Anyone recognize this purple 15" Speaker? SUNN/ACOUSTIC?

[JacklegBass]

I'm trying to figure out the provenance of this old 15" alnico speaker I've had for years:

From the faintly stamped numbers on the magnet I know based on the line starting with the '67' EIA manufacturing code it was manufactured by Eminence in 1976. The part number is 130040A, which is an Acoustic Control Corporation house number. The ACC part number and the formerly white dust cap both point to it being the same OEM speaker Acoustic loaded in all their 15" bass cabinets for years.

So, here I was enjoying life while being sure this was a speaker out of an old Acoustic cabinet and it had just been painted purple by somebody at some point, but recently after taking a closer look I discovered there was paint under the damaged factory back-of-the-rim gasket. Hmm, that indicated to me that it had actually been manufactured that way.

After some web sleuthing I have a theory that this speaker may have started out life as a SUNN Magna 158 loaded in a SUNN cabinet. Perhaps someone knowledgeable about vintage SUNN cabinets and drivers might have a clue that would help me solve this puzzle.

Here's a picture supposedly of a SUNN Magna 158 I found from in old SUNN forum post. The OP said he came out of a 215M cabinet.

I couldn't find any other examples of purple baskets or alnico Magna 158s. Is there anyone who knows anything about SUNN purple basket alnico speakers or ever heard of Sunn outsourcing Eminence OEM drivers from Acoustic?



@Oren Hudson
I saw this old Mid 70's SUNN 115 S cab thread showing a SUNN 115-S you acquired with a 1978 130040-C white domed CTS speaker. Seems like a coincidence, but maybe not.

 

[Oren Hudson]

Just shows that musical manufacturers throw out some odd ball stuff from time to time. Although I have seen one other bronze one like mine, I've never seen a purple (other than painted by someone) frame nor orange cone like yours. Enjoy!

 

[agedhorse]

Blue baskets were common amongst several manufacturers (Utah and Oaktron)

 

[JacklegBass]

Blue baskets were common amongst several manufacturers (Utah and Oaktron)

Yeah, I do recall the blue Utahs. The Acoustic OEM 130040s were inconsisent -- some stamped frames & magnets were unpainted and some were painted black.

I wish I could find a timeline for SUNN's use of the Magna moniker. Another possibility might be that my speaker and the only other purple basket alnico "Magna 158" I found and posted above may have been samples used by SUNN for prototyping the 215M and 415M cabinet designs and by the time those products actually came to market Eminence had moved over to the square ceramic magnet. I have no idea what year those cabs debuted, but if it was circa 1977-1978 then that would certainly line-up. Every other Magna 158 driver I've seen with info about what cabinet it came out of said it was from either the 215M or 415M. All had the exact same stamped baskets that were unpainted and had square ceramic magnets.

 

[agedhorse]

There were lots of undocumented things that happened back then, sometimes out of convenience, sometimes "just because" and sometimes there was a good reason... but because of the times, many of the reasons were simply forgotten.

 

[Oren Hudson]

Yeah, I do recall the blue Utahs. The Acoustic OEM 130040s were inconsisent -- some stamped frames & magnets were unpainted and some were painted black.

I wish I could find a timeline for SUNN's use of the Magna moniker. Another possibility might be that my speaker and the only other purple basket alnico "Magna 158" I found and posted above may have been samples used by SUNN for prototyping the 215M and 415M cabinet designs and by the time those products actually came to market Eminence had moved over to the square ceramic magnet. I have no idea what year those cabs debuted, but if it was circa 1977-1978 then that would certainly line-up. Every other Magna 158 driver I've seen with info about what cabinet it came out of said it was from either the 215M or 415M. All had the exact same stamped baskets that were unpainted and had square ceramic magnets.

Over the weekend, I've been working on a major project. My collection of head and cabs has just gotten to an amazing number. In any event, with nudging from my wife and knowing that she's right, I began the process of going through everything and cleaning dust and such and then put a cover, sometimes using some thick yard bags, over it. No way to keep that large number clean, even being inside. When this project is completed, I'll make up some kind of list for all of that gear and show it here.

As I was going through some of the Sunn stuff, I remembered that someone on here was inquiring something about the Magna speaker. So pulled out the catalogue section and listing numbers to see if there was anything shown. I did find some. First mention that I see made to Magna is in 1972 and in 1974. Could be usage was for those 2-3 years. If you can send me your email I'll send you what I have, which is cat. info from 1966 for several years.