Philips FB 825 Speakers - Anyone have info?

[bryanj]

I just picked up a pair of Philips FB 825 Speakers. I can find very little information on them. Anyone heard these or have info on them?

[dorokusai]

I would return them from whence they came.

[F1nut]

I would second the above comment.

[AudioFilet]

I would third that comment! Do it quickly!

[pearsall001]

I would try to find 3 more of them...then you would have a dynamite surround set-up. :eek:

[bryanj]

Hmm...really. Either we're talking about different speakers or my ears are bad but they really have a good sound to them. Very well made speaker. Not what I would have expected from Philips. These are not cheapo speakers. They have a ribbon tweeter 3 1/2" midrange and 2 8" woofers per speaker. Very well constructed hardwood cabinet. The imaging is very good and accurate. My normal speakers for listening are Polk SDA SRS 2's so it's not like I don't have a decent reference point. While these don't match up to those, they aren't bad. What don't you guys like about them?

[F1nut]

I have the utmost confidence that you'll figure it out as time goes by.

[honda cber]

http://www.mfbfreaks.nl/folders/1992/1/images/pag00.JPG
http://www.mfbfreaks.nl/html/digseries/1/index.html
a

[George Grand]

One of the items with the keyword "digital" or "digital ready" in the advertising.

My speakers play ones and zeros better than yours do.

[maximillian]

I only buy THx Ultra 2 Special Series 3 Ultimum certified speakers.

[zingo]

Yesterday I played the right combination of 1 and 0 through my speakers and a big green sphere appeared in front of me and let me time travel; and paradox free time travel to boot!

Hey bryanj, if you think they sound good, good. That's what matters. They are not revered speakers, but you like them. That's enough.

[bryanj]

LMAO!! Okay, while I don't read the language of the advertising, I get the hints. Thank you for the responses. I appreciate the input. Mainly I was just curious as to where they came from and if there was much info on them as I couldn't find squat. I guess the fact that nobody offers anything on them speaks loudly on opinion. I wish I could actually read what the advertising says as it seems to be rather insulting to you guys :) Yes, I get the digital part. I would ask though, have you guys heard these or is it just the advertising that you dislike so much? Thanks again for the input. I appreciate the humor and info. I've been picking up different speakers off Craigslist just to play with. It's always fun to hear different designs and experiment with stuff. So far though, no competition for the SRS 2's.

[George Grand]

The keywords "digital ready" in speaker or headphone advertising are not indicators of inferior product (unless the speaker has the initials Cerwin-Vega). A few companies with okay products and creative advertising departments used the term. Koss comes to mind as well.

During the first Gulf War I was doing something up at Pease AFB in New Hampshire, and stumbled upon a quasi hi-end shop that was closing cause the owners were divorcing. There were some good deals to be had. I picked up a small passive Parasound sub that I still have, but balked on a pair of the small Polk speakers that already had surround onboard, all you had to do was hook them to the "B" terminals of a receiver or amp. S-400 was the model I think and I could've had them for $50 but I balked. Anyhow, one of the pilots asked me about speakers and the only thing he would go for was an okay sounding pair of Phillips. Cabinets were rock solid. It had a single 8" woof with a mid and tweet but I'm fairly certain it wasn't a ribbon. He bought those and I wouldn't be surprised if they were part of that Phillips line at the time. They looked an awful lot like the ones you posted.

[mhardy6647]

Philips made some dang fine OEM drivers over the years. Sometimes they even put them into speaker systems.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mhardy6647/philbro10.jpg

... some pretty nice hifi components, too...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mhardy6647/philbro19.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mhardy6647/philbro18.jpg

[bryanj]

Thanks for the responses. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Maybe I'll do some experimenting with the components in these. Heck, I might accidentally learn something...

[F1nut]

I guarantee you'll learn one thing if you stick around here. Mhardy is stuck in a time warp. :eek:

Philips has a hard time making a simple transport, 'nuff said.

[Keiko]

I guarantee you'll learn one thing if you stick around here. Mhardy is stuck in a time warp. :eek:


LMAO! :D

[mhardy6647]

I'll have you know that I have recently bought a brand spanking new turntable :-)
(also an extremely tarted-up version of a cheap Chinese DAC)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/mhardy6647/DSCN5304.jpg

[heiney9]

Mhardy is stuck in a time warp. :eek:

Yes, he's a vintage gear guy. I am not so much interested owning anything from that era, but I always enjoy his photo's and input. Brings back a lot of memories when I was a kid creating my wish list(s).

I am almost positive the speakers the OP has are made entirely by someone else for Phillips. Who that is I don't know.

[George Grand]

Well OF COURSE I still have a lot of vinyl still laying around. I'm excited and honored that you asked Mark.

[mhardy6647]

My daughter was home last weekend. I showed her the new tt and she really liked its esthetics... but she further commented that she liked the "iPod-influence" of its style.

[mightymouse]

Those look like some really nice speakers.

It all comes down to your ears. If you like them, then they are the right speakers for you. End of discussion.

I don't understand the mentality of bashing mainstream electronics manufacturers. You know, within audio circles, Polk is also considered a mainstream speaker manufacturer (although more chic than the likes of Philips, Yamaha, etc.), and people also bash Polks for no other reason than it is a mainstream company.


The big electronics manufacturers such as Philips, Yamaha, Denon, Sony, Pioneer, etc. all made some really fantastic speakers and amps in years past. For whatever reason, they decided that the money was in more mass market consumer grade stuff. So they stepped out of the high end market for a while. I am glad that at least some of them are getting back into the game. If you get a chance, also take a look at Pioneer's site, Pioneer seems to be bringing out a new line of very high end audio components, including some really good speakers.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AudioComponents/Hi-FiAudio
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/Speakers/TAD-HomeSpeakers/ci.Reference+One.Kuro

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3424/414992349ex2_eprint.pdf

[schwarcw]

My daughter was home last weekend. I showed her the new tt and she really liked its esthetics... but she further commented that she liked the "iPod-influence" of its style.

Mark,

Didn't you fix her up with a spiffy tube amp when she went off to school? I thought I remembered a post saying as much.

[schwarcw]

The big electronics manufacturers such as Philips, Yamaha, Denon, Sony, Pioneer, etc. all made some really fantastic speakers and amps in years past. For whatever reason, they decided that the money was in more mass market consumer grade stuff. So they stepped out of the high end market for a while. I am glad that at least some of them are getting back into the game. If you get a chance, also take a look at Pioneer's site, Pioneer seems to be bringing out a new line of very high end audio components, including some really good speakers.




Don't forget Marantz! They have been steadily moving up with some high end audio componets for quite a while now. Their Reference Series looks like serious stuff. I'd love the opportunity to hear these first hand.

Carl

[mightymouse]

I've been keeping an eye on the Marantz reference series stuff as well. Those amps look seriously beefy and very pretty with that gold trim.

But where can you find them?

[mhardy6647]

Mark,

Didn't you fix her up with a spiffy tube amp when she went off to school? I thought I remembered a post saying as much.

She used the S-5 "K-12" amp for a few years in college. She's now using an hk 680i given to me by a coworker :-)

Our son used the K-12 amp last year, but wanted to go the ss route this year, too.

At the moment, the K-12 is on loan to the fellow who bought my Cornwalls. The amp sounds far better on them than it has a right to for its price.

[BaggedLancer]

Mhardy is stuck in a time warp. :eek:


I second this statement, with all these advertisements and news articles he keeps posting I'm wondering what year he is stuck in? Those ads haven't been around in 20-30 years.

[mhardy6647]

Well, in my day job I run a state of the art high-throughput analytics laboratory... I figure I earn being stuck, and quite happily so, in a hi-fi time warp for a hobby.

[avguytx]

I like the older stuff, too. 2 of my favorite pairs of speakers to listen to are my Altec Lansinc Milano's (like Valencia's) on a rebuilt Magnavox tube amp and my Klipsch Heresy's in my office on the (late 70's) Sansui AU-11000a. The only newer gear I own is my home theater stuff. Nothing against the newer things especially since I have access to almost anything out there at cost. It's just a fun hobby to have and there are worse things I could spend my money on. :D

[mhardy6647]

The only thing I have against new stuff that's good is how much it costs.

[TroyD]

Philips did make some good drivers, the 4" midrange that the DQ-10 was famed for was a Philips driver.



BDT

[Fongolio]

We can all laugh at Philips stuff now but they were instumental in the development of the cassette tape system and the compact disk. Here's a little history lesson from Wikipedia

[edit] History
The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs 'and other electro technical equipment'. Its first factory remains as a museum. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name). Also on March 11th, 1927 Philips went on the air with a station called PCJ now known as Radio Netherlands. It was broadcast to the Dutch East Indies. The host of the first broadcast was Eddy Startz and from 1927 until he retired in 1969 hosted a show called Happy Station. The only time the station went off air was when the Nazi's invaded Holland. At the end of the war PCJ changed its name to Radio Netherlands and has been broadcasting to this day


[edit] World War II
On May 9, 1940, the Philips directors were informed about the German invasion of the Netherlands to take place on May 10. They decided to leave the country and flee to the United States, taking a large amount of the company capital with them. Operating from the US as the North American Philips Company, they managed to run the company throughout the war. At the same time, the company itself was moved to the Netherlands Antilles (just on paper) to keep it out of German hands.

It is also believed that Philips - both before and during the war - supplied enormous amounts of electric equipment to the German occupation forces, which has led some people to think that the company collaborated with the Nazis, like many other firms in their day. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Philips itself or its management ever sympathized with the Nazis or their ideologies. The only Philips family member who did not leave the country, Frits Philips, saved the lives of 382 Jews by indicating to the Nazis that they were indispensable for the production process at Philips[3]. In 1996, he was awarded the Yad Vashem reward by the Israeli ambassador for his actions. There is little Philips could have done to prevent the Germans from abusing their production facilities and forcing their employees to perform slave labor during the occupation. The production facility in Eindhoven was the only Dutch industrial target that was deliberately bombed by the allied forces during the war.


[edit] Postwar era
After the war the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in Eindhoven. Many secret research facilities had been locked and successfully hidden from the invaders, which allowed the company to get up to speed again quickly after the war.

Philips introduced the compact audio cassette tape in 1963 and was wildly successful, though its attempt to set a standard for video cassette recorders, the V2000, was unsuccessful in the face of competition from the Betamax and especially VHS standards. It had introduced a video cassette recorder system in the early 1970's, the N1500 could record/play for about 30 minutes while the N1700 extended this to over 1 hour.

In 1982, Philips developed the Compact Disc in partnership with Sony.

In 1991, the company's name was changed from N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken to Philips Electronics N.V. At the same time, North American Philips was formally dissolved, and a new corporate division was formed in the U.S. with the name Philips Electronics North America Corp.

In 1997 the decision was made to move the headquarters from Eindhoven to Amsterdam, along with the corporate name change to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. The move was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the Rembrandt tower, but in 2002 they moved again, this time to the Breitner tower. In a sense, the move to Amsterdam can be considered a return to the company's roots, because Gerard Philips lived in Amsterdam when he came up with the idea of building a light bulb factory. He also conducted his first experiments in the field of mass production of light bulbs there, together with Jan Reesse. Philips Lighting, Philips Research, Philips Semiconductors (spun off as NXP in September 2006) and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, United States (since moving from Best, Netherlands in 2002).