I bought these off of CraigsList from the original owner and they WERE in excellent condition. The socks were intact, albeit a tiny bit saggy - but not snagged or torn. Then I put them in my loft where my cat sleeps on the weekends. I'll bet you can guess what happened to the foam rubber socks.
So, I figured hey - I'll buy some jet set black fabric and simply roll it around each speaker, affix it in the back with the tack strips that held the original foam sock, and . . .NO! Much more difficult than that, of course. The fabric can't be stretched hard enough not to sag along the top and bunch up along the bottom. Total disaster.
How do they sound? Good! Terrific imaging (what these are famous for) in a quasi-bi-polor array with two woofers and two tweeters pointing out at angles toward the listening space. I had them about three feet back from the wall, and when you sit in the sweet spot it's like listening with headphones. They could use a subwoofer though - not enough low-end for my tastes. Plus, I was A-B-ing them with my B&W DM640 which have amazing low-end, so perhaps the comparison wasn't fair.
In any case, for around $100 in fair condition, $150 in excellent condition (before turning into a scratching post), these are worth getting. Plus, you've always wanted to say you've owned a pair of TimeWindows, now haven't you?
By the way, these are the original series TimeWindows, not the 1a, 3a, and certainly not the TimeWindow 7! I heard there were only two hundred pair of the TimeWindow 7's made - is that correct? Chime in and let me know. Thanks!
Very cool. They would make great B speakers with my Walsh 4's. Found a single one at the SA a few years ago. Left it. Might have made a decent center channel?
ReplyDeleteI believe you can get the cover material for these from McMaster Carr.
ReplyDeleteI realize this is an old post/thread, but ... I picked up a nearly pristine pair of Time Window 1a today for $200 at Record Archive in Rochester.
ReplyDeleteI've hooked them up to a newly restored Fisher 500C receiver with a Denon DC1290 CD player as the source. (A turntable and SACD player will be added.)
So far I've only had time to listen to a couple of tracks of Diana Krall's Love Scenes, but I am SO pleased. Everything sounds right and I haven't even begun to tweak the setup and positioning.
I've been wanting a pair of these since about 1990 when I heard them in the Bryston room at the high end show in Toronto. For their condition (even the grill socks are perfect!) $200 is an absolute steal, and included speaker cables!
I guess more than 200 has been made, as my pair of original TW:s has No. 5399 and 5400, sold in Sweden 1978. Well, as to Time Windows and cats, my story: When our first cat moved in 2001 the foam was still in good shape, but guess what, he took a walk through the house and when he saw the Time Windows he stretched up in his full lenght, dug his claws in the foam and pulled out a big chunk. He never touched them since, and I managed to repair the damage. Second cat moved in 2008, she waited to the second day of course she did it to the other speaker, has never touched any of them after that.
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