HISTORY:
Never heard of MORDAUNT SHORT? One of the better loudspeaker design and manufacturing companies formed in Great Britain (London) in the late 1960's and very proud of it! Mordaunt Short products were extensively labelled and marketed as MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN
Mordaunt Short (the company) was bought out by TGI around 1987, this is the same company that had also purchased Tannoy and Goodmans Loudspeakers.
Those who used and listened to their systems were not disappointed either, we had a nice Pageant system a LONG time ago and much later our studio guys wanted to listen to some MS20's to compare with their near-field Tannoys(mid sized bookshelf style) The MS20's were actually released during the period 1987 ~ 1993 in different "reincarnations" and I am pretty sure the set we had (and are now being offered as "organ donors") were from the early 1990's (TGI) period.
I have included a photograph of the rear label for identification purposes.
Rear ported, particle board sides/top/bottom and an extremely tight fit/secure polycarbonate/PVC front and rear - quite difficult to get "inside" and once there, I was stunned at the driver mounting used! It actually seems to be permanently embedded into the front panel! See my listing for the drivers to know more about what I found ...
I am clearing up ALL the ex studio and auxilliary equipment from our audio post production days, this MS20 SPARE PART is one of those items.
So what happened to the MS20's? (I hear you ask enquiringly)
They were often used by the sound engineer and "pushed" pretty hard, something that the MS20's don't like very much (much more suited to near field/lower listening levels) and as often happens, this resulted in one tweeter failing (burned out voice coil) After careful consideration I have decided that the usefulness of the MS20's was probably in the components it can provide rather than a complete non-functioning system, so here we go with this MS20 spare part ...
Mordaunt Short (the company) was bought out by TGI around 1987, this is the same company that had also purchased Tannoy and Goodmans Loudspeakers.
Please read the ENTIRE description, yes I know it is lengthy but there is a lot to tell! In a nutshell I am supply BOTH the front panel and the driver, the reasons are explained below ...
MORDAUNT SHORT - Loudspeaker Component ONLY
PART: Front Panel with Driver Loudspeaker included (1 piece)
This is NOT two sets, I am offering EACH front panel separately as I felt this would be the most flexible option for someone wishing to service their MS20
Front Panel Material: Black Polycarbonate
DIMENSIONS:
363mm x 213mm
9mm inside edge all around so that it fits snuggly against the wooden cabinet
Driver (original) fitted:
Mordaunt-Short
Impedance 8 Ohm
165mm (6.5 inches)
Part # 91650899405
Designed & made in Great Britain
Cone material is poly NOT paper
Rubber surround
Large 95cm "donut" magnet (and very strong!)
Standard spade terminals to one side
Polycarbonate basket! Yes polycarbonate, not metal as you would expect.
To be honest, this is the first time I have seen such as construction used by a "better" loudspeaker manufacturer. It has a number of quirks ...
The driver is actually moulded into the front panel, that is why I am offering the front panel included. This means that this driver is most likely useless for anything other than servicing an existing M20 (or at least another MS loudspeaker with exactly the same front panel dimensions.
I have spent a LONG time staring at this unfamiliar construction and I can see no way in the world that the driver can be extracted without risking severe damage to the loudspeaker and/or the panel.
It is truly moulded, I cannot see any "clip loks" or similar tricks and the front rubber surround appears to be directly secured to the front panel. If one was to remove the driver there would no longer be any basket, the whole thing would fall apart!
It is certainly very strong and secure and it appears that MS intended it to stay that way but hardly a great idea if one wished to upgrade the driver or fit a replacement!
So this is (in my view) a severe limitation on the usefulness of this driver, great for another MS20 (the same variant) but pretty useless for anything else!
The tweeter however is easily removeable, and is NOT supplied. This is fortunate because in my experience it is the tweeter that most often gets "cooked" by over-driving the system.
Another "quirk" I noticed is that the central Black "dust cover" is not actually attached to the cone at all. When the cone moves in and out, the Black central area just sits there. I find this intriguing as dust can still enter between that Black central piece and the cone - the Black centre piece just seems to be sitting on top of the magnet ... seems a bit pointless other than for visual effect.
SPECIAL NOTES ABOUT REFITTING THIS FRONT PANEL:
Perhaps best if I describe the extraction procedure, then just do it in reverse to refit.
First you need to remove the front grille! Easy
Next, remove the lower name badge sections (this is described in my separate advertisement for the name badges)
Now you have four deep holes in each corner of the front panel, inside those are long steel bolts (72mm length) with a hex head (9.75mm), I used a #10 nut driver to remove those, close enough for a good fit. These bolts (4) will be supplied with the front panel/driver.
Next, the front panel is completely sealed with an adhesive foam gasket around the edges, gently prise the front panel from the cabinet (not too difficult) and finally you can separate the front panel from the cabinet itself.
Carefully remove the tweeter and driver wires (4) which go to the crossover network board.
Phew! Its not really a difficult job but it does require some care to prevent damaging the cabinet.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Absolutely NO damage to the driver in any way i.e spade terminals, cone, rubber surround, central Black "thing" are all A1
Framework is also in very good condition, like new - this is extremely tough polycarbonate, it will not damage easily.
I have two front panels, offered separately and you will notice that one label on the rear of the driver has a brown stain on it ... that was caused by me! I stupidly placed the faulty tweeter on top of the driver magnet and the ferro liquid seeped out of the tweeter onto that label. The ferro liquid went nowhere else fortunately, so it is just a little unsightly but has not affected the driver operation in any way.
TESTING:
As mentioned above, our sound engineer played around with these for quite a while (years ago) and both drivers are working fine - no issues at all (no rubbing of the voice coil for example)
Now that I have finished the photographs and writing up this description, I have now placed the front panel onto a very stiff cardboard base (front down) and sealed the entire front panel in clear plastic to keep out airborne dust & dirt. It will be supplied in this manner.
