EMI 'thirteen and a half by eight' were elliptical speakers unpopular in the USA.  Sound waves are round not elliptical!  Made in England by KEF, rarer everywhere than hen's teeth, DECCA did a 'me too' in hammered blue finish like the green below, DECCA was the record label of The Rolling Stones, arch rival to EMI of The Beatles!  When England forgot Hi-Fi ellipticals she didn't want reminded by Yamaha's new near elliptical, see the NS-15 'Natural Sound Speaker', from the same family of 'ear shaped' made to voice Yamaha Concert Grand Pianos like no other.  - 'Hi-Fi News' said everything else was distorted through them and gave Yamaha their 'Golden Turkey Award!'

Note:  Empty box cabinets improve by adding acoustic wadding, but not GF yellow Loft insulation, it only suits certain speakers, though claimed to be the best bass absorber and so ideal, it simply don't suit all speakers!  White GF and recycled 'chopped clothing' are the better wadding for EMI 13 x 8.  Car type sound deadening brown wadding is the type used in the B&W P2H below, scarce though?  Note that carpet underlay, cushion foam, car subwoofer felt etc are used by hobbyists experimenting.  Back of baffle speaker mount boxes may be converted to front of baffle for wider dispersion.  

'Old B&W' P2H dual enclosure with EMI 13 x 8 and Fane Ionic tweeter!

B&W P2H (H for Hi-Flux magnet) is a bass reflex with Fane Ionic HF unit!  See Google Image DuKane Ionovac.  The woofer box was heavy duty braced and heavily damped and the long port seen at the bottom of the baffle requires a bigger magnet than a sealed box.  Ports are often located much nearer the woofer driver but these were early days!  REALISTIC brought ultrasonic 50KHz speakers to a majority in the 1980s, but ionic tweeters of 1960s B&Ws were esoteric, as were bass reflex port pipes!  So EMI speakers are connected with the real Hi-End Audio pioneers and the DuKane tweeter's Tesla technology is off the wall for most amateurs hoping to get something from an Ebay guide!  But EMI 13 x 8 were much more than a large elliptical speaker, they were awesome Hi-End drivers.  DuKane's own Hi-End bass unit looks none too impressive either, a stamped steel basket, ported to the tweeter horn unit, seems to use a much smaller light beam for the horn throat than available today in the Youtube video 'Plasma Speaker/Tweeter completed working setup.'

***************************************Youtube videos of EMI speakers

HACKER LS1000 page top:  "EMI speaker 13 by 8 oval elliptical bass mid woofer" keplermission

EMI 319 13 x 8 woofer and single tweeter: "EMI loudspeaker speaker Movie" keplermission

92390FY green basket with Twin tweeters:  "Some old speakers with a difference"  AG3304

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Note the 92390FY with Twin tweeters would appear to be 'using up' 92390BN spare parts in the late green basket version, lacking the quality aluminum center of the 1960s bronze basket, but having the heavy pulp cone of the 70s EMI 150 as will be noted in the youtube AG3304 video!  92390BN are lower powered 13 x 8 but this 1960s driver is likely to be worth trying for single-end tube audio! 

Note green basket EMI 319 in the video has a P.V.C. corrugated edge while a later green basket version has the same tweeter with a roll edge!  Some bronze basket 319 have unpainted cork gaskets and some have yellow elliptical cones.  The 350 has a roll edge but not the 319 tweeter, EMI have 'used the old 319 tweeter' in a late roll edge green basket version, so tweeter timing and effects may be inferior to the original corrugated P.V.C. edge 319!  True 319 may be sought for comparison.  The large 350 magnet is not painted in the final 20 watt roll edge 350 with special tweeter, these impressive looking EMI 13 x 8 drivers are not usually seen on Ebay! :(

Alnico Vintage Console  Motorola  Magnavox  Blaupunkt High Fidelity Stereo console

Silver or electroplate color basket 13 x 8 are early 1960s, bronze color 13 x 8 are mid to late 1960s, green color 13 x 8 basket are early 1970s.  The last 4-ohm 350 13 x 8 magnets are not painted.  The EMI 450 13 x 8 models have no 'EMI' magnet sticker, neither do some 1960s EMI 14 x 9 with silver color stamped steel basket.  1970s 14 x 9 have a green EMI sticker on the cast basket.  1970s EMI 319 and 1960s 13 x 8 have some form of 'EMI' magnet label, some AlNiCo cube magnets lack the red labels.  EMI 901, 19 x 14 inch have no EMI label on some green basket versions but the 901 series dates to the mid 1960s.

IMPEDANCE Ohms models:  3,  4,  8 and 15 available, check your amplifier's specifications!

Clairtone 601 the "Empress" stereo console is said to have EMI woofers and tweeters

EMI speakers of the 1960s came before Loudness switches on amplifiers.  The speakers boost up bass and treble making 'receivers and amplifiers sound better.'  This makes the sound more colored but more pleasant as many tube amplifiers lack bass.  Tubes EL 34 and KT 66 often have a better bass.

70s EMI 319 13 x 8 green basket have white stick on dot and 60s bronze basket have orange stick-on dot, both with wide corrugated P.V.C. edge, medium ceramic magnet 13 x 8 inch EMI bass/mid, aluminium/cardboard double cone, ceramic magnet paper cone tweeter secured by four screw head bolts and nuts that rust, strapped across in coaxial 'point source' style, black for 'on baffle' or natural cork gasket when mounted on back of the baffle in compact 'closed box' enclosures, strong bass, good treble, EMI 319 even have a tube-like sound with Solid State, it's a strange tube like sound, but needs either tube amplifiers or very simple Solid State designs to give truly spacious sound, 319 are excellent and very sensitive at 8-ohm load!  20 watt 450 are much less sensitive needing a powerful tube amplifier, but sound impressive.

EMI 150, note how magnet weight varies with power handling

The 150 is the only 'FULL RANGE' E.M.I. 13 x 8, a 6 watt corrugated paper edge with 'whizzer cone' instead of a tweeter (choice of impedances) and heavy paper pulp light gray/blue color bass cone, a green hammered 1970s finish steel basket, the tiny ceramic magnet is for 'open back' speakers.  These also suit 'open baffle'.  The 'open baffle' is popular in New York, just a large board mounted firmly vertical.  Corrugated paper edge suits 'open baffle' but the P.V.C. edge need sealed enclosures, except the special bass port reflex 14 x 9.

EMI 14 x 9, note these drivers have a raised part in the dust cap

EMI 205, USA enclosure.  25 watt (50w USA) 14 x 9 elliptical driver with aluminum middle range cone radiator, tinplate dustcap has a 'bump' and can further be distinguished from the 13 x 8 cast chassis as the 14 x 9 is painted dark slate grey and the cast basket 13 x 8 is EMI green. 14 x 9 has a fibreglass reinforced cardboard cone, response down to true 20Hz and is highly valued by owners - they prefer to sell at high starting bids and don't repeat the listing in not receiving any bids!  Similar proprietary heavier cone bass reflex ported box version is seen in the English Monitor Audio MA3 MkII, the 14 x 9 in mirror image pairs but the above 'standard model' is for 'sealed box' acoustic suspension so with a lighter cone.  EMI 14 x 9 were 'used up' as twin driver sub woofers as unpopular bargain 'off the shelf' speaker chassis, being mercilessly revealing of flawed sound from typical, 'bargain buy' budget lists of equipment!  People don't readily understand the price of Hi-End or the quality issue but E.M.I. 14 x 9 are 'Bargain' Hi-End!  The Wharfedale and similar speakers are not 'neutral' but tone colored to enhance cheaper electronics.

The cast chassis of EMI 14 x 9, note on-board '319 and 350-style' crossover!

The EMI 14 x 9 has a cast basket like the 901 and rarer disco 50 watt 13 x 8 cast basket, the 50 watt disco 13 x 8 are so rare, you may just about never see one ever!  50 watt 13 x 8 have a green basket like the 901, 14 x 9 are dark brown, 50w (100w USA) 13 x 8 appear better-engineered for disco service!  EMI 319 on-board crossover has a coil wound around the condenser below the orange sleeve, bigger in size on the early 319 than the roll edge green basket version.

The P.V.C. 'roll edge' cone of 1970s EMI 350 and 450 13 x 8 drivers

 GOLDIE DUCK ON 'THE PERILS OF PERFECTION'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The 1965 Scope Electronics advert makes extraordinary claims for the EMI DLS529, flying in the face of speakers like Goodmans, Altec and Tannoy - can they be serious?  If they were serious in 1965, E.M.I. speakers were partnered with superb vintage amplifiers and sources remaining in use to this day, but the E.M.I. speakers are known to English esoterics as a 'rejected Hi-End speaker' belonging to the still sought after E.M.I. tube audiophile mono block amplifiers!  The DECCA London Ribbon suffered a similar fate, speakers less easily upgraded with new technologies than electronics! 

Scope Electronics 'Blame EMI Model DLS 529's astonishing sensitivity.  The fantastic transient response of this speaker will mercilessly reveal flaws in any defective or outmoded equipment used with it.

Goldie Duck - The 319 are sensitive and the 450 much less sensitive as 450 models have heavier glass fiber cones taken to the extreme in the 14 x 9 in the Monitor Audio MA3 and ribbon tweeter B&W P2 giving a natural quality like electrostatics with better bass, but higher power rating suits only 'powerful' tube amplifiers like harman/kardon Citation II, EL34 Radford and Eastern Electric M520.  Lesser amplifiers and sources simply don't sound good, so sell EMIs on Ebay or upgrade, if they don't seem to suit your present equipment and you're happy with it!

Scope Electronics 'Or be grateful for the pure perfection of ability to reproduce what program material is fed into it.  For this means music and voice with live 'presence'.

Goldie Duck - the aluminum center cone is what gives the 'presence', the disco chassis drivers of the 1970s often had an aluminum 'presence' dome, but the aluminum 'presence' cone, is just so much harder to manufacture.  Some folks have gotten the idea that the metal center cone is to resist cone buckling but it is really to give voice to the speaker and with over excursion this thin metal will just be dented.

Scope Electronics 'Credit the DLS-529 woofer's unique aluminum center cone with its highly compliant Poly-Vinyl Chloride (PVC) "memory suspension".  The two high frequency units with critically curved diaphragms.  The exclusive woven metal grille for clean sound dispersion.'

Goldie Duck - Okay so what's a "memory suspension?"  Well the idea was that the suspension ought to damp out any spurious vibration or ringing from a previous cycle.  Note that suspensions at this time were either paper or cloth, some rubberized, the idea of using PVC was novel.

The corrugated edge 92390BN 13 x 8, EMI plastic cone tweeters  

The plastic cone EMI tweeter seems good but is only 10 watts and melts in the sun, left in the sun from a window it will gladly turn into something resembling a bit of tar but on the sound, the jury is still out!  Some specialists suggest the mylar look tweeter is 'Low Fidelity'.  The co-axial version lacks the big clamp AlNiCo, a small knob size AlNiCo suits the cone.  In the 70s the green basket 319 ceramic tweeter magnet gets the same green paint, completing the awesome looks of this co-axial driver, one of the best for Student Bedsit enclosure use.  (University).  The aluminum center cone and co-axial tweeter give good sideways sound without an enclosure, the 319 was often thus spied on university campuses.

Black cork gaskets suggesting late 1960s 'front of baffle mount' is intended, the 92390BN twin E.M.I. plastic tweeter is the corrugated paper suspension 13 x 8 noted for good bass.  It has an aluminum center cone and small fabric dust cap.  The Lo-Fi version with a single plastic cone tweeter or twin parallel wired plastic tweeters, paper edge and 1970s green basket, is 92390FY with no aluminum center, but a cork not plastic foam gasket.  92390FY also have the heavy pulp cone of the 'Lo-Fi' EMI 13 x 8, although these speakers are rated very highly by owners.  'Lo-Fi' means Low Fidelity.  -Lower than the metal center cone 13 x 8.  Note the single screw at each side of the 92390BN model tweeter panel and the tweeter wires going through another hole, compared to the 319 and 350's four tweeter screws and steel strip support.  Real 450 20 watt Bass and 150 offers have no gasket holes for tweeters.  Tiny ceramic magnet for 'open back' box.  The open back can take the form of a 4x4 inch cutout in an enclosure base, the speaker air loaded by the room rather than by sealed cabinet 'acoustic suspension' or air pressure.  EMI roll edge suspension green basket 13 x 8 is 92390DD in a 15-ohm voice coil, 1972 year.

Scope Electronics 'results in a performance of wide range and smoothness with limpid sound that floats in the air and leaves no clue to the actual size or location of the loudspeakers, the whole room seems to play.'

Goldie Duck - What are they saying here?  Limpid means clear or transparent - due largely to the aluminum center cone and EMI plastic tweeter.  'Wide range', it did 20Hz - 20KHz when most didn't do that range and 'smoothness', the sound is like a 'window on the performance' - it's a 13-inch woofer but not punchy like the audiophile Twin Cone Wharfedale RS.DD.8.  What do they mean by the whole room playing?  Do they mean it's like surround sound?  Stereo outputs with very low distortion and Hi-End quality ought to give surround sound from two speakers, 319s do sound like surround sound if lying on their long sides toed in to the sweet spot or listening chair.  Remember cone tweeters have a narrow beam-like dispersion and if you are slightly deaf etc, the limpid surrounding effects of 319s will certainly be lost, as will their great sensitivity or how loud they really are at a low volume with low power amplifiers!

Scope Electronics  'Another Peril :  Some audio dealers who don't have EMI loudspeakers may tell you other speakers have reached the same perfection in art.  They haven't'.

Goldie Duck - Are they saying here that these EMI in 1965, outperformed Tannoy Dual Concentric or Altec Duplex?  - Yeah they're saying it but E.M.I. need run in for a while, if anything to get your ears used to them and to get their cones and x-overs used to the new highs and lows of your Hi-End.  Altec Duplex are a B-I-G speaker box for a spacious room so 'it's horses for courses', you knew it right? 

Scope Electronics "And certainly not at the EMI price comparison - listen :  The case for the "dangerous" loudspeaker deserves a hearing."

Goldie Duck - What is Scope saying by adding the above on top of their view the 'Dangerous Loudspeaker' beats an Altec Duplex?  - They're bringing price into the issue, nowadays just because EMI speakers may at first sound a lot like guitar speakers, don't mean they suit small halls or suit any musical instrument, it just means the sound through them seems so distorted you'd be using a guitar speaker for audio and of course, that's not what Hi-End Audio is all about!  Audio speakers are not for Public Address, they're not built rugged enough!  Ever seen some old Goodmans Hi-End speakers in a box that looks like it was used for Public Address?  - That means they are no longer Hi-End in sound!  Guitars ruin audio speakers by playing just one note very loud, not only guitars, any musical instrument or public address speaker has to be built for long periods of rugged use and Hi-End audio isn't!  -Always ask a seller for cabinet pix?  Note speakers need run-in and then may need Hi-End equipment but if someone used Goodmans etc High Fidelity speakers for a guitar etc, they have a very low value.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

Hi-Fi HACKER LS750: Goodmans drivers, 75Hz lowest note, teak cabinet.

Hi-Fi HACKER LS1000:  as above, EMI 450 20 watt BASS driver, fibreglass reinforced paper cone on aluminium centre midrange cone, perforated metal voice coil dust cap with black fabric covering, cork gasket and voice coil former blacked out.  60Hz lowest note. EMI 92390 G F S 20 watt Bass 13 x 8, 8 or 15-ohm models, 15-ohm has an EMI yellowish tweeter unlike the Audax 8-ohm.

Hi-Fi HACKER LS1500 (no picture) 901 type 19"x14" bass driver without co-axial tweeters, EMI elliptical midrange and an array of tweeters above, instead of in coaxial style on the basis that tweeters strapped across the driver in may vibrate more reducing the efficiency of the tweeter response.  50Hz response suggests a lowest bass note of 40Hz due to the conservative British rating methods of these times.  The 901 is not of the 50Hz cut-off type driver.  The 50Hz cut-off type driver is a Hi-Fi measure and like the BBC LS3/5A with an 80Hz cut-off, these drivers cannot produce lower sounds in bigger boxes.  The 901 is limited to 50Hz by the box and the deeper notes rolled off. 

Hi-Fi 20W Bass EMI 450 13 x 8, fabric/tinplate dust cap, note 14 x 9 etc dust caps

EMI 319 corrugated P.V.C. edge green basket, 1960s size crossover

The quality EMIs have aluminum centers in a flush Twin Cone looking like a single cone, (see above) but the voice coil is thin brown paper giving their low power handling.  Lo-Fi models have a one piece heavy pulp cone fitting in compact 'open back' cabinets with a pleated cone edge.  The similar corrugated edge 1960s EMI green/white label 13.5x8 speakers with aluminium mid cone, and smallish ceramic magnet, are in 3ft tall closed box cabinets with no wadding and 2ft DLS 529 speakers with sewn bag padding, as padding increases box size.  The plastic edge type go in smallish boxes as seen above, like the 'open back'. 

The tweeter above on the Hacker 1000 is not mounted like REALISTIC Nova 483 as the 15 watt and 10 watt models.  Mounting the tweeter on a solid baffle helps prevent tweeter sound loss through mount vibration.  In the B&W P1 or D.M. 3 such EMI 13 x 8 speakers are likely to produce much deeper notes as the baffle is long, whilst in short baffles like Hacker 1000 or REALISTIC Mach One, cut-off will be around 50Hz.  The Mach One cuts off at 65Hz though the woofer does 20Hz!  The Brits later thought with their BBC LS3/5a, it was better to cut-off the driver lower bass rather than roll it off with the cabinet baffle, to reduce box coloration.  In the USA, there were other arguments for what quality and value sold best!

EMI 319 usually have bronze colored 1960s baskets.  Note the voice coil cone wires cross behind the cone in the 319, 350 and 450 Al cones, giving a nice tidy finish, while up page, in the early 'BN' Triaxial, voice coil wires rest in front of the cone.  On the 'BN' Tri bronze basket up page, note the coil bolted to the stamped steel chassis and in the 319 above, the coil wound under the orange cloth sleeve, around the large electrolytic capacitor, rivetted to chassis. What looks like a film capacitor is wired across the speaker terminal tag strip.  The brown paper voice coil formers used in these speakers gives them their low power handling.  Tube amplifiers had low power in the 1960s so speakers were much more sensitive 'magnifying' the available power.  In the roll edge 13 x 8 the aluminum radiator shows no brown paper voice coil former, when inspected from the rear, the cone appears to sit lower in the basket.

Remember to add a rear gasket to front of baffle mounted EMI 13 x 8 as in the 450 below, you use sticky back felt to effect these gaskets while the originals are of plastic foam.  The 319 etc with rear screw nuts for the tweeters need only shallow holes drilled to clear the baffle, but the nuts are gasketed over with the felt.  Note these EMI 13 x 8 use bolts, the threaded baffle back nuts for speaker bolts are available as a standard set of four pieces for a 6MM 'box spanner' (tubular fit type).  Why bolts?  -They have a higher torque than screws.  What is torque?  -How tight the speaker chassis is clamped down but don't over tighten, or you'll only strip your screw thread!

Giant ceramic magnets of EMI 350 and 450, 20 Watt 1970s green baskets

See the coil screw hole is not in use on the stamped steel basket 20 watt 450 above.  All the 92390 units have this hole.  In the die-cast basket 14 x 9 there is a coil for the woofer as in the die-cast 13 x 8, though no tweeter is supplied, these higher quality drivers have an on-board crossover!

Hey if you find this guide a bit dry compared to others, you ought to read the sheet E.M.I. supplied with their speakers in the U.S. market!  These are real specialist units made by sound experts.  At that time England was led by the Oxbridge university culture and believed in offering first class value for money!

A number of other High Fidelity EMI speakers are seen, EMI 630A with 8-inch round woofer by Benjamin sound USA, a dome tweeter 14A/1720A, an elliptical P.V.C. edge bass unit around 9 inches, a 10 x 6 elliptical with aluminum center, works with 2 plastic cone tweeters.  Small round EMI midrange squawkers with yellow cones partnered with a 14 x 9 roll edge.  The 901 19 x 14 has a 10inch by 5 inch elliptical squawker and twin cluster elliptical tweeters, or coaxial round 2.5 inch tweeters.

See other EMI Guides by Goldie duck:  Alnico magnets, Realistic Minimus 7, Sanyo 222...