the past month or so with some interest but I still have them. I am reluctant tp post on EBAY, but will consider it in the future as I have sold off a good portion of my speakers (Acoustats, Apogee, Carver) on Audiogon but not these Snells! It's a shame because they are such good-sounding speakers and very rare as well.

I will try to remember to post some pictures later.

[lt_texan]

(I started a new thread on this topic as not to bury it in here.)

I've taken my Snell Type 1's apart due to the fuse holder in one breaking. Great reason to rebuild the crossovers! I'll put the crossovers in remote boxes so they will not be in the speaker cabinet. From initial pictures, I knew they were a bit complex, but I had no idea until I took the loudspeaker apart. My Type 1's have bi-wired terminals.

I have traced out the crossovers.

On the woofer, I haven't figured out the switch wired from the inductors. It is labeled "Midrange Level" and has 3 positions with the center being "normal" and up being "increase 1" and down being "increase 2."

There sure a lot of capacitors. I priced out Hovland Music Caps as replacements at over $500 for the pair!

Let me know what you guys think about the crossovers.

Thanks,

Dan

[Carlspeak]

it_texan, were the BP caps ceramic disk types? I found those in some type A's I've worked on. They were rated in pico-farads,very low values.

[lt_texan]

Yes, the bypass caps are ceramic disks. I haven't dismounted the components yet and cannot see a code on the caps. They do look to be low values.

Dan