Speaker Cross-Over & Light Modification

OK, Seeburg V is up and playing. The speaker wiring harness was a mess of wires spliced, twisted and taped with masking tape. I made a nice "quickie" one with all speakers in parallel and ignored the cross-over for testing. It sounds so good, to my not so good hearing, the thought has crossed my mind to leave the cross-over out. Bad idea? I think the cross-over box used to have a small label on it but it is gone. I'll see if I can figure out what goes where, from the schematic, if I use the cross-over network.

The fluorescent light bar, above the title drum and below the mechanism, that has the red "200 Selection" glass in it had a 20 watt tube which is much shorter than the factory 25 watt lamp. Someone made metal extensions to move the lamp holders closer together to accommodate the shorter light tube. I cannot imagine why that was done. I would have left it except it was a messy affair and I found the deign of the new (expensive 3D) mechanism cover emblem is such that it bumps into those fabricated metal extensions. I wonder why someone went through all the trouble to make it possible to use a shorter fluorescent tube? The F25T12's (33") are still around but you do have to look for them as well for the ballasts and starters.

Thank You! David (Geritol Ghetto)

Please note that I reversed the proper connections of the red and Green wires. I just looked at a pic of the K on location and noticed this mistake.

David, a crossover is necessary here. Right now you are feeding bass into the 8" speakers which aren't designed to handle it and what treble there is into the 12" which is outside of their range. You also now have a 4 Ohm load on an amp designed for 8 Ohm.

The original crossover terminals look like this: http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Rob-N ... rt=2&o=180

Connections are:
Blue: From wattage switch. this is the 'high side".
Black: Chassis ground. The speaker return.
Red: Woofer high side. ----Correction
Green: Tweeter high side. "'

-Both tweets and woofs return to the black terminal. Looking at the speakers with terminals at the top, the high side is the left terminal.

For the 25W T12 lamps I suggest buying at least a half-dozen for home use. These are used in beverage display and vending machines which are converting to LED's in custom panels. I don't know how long the fluorescent type will be available nor if there will ever be an LED drop-in. I ordered two cases early last year (60 lamps) for the Seeburgs I have on location.

Rob-NYC

Rob,
Thank You Very Much!! The progress on this machine would have been completely impossible without people like you! I know I am a "rank amateur" and it is nice to have smart people, like you and Ron willing to share their knowledge.

I will get that crossover in. Now I can surely get it wired properly. Since I have a few jukeboxes with the 25 watt tube I will buy some extra flourescent tubes. I could not find a 25 watt ballast local but did buy one off the internet. I always change the old ones. I had an old 25 watt starter but those guys seem scarce too. I better get a few starters and another spare 25 watt ballast or two.

Let's see if I can get this crossover wired up right! Thanks again for all the help that is so appreciated!!
David

Rob,
Thanks! I'll switch the red/green wires this morning. Wire harness came out fine. I tested the system with a external sound source and it sounded very good (to me). We'll give the jukebox a test in a couple of hours so the neighbors don't get angry. I like them really loud (the jukeboxes, not the neighbors). Thanks!!

I found Home Depot has the 25 watt fluorescent starters so I got a few spares. They are the same ones that work in a 22 watt circle-line bulb. Sounds like a good time to get a couple of extra 20 and 25 watt ballasts also and I'll order a half dozen of the T12 /25 watt bulbs since we have 7 machines that use them. Seems like the T12's will be gone in any size someday.

David (Geritol Ghetto)

Hi David,
Be sure the starters you purchase are marked for the correct wattage and marked "condenser"---Starter mfg's never "standardized" the markings on them--some marked "FS-2" will also be marked as 25 watt starters. Others will be marked "FS-25". Today, you can also find "universal" starters that are supposed to work on anything from 14-40 watt lamps --don't believe it, as I have found cases where the "U's" ( some companies mark them with an "S-10") do NOT work, or just work for a very short time. Ron Rich

I switched the speaker wiring. Even I, tone deaf and all, have to admit this just might be the best sounding Seeburg we have. It made a big difference! Anna is very happy, me too!

Oh, Oh, the starters I bought are not marked condenser. I did try a couple out and they worked. I'll see if I can find any with the condenser marking. I saw those universal starters and thought they probably would not be a good thing to use.

Once at the Fun Fair someone had a machine that, I think, hard to remember) had a blinking fluorescent. We were sharing a booth with a friend who had been a repairman forever, even through WWII. He went over and offered his help. He took that old starter out, opened it up, and snipped off the condenser and no more blinking (or whatever the problem was). Impressed the heck of of Anna and I.
I had an ABT gun game. Someone at the Fun Fair had a whole tub of the old pistol parts for the ABT. Mine was lousy and I had taken it apart and was having trouble getting it together. Our friend went over, bought all the parts he needed and in about 4- 5 minutes I had the best working ABT pistol one could have.

There are no 25 watt fluorescents that I can find locally. I have bought some stuff from a company (not sure if I can mention the name here) with good results. I can get about six 25 watt-33" for $50.00 (free shipping if bulb order is greater than $50). I am still working on getting a couple extra 25 watt ballasts. I'll get several spare 20 watt ballast for the old Wurlitzers and others too. I imagine they'll be at my estate sale, here in the Ghetto, but I hate running out of HTF parts. Thanks everyone! (Again)
David (Geritol Ghetto)

Hi David, and all,
You are always welcome to add to the above "Parts--new-used-where to find". Please add your lamp source, to that post !
Ron Rich