pair of FANE Crescendo 1973-advice please?

[tipperdavey]

Hi all,

I've registered specifically to ask advice on the best outlet to offload a pair of what look to be 12" FANE loudspeakers...they are currently in very old scuffed cabinets.
Labels inside them indicate they are 100W 16ohm Fane Crescendo - Model No. Cres 123|15BL, Date 46/73. Cones even look to be in reasonable condition.

I am based in Manchester, UK - here are some awful cellphone pics:-






I get the feeling they might be worth more outside the cabinets, and certainly easier to ship Tweeters are mounted in a very curious skew whiff fashion, I thought they had been kicked in or something so I opened up the cabs to take a look and that's when I realised the speakers seemed to be something special, so I googled and ended up here on the vintagehiwatt forum

What is the market like for these at the moment, going rate? Are they more popular in the U.S. or U.K.? I don't have a vintage amp to match them.

Any tips and advice greatly appreciated. Apologies if this type of post isn't allowed!

Cheers J

[louis]

Dont Worry !

This is a very friendly place !

I dont think that Dave ,Doc or Mark will kick you out because
you registered for asking one question !

From this first question ,you'll become an addict!!

Louis

[tipperdavey]

Well Louis, I'm already wondering if I should be trying to get rid of such fine speakers, judging by the enthusiasm for them on here

I just wonder if all early 70's Fanes are sought after as my model numbers seem to be incomplete...i.e. cres 123... rather than a 6 figure number.

[louis]

I have the feeling that one of the Guru here will pop up soon !!

Answering all of your questions !..I can feel it!!


Louis

[OldSchoolDave]

I dont think that Dave ,Doc or Mark will kick you out because
you registered for asking one question !

Certainly not !

@tipperdavey - I wish I knew more about this model. Fane seemed to use a different model designation whenever the winds changed. The big uproar is over the 12" guitar Crescendos used by David Gilmour and I'm not certain yours are those. Are they, indeed, 12" speakers? The "15BL" has me wondering if they might be 15" bass models?

If the cabinet isn't too heavy, that might be the safest way to ship those monsters. The Crescendo magnets are so heavy that they can crack the cast frames if jolted in transit . If it were me, I'd screw a protective layer of plywood over the front and then completely seal the back with heavy poly and spray in some foam insulation (the minimally expansive kind, so it doesn't push against the cones). The idea would be to keep the magnets from moving at all when the courier drop kicks it across the new owner's threshold.

Better pics would help. And, please verify the speaker diameter.

Dave

[tipperdavey]

Hi Dave / Louis

thanks for the warm welcome

Just to show off my noob credentials - I measured across the front of the speaker grill diameter, where I can see the cone, which looks to be 12"...I don't think a 15" speaker would actually fit in these cabinets, they're too slim. I will take a scale pic with the tape measure showing.

I just screwed the backs of the cabs back on (a LOT of screws!), I will try to take some clearer pics tomorrow when there is more daylight available. What do I need photographs of specifically?

I notice a couple of bumps in the same place on both cones, near the centre...the cabinets are really shabby looking things, almost look homemade.

I was hoping there might be someone near me who may be interested in them, once we've identified exactly what they are

John

[OldSchoolDave]

I was hoping there might be someone near me who may be interested in them, once we've identified exactly what they are

There may well be, John. We just need to figure out what we're dealing with.

If you can, look around the back sides of the cones for white numbering/lettering. On Fanes, these can be toward the skinny end, near the voice coil. Something like this (though your numbers will likely be different):

Cone_code_01.jpg (57.91 KiB) Viewed 3645 times

If you can get clear, well lit photos of both the front and back sides of both speakers, it would help verify condition.

regards,
Dave

[tipperdavey]

will do thanks Dave...I intend to open them up again tomorrow (later today even!), and photograph them with my good camera The speaker grills are held on by cable cleats, all looks very Heath Robinson, I'm sure more substantial covers have been glued to these cabs in the past, but all that remains are the gluespots on the wood

I guess it might be worth my while to carefully unmount them so I can take proper photographs if I can't see the cone numbering. Hopefully they are the Gilmour specials...fingers crossed...

watch this space!

John

[Dr.HI-TONE]

Gilmour's Faves are the 20,000 Gauss Crescendo "A"

These look like the "B"

[tipperdavey]

ahh...hopefully someone will still want them once I put the clearer pics up though Doc

[tipperdavey]

ok folks (and Fane fans!), more pics here...both cones, look like 12" to me. Annoyingly, the cone numbers are being chopped off on my over large pics...for the record the number on both cones is '016 001'








hopefully there is enough here to ascertain exact model and condition, and, dare I say, value? .

I can email the pics direct to anyone who is curious. It's 3am now though and time I went to bed...look forward to reading more tomorrow.

John

[OldSchoolDave]

MUCH better pics - thanks for going to the trouble.

I'm with Dr.Hiwatt in saying that yours are Crescendo B models. The "Gilmour-approved" Crescendo A's have larger magnets and aluminum dust covers. Still, yours bear original cones and should be of interest to someone wanting big, clear sound.

Get some sleep!

Dave

[tipperdavey]

Thanks Dave / Doc...I'll wait for the stampede

I wonder what is going on with the odd serial number.

They haven't been gigged in probably twenty years but I must admit I have no reliable way of testing these because I don't have an amp to match them properly so I haven't had great results from them - but then again I'm probably not the person who can utilise them to their best effect - the cones do seem original and not torn or split, inside the cabs is fairly dust free too.