Allen HC-15 speakers on eBay

[don60]

Ten (10) Allen HC-15U speakers are available on eBay, starting bid $125 each:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Allen-Organ-Company-HC-15-U-3-way-speaker-/330488113036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf2a0678c

[DellAnderson]

Nice catch - I didn't notice that there were 10 of them! Wow! If it weren't for the shipping, I could add an amp and 8 more speakers and just about hear the organ a mile away!

[Barry]

I've installed Hauptwerk on our old Rodgers at church. We're currently using the Milan Digital Audio E.M. Skinner (dry) and the old Rodgers amps and speakers with all the 6x9" speakers. Would the Allens be a good choice for an upgrade. Would they nicely fill a 200 seat sanctuary? I'm still trying to figure out what would be best in our situation.

[don60]

The HC-15 is a wonderful cabinet, still in current production. Four to eight of them (depending on the number of channels you are using) would definitely fill a 200-seat room and would put the Rodgers speakers to shame. Although they are a little weak at the bottom end, they still have a decent response down to 16 Hz and would work well on 32' stops. For even better bottom-end response, find an Allen B-40 or B-20 subwoofer and put it on a dedicated subwoofer channel.

I recently noticed on a high-fidelity forum that audiophiles are discovering the HC-15s and HC-14s (the veneered versions) as stereo speakers, too. I can verify from listening to organ and other recordings on mine that they are just as nice in reproducing recorded material as they are on "live" organ music.

The seller mentioned above has reduced the starting bid to $100 because he found deterioration of the mid-range surrounds. This is not a big deal--the speakers can be used as is for quite a while or repaired at very reasonable cost.

[DellAnderson]

I would have to second don60's comments about the need for B-40 or other subwoofer for 32 foot stops (the B-40 adds significant body and 'room shake' to the 32's), but the HC-15's would be more than adequate for the keyboard stops in a church of 200, although you probably want at least 4 of them and a decent amplifier. Reading the Hauptwerk docs, it appears that the sky is the limit with regard to amplifier channels and speakers, and from everything I have heard, more is better, and this goes for my own organ at home as well (where I have 8 HC-15's and one B-40, just in case the HC-15's are not enough!). I can only turn my amps up to 3-4 (except for the bass which I think is another issue altogether).