Bolivar Speaker Works?

JDXAV

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I've been given a pair of these:
IMG_20190203_001553__01.jpg


"Bolivar Speaker Works model 64". They're I guess a few decades old and HUGE (like 3 foot tall by a foot by 18", maybe 20kg each).

The original owner was a proper music geek which leads me to believe they were good back in the day but I know nothing about them and speaker tech has moved on, so I wondered if anyone here is familiar with them?

I wondered how they can have per speaker EQ is that common?
Also they are 4Ohm but I think all my kit is 8... How do I rig them?
 
You might have more success asking on a US forum as this is predominately UK
 
Now there's a blast from the past. I heard these American Bolivar 64 speakers way back in the late 1970's when I went along with a friend to a demo in London. They got a decent review in the hifi press, if I remember correctly, can't remember which publication though. They were certainly not high-end speakers, as sold here in the UK.

The demo pitted the Bolivar 64 against the British Tangent TM1 and my friend chose the latter. Personally, I wouldn't have given either of them house room as both had obvious failings. The Tangent TM1 had absolutely no mid-range and the treble of the Bolivar sizzled for some time after the signal had ended (though they did have a PA-style big, gusty sound).

Here's some more info. I stumbled across:

Defunct Audio Manufacturers - Bi to Bq - audiotools.com.

diyAudio - BOLIVAR SPEAKER WORKS info

I guess you've taken the front covers off? What condition are the bass driver surrounds in? Most would have perished by now though they may have been repaired.

I wondered how they can have per speaker EQ is that common?
Also they are 4Ohm but I think all my kit is 8... How do I rig them?

Only a few passive hifi speakers had (or have) level controls for the mid and treble drivers. Opinion is likely to be divided over whether such EQ is a good thing or not.

Most modern transistor amps are happy driving a 4 Ohm speaker per channel (though probably not two pairs of 4 Ohm speakers if the amp has the facility to connect two pairs of speakers [i.e. speaker A + B] and they are used at the same time) - check your amplifier spec.

The physical format of these Bolivar speakers, i.e. large stand-mounts, fell out of fashion (at least in the UK) many years ago so some classic UK large stand-mounts like the Spendor BC1, Mission 770, Celef PE1 etc, often represent second hand bargains.
 
I owned a pair of Bolivar 64 and had many years of pleasure until the bass speaker perished. It was paired with a Dual deck and a Roger's A75. The sound combination was great and my music sounded superb. So yep it may not be everyone cup of tea , but for me they performed and gave great pleasure.
 

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