Fried A/2 Loudspeakers

[Reverend]

I was back in the Lancaster area for the holidays and was looking at Criag's List there which had some pretty good stuff pop up.  There was an Aragon pre, a funky Marantz preamp and a few other things.  I came across a pair of speakers listed called "Fried A/2 Loudspeakers" for $40.  The name rang a bell and sure enough after some research I found it was a company based out of Philadelphia by Bud Fried who was the same man to first distribute Quad spakers in the US.  Not alot of history but pretty interesting read:  http://www.friedproducts.com/history.html

I could not find anything on the model but the rest were crazy hand built with interesting drivers (they appear to be spun aluminum like bozak/n.e.a.r.)  Correction, the woofers are made of a plastic material.  Of course I picked them up.  They also came with the orignal boxes.  The woofer surrounds will need to be replaced but i'm going to give them a slight test in a little while.

[rgpit]

Irving M Fried (aka Bud Fried) was also the founder of the IMF loudspeaker company. They were  known for their transmission line based designs and used KEF drivers.

[Reverend]

Gave them a listen tonight, they sound really incredible.  I look forward to getting the surrounds squared away and giving these a real listen.

[MacGeek]

I found a listing for the Fried Products A/2 loudspeaker in the Audio Magazine 10/1982 equipment directory.  The enclosure type is listed as "Line Tun." with no definition of what that means.  8" woofer and a 1" dome tweeter.  Frequency response as 50-18, +/- 3 with 89 db sensitivity at 1 watt/meter.  Minimumm recommended amp power is 25 watts.  The crossover is at 1.6 khz; impedance is 8 ohms nominal and 6 minimum  They listed for $350/pair.

By the 1985 issue they were no longer listed.  Not sure about earlier years.

[Reverend]

Thanks for the info.  There is a lower baffle that is plugged with foam.  One thing I read said that removing the foam partially or completely changes the bass response.  Maybe this is what they considered "line tune".

[MacGeek]

Using or pulling the foam plug should make a difference, but only your ears can decide if it's better or worse.  Couple that with room placemant alternatives and you might be able to kill of few days tinkering with the options.  Add a few adult beverages and.......

[Reverend]

Tom finished the surrounds on the woofers and we hooked them up at the shop on Saturday.  We first had them hooked up to a DODD and cheated by using a Sunfire.  There were two guys I hadn't met before that stood there amazed at the amount of bass coming out of them.     They kept asking how much, how much.  We couldn't keep a straight face and finally admitted to the ruse.   Later we hooked them up the the 305's and man they sounded good.  Very surprising low end, good mid and a really nice precise high.  Nice little speakers.

[TNRabbit]

When I saw the title, I thought you have fried a pair of speakers....LOL~

[Reverend]

No, they have fuse blocks.  We found that out on Saturday.