My Fisher XP66c Speakers Went To The Dump Today


A very sad day. I've had them since 1979 - almost 40 years - and they were still working when I trashed them. And they weren't new when I got them. They were at least third hand.  Sure, they had a few dings and smushed corners, but they still sounded pretty good as long as you didn't crank 'em. And you could still polish up the veneer to a respectable sheen.

I used them until I got the Magnapans in the 80s, and then they became the bedroom system. And they outlasted the Magnapans by a long time. 

I tried to sell them, I tried to give them away, but no takers. So here's to Avery Fisher and the XP series. He knew how to build a really good small speaker.
dragunski
After all these years, I finally get around to Googling them. Vintage 1973, according to Radiomuseum. Can't find the original price, but I found the spec sheet in German. 

And then there's this Youtube, where they really, really sound awful.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30lVg7HsbEg
Well, they weren't Avery Fisher when they were made.  It was the time of the Fisher Studio Standard line, etc and Far East Asia manufacture.  It was not the same Fisher of LIC, Queens days.

Fisher was sold to Emerson Radio before I entered High School (1971).  Unfortunately, that wasn't the same Emerson from its NJ glory days.

Rich 
Post removed 

You couldn't give them away? What about Goodwill or Salvation Army.

Why would you throw them away?

No, I couldn't.  Goodwill won't take electronics. Even an ad on LetGo got no responses. Ditto Craigslist for $20. Nobody wants big speakers - though these aren't that big. They all want tall, skinny, home theater types.

Either that or they're high-end people who look down their noses at an old speaker like this. They assume the surrounds are shot, too.

They had to go. I've got 2 pairs of Bozaks, one the size of a small refrigerator, and some AR3As. Which ones would you keep? Do you really think she's going to let me buy more when I've already got 4 pairs?
That's strange. I don't know where you live, but I'm in Arizona and Goodwill takes electronics at all of their stores here.
These were XP66c. I don't know whether the "c" means ceramic magnets or maybe they were just the 4th iteration or tweak to the original 66. But they were better than "firewood".

I don’t think I would have kept them all those years if they were that bad. They didn't have the midrange presence of the Bozaks, nor the deep bass, and you couldn't crank them to ear-spltting levels, but they were well balanced across the spectrum and had a nice high frequency balance for cymbals and drums. Good for female vocals, too.

Like I said, I couldn't give them away. But a couple of guys at the recycling center were eyeing them. They didn't ask me if they worked, but as I was leaving, they walked over to them and were checking them out. So who knows?

Maybe they will find a new home. Either that or they were looking for firewood. 

@rar1 : those XP-66’s were made prior to 1964. All Fisher production came from the Long Island plant until later in the decade. I apologize for my previous post.

@jasonbourne52 - all good.  funny reading something from 5 years ago.  My dad had a repair shop in Brooklyn, opened right after WW II.  Would go with him all the time to LIC, which had to be just after the mass exodus of the stereo companies from there.  

Be well, 

Rich