Seeking information on some early hardware

Hey all, just curious if anyone has either seen before, or knows anything about theses two pieces of hardware ive been in possession for quite some time now.First is a set of what appear to be early-ish(1980’s) speakers with large golden type plaques on the magnet side, obviously made in England.Im after any information at all that anyone might have regarding these speakers, especially if youve used/had some before and your experiences with them.Ive never wired these up, but i am about to finally, as im interested in the response they have when mic’d up.

The second bit of hardware is what appears like a splitter/loop box, judging by the amount of jacks and what it looks like inside. It says listening station, so was this a early headphone splitter box? If so, should operate at line level yeah?
I was able to get abit of information on the Axiom 201’s on the internet, but almost nothing on this audio box.

Any information is appreciated, also just general audio conversation is just as good.

CHeers

Is that an AC power line coming into the side of that box? That thing looks dangerous!

Hey Ingolee, nah that cable goes to a male 1/4 and 3.5mm jack.I tried getting a signal through/out of it but got nothing eligible.

Its like some sort of splitter box where you would put in a signal and be able to route it out to multiple sources.

If anyone wants some more pictures to help figure out how to use it and what its function is, im more than happy to.

CHeers

That splitter box seems to sum L+R together into a mono signal. It looks like all the signals go to only one side until a plug is placed in the single jack at the front. Some type of attenuation is happening to the signals on the near side of jacks.

Might be good to prop up a sofa with a leg missing, but without active signal splitting, I wouldn’t use it.

Here is a pdf file on the speakers:
Goodmans-Axiom-Audiom-brochure.pdf (692.0 KB)

Hey thanks for the PDF on them speakers mate, ill have a squiz at that.I appreciate it.

Yeah you sound pretty on the ball with what you think that box does.Still kind of interested in attempting to get a signal through it in the way its meant to function, just to know.

But, for the most part, think its going to be a paperweight as you suggest.

CHeers for the replies JayGee.

Let us know what you find with the box, it sounds like a fun project. I’m just taking a guess based off of a photo and could be completely wrong.
If nothing else, you have a project box with lots of headphones jacks.

If you reckon you could figure out what it is with a few more photos, ill take some more, i might anyhow as i was going to include more photos of that box when i first did this post anyhow, but never did.I’ll come back with some more and we’ll try to figure out what it is.

No guarantee, but feel free to post a couple of additional photos.
Others on this site could also offer their input.

Pictures arent the best quality but you can see it clear enough.I did actually try to get a signal through it but all i got was a mid rangey hum, as if it would output a signal but i just didnt have it set up correctly.
Maybe some dry/bad solder joints, but its all clean in there and the solder points look fine from what i can see.Maybe its a bad mono 1/4 or 3.5mm jack possibly,

It definitely appears to me like some sort of audio(?) routing box, but what the fuck is it for, it has the sticker on the side :slight_smile:

BELL & HOWELL

LISTENING STATION DUAL 4 KR 8 MY

So its a listening box according to the sticker, and ive tried googling the shit out of them phrases but got nothing on this particular device.If its a listening box, im assuming its for either headphones or its just line level in/outs?

When i tried getting a signal through before i put a source jack into the “AUX INPUT” and “MASTER INPUT” separately then tried getting a signal out through the side jacks.Now that i think about it though, i think maybe even though its contradictory to the route path painted on the top, maybe i should be putting a in/out the 4 side jacks and out the other side.Hahahha, just dont want to pop anything.

What you reckon Jay?

All of those jacks are 1/4" mono and cannot carry a stereo signal. I’m pretty sure it’s been hacked for another purpose considering the weird combination of a mono 1/4" and 3.5mm jacks on the input connectors.

I’m guessing it was built many decades ago when stereo sources were rare and this was a passive version of a mono headphone splitter. Probably used in a school library setting to allow multiple students to listen to the same material.

The way it is wired would not allow it to work if both 1/4" and 3.5mm jacks are plugged in and it would also not work if either the 1/4" or 3.5mm jacks are only plugged in.

It could be a nice project box for another purpose, but since the jacks are all mono, I can’t see it be useful in a modern studio setting.

Damn your fucking good Jay.Hot god fucking damn dude!!! Your on fire man!!!

Everything you just said, makes absolute sense and a school listening box sounds about right to me.

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