We have Big Speakers!
Perth Entertainment Centre was demolished in 2011, we removed their entire PA, all their drapes and a few truckloads of staging & rigging and lights. The old Concords speakers have been used more than a dozen times for gigs, and sound awesome. We scored all 12 which were originally ‘flying’ in stacks of three each above the PEC stage. I also have all the original Jands amp racks, I am willing to sell up to ten concords, although please note these weigh about 225kg each (they are on trolleys) so transport maybe be expensive. They are currently stored in Cowaramup & Busselton although can be delivered to Perth or anywhere in WA.
inside each cabinet:
1x JBL 2441 8 ohms driver & 2385A flare, titanium diaphragm
2x 12” JBL E120-8 8 ohms guitar loudspeaker 300w
2x 15” JBL 2225H 8 ohms subwoofer 400w
I believe they were manufactured in the 1960's but I'm constantly learning more of their history. I'm still in contact with PEC's (ex) manager so I can pass on any enquires onto him.
This listing is for the five speakers inside the cabinet, as pictured.
Please contact me if you are interested in the Jands amps (all fully serviced with original log books). I also have all the cabling and lots of antique PEC lights which are really cool!
The first pic here I found on this website: http://www.paulclose.iinet.net.au/Backstage%20&%20crew.htm
This really is a little piece of Perth history!
An email from Paul, ex-PEC employee:
Hello Jane,
The only pics are the ones on the PEC pages of my website. They were all taken with analogue cameras, no digital ones back then. I was there from approx 1983 to 2002, maybe a bit earlier. If there are other images, they would be on my old XP desktop which hasn't been booted up for ages due to the main disc getting very noisy. A sign of "I'm not well, call the pc priest".
The Concords weighed 225 kg with their travelling dollies on. They had to be laid on their sides to be flown or ground stacked, with the mid range to the inside from audience perspective. They were loaded with 2 x JBL 15"'s in a half W config, 2 x JBL12"'s that were horn loaded, and a single JBL 100watt rms hi frequency driver (2450 from memory) on a JBL flare (possibly a 2370) with a 2" exit I think. I think Warren and I reloaded the 12"'s with K130's. The 15"'s I can't remember.
There was a large capacitor as protection over the high frequency drivers for amp power up etc and general protection from signal or power spikes. Even though the amp's (J920's & J2000's) were wound down to zero after each show, transient power spikes could still get through occasionally, and that is what takes out high frequency drivers very quickly.
I can't remember the exact X-over points, but 2.5khz proved to rob power from the highs, so would suggest somewhere lower, around 2khz as a start point as 1.6khz tends to make them bark. I think the x-over point between lows and low mids was around 250hz.
With careful selection by trial of x-over points, the Concords can still sound very good, and they have a long throw, around 60 metres before some elements start to sag. Howard Page proved their sound quality on a Bee Gees tour. He was then VP of Showco (before Clair Bros bought them out) and could have had any system he wanted.
He put 24 Series 2 Concords a side into the Entertainment Centre, and as he had co-designed them, tuned them nicely and they sounded great everywhere in the auditorium!
I went up into the catwalks during showtime, and it sounded as good up there as it did on the floor.
Tuning them depends on the venue or room, as with any system, but it's getting the x-over points correct that help make all the difference. Other than that, they made me the fittest 55 year old ever when I left just before the venue closed!
Hope this has been of some help. I didn't take any photo's of shows (wish I had), or of the Concords being flown. We did have 2 x 440 kg fly bars, one per side hung on 2 x2 ton CM Lodestar chain motors each. The bars were originally designed to fly Clair S4 cabinets as well as the Concords.
I think the 15" speakers were 2220H's (8 ohms). Two per Concord but I can't remember the wiring configuration, might have been in parallel to give a 4ohm load to the amp or they could have been 2220J's (16ohms) wired in parallel to present 8 ohms to the amp (more likely).
We had 4 x Series 1 Concords on the top row of each flybar, then 4 x Series 2 Concords below them. 3 x J1000 amp's running the top row each side, and 3 x J920 amp's running the 2nd row each side. 2 x racks of 6 amp's running each side. Oh, and I think now the flares were JBL2385's, but it's 14 years ago now so I could be having oldtimers.... :-)
Best wishes,
Paul Close