If there are songs recorded from the source, which doens't suits your tempo it can be turned up or down. Or it can be switched off. Using the program function will let you repeat a certain part of the tape. Punch-in recording while you already play the tape. Bryan Mobile Truck Repair Company

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Hi there, I saw the revieuw on the PHILIPS FB 825 speaker.
I bought my FB 825 series brand new 17 years ago at the PHILIPS factory which then was located in Groningen, the Netherlands., Just today I discovered that the foam rings on the double 20 cm woofers need replacement, which means that they have a good life span, considering I listen music at painsteaking levels in which my Harman 7000 series "current dumping'' receiver s volume is on 0 DB or even plus 5 DB. As usual I always remove the speaker covers because they can only harm the sound quality, and considering I always let the FB 825 work hard I want to visually see what the units are doing so far. I use 4 FB 825 combined with a sturdy 250W 8 ohms continual power infinity center speaker with isophase tweeter and an Infinity downfiring sub 300 W 8 ohms continuous.I use a van Meedevoort modified super audio Sony DVD player as input device.
Not that there s a lot of moving around with such a stable receiver as the Harman 7000 so the units are responding lively with a minimum of distortion. If things get to wild, the build in fuses protect the FB 825 units perfectly, causing them to shut down for 5 minutes and then recover automatically. Since I hooked the Harman onto the FB 825 speakers, this has never occurred, my former big 2x 115 W RMS Sansui amplifier succeeded in resetting the FB 825 time and time again, LOL!
So get something that can deliver a steady 8 ohms 5 x 125 - 5 x 150 W and youre safe.
It s a shame that PHILIPS decided to shut down it s speaker division some 10 years ago, everyone who hears this set is still very enthusiastic about it and amazed over the high levels of undistorted sound it is capable of delivering. Of course the positioning of the speakers demands that they are not standing in a corner and at leat 1 meter away from a wall to avoid booming bass sounds.
Forgiving neighbours are a welcome feature too.
Overall, I can recommend everyone to try and get some. As a consequence of my (no their, LOL) enthusiasm, 2 of my friends have purchased the Harman 7000 series along with the PHILIPS FB series speakers some years ago.
Altough the FB 820 is far more common than the top model FB 825 and there still are plenty of offers for the FB 820 on marktplaats.nl, the quality of the isophase units is such that I would recomend to have some patience and obtain the FB 825 with its superior isophase tweeter. The FB 825 still overclasses brand new designs in its price range (original 1300 guilders say 670 euro 17 y ago a piece) till today, an achievement in itself. But then again, the FB series were specially designed for the digital sound.

- Very detailed sound
- Very smooth bass
- Absolute bargain (price is ridicilously low)
- Nice modern design

- The speaker surrounds have to be replaced for new ones, which can be costly
- Relatively rare on markets outside europe

Beautiful speaker system made by Philips from around 1987 to 1993. This is a closed speaker system with 2 woofers, one mid and an Isophase magnetostatic tweeter.

These speakers produce a wonderfull detailed sound. It features the famous Isophase tweeter used in lots of high end speaker system made by Philips and Marantz (the Marantz LS95 and Philips FB1000 for example). This tweeter is well known for its suberbly detailed sound and is very pleasant to listen to.

The closed system and excellent damping materials used in these speakers make sure the bass is smooth and not boomy.

I absolutely love these speakers, i bought them second hand from a dutch online market place. I used to have a set of Infinity Delta 70's but i found the bass to be too uncontrolled and quite boomy, the Infinity Delta's featured a tweeter (EMIT-R) wich is comparable to the Philips. Strangely enough the Philips sounds much more detailed compared to the Infinity. Also the Bass from the FB825's is absolutely not boomy, but really smooth and very deep, one of the possible reasons for this could be the closed system (bass reflex is usually a bit more boomy).

One of the big advantages of these speaker is that they are reasonably easy to drive. I have them hooked up to a Yamaha M40 Power Amplifier and a C-2 Pre Amplifier, wich is a very good combination.

The design of these speakers is very nice as well, for a speaker that is almost 20 years old they have a very modern design.

The price is also redicilously low for a set of speaker of this caliber. On ebay a set of these speakers is usually sold for about 200 ~ 400 euro's. These speakers are absolutely able to compete with very expensive Bowers and Wilkins or Tannoy models wich cost way more second hand (at least double the amount). Even when the FB825's were new they went for sale for a ridicilously low price, only 1200 dollar per pair.

Prices do seem to go up because this speaker is becoming quite rare on the second hand market these days. But this is absolutely one of the hidden gem's from Philips, they are relatively unknown on markets outside the netherlands since most of these speakers were sold in the Netherlands.

One of the disadvanteges of this speaker is that they usually need to be re-foamed. The speaker surrounds are made of foam and not of the more durable rubber material. This can be repaired very cheaply though. When you have them repaired by a specialized company it is a bit more expensive (about 200 euro) but the speakers are absolutely worth it!

I can basically recommend these speakers to anyone! The only downside is that the Foam surrounds most likely have te be replaced, you can have these replaced for a rubber variant as well (be careful to use the right ones though, you can dramatically change the speakers sound when you use the wrong rubber surrounds) but foam variants are more recommended. So when you buy a pair, keep this in mind!

So when you find a pair and dont mind spending 50 bucks (when replacing the surrounds yourself) or 200 bucks (for having them replaced by rubber variants by a specialized company these speakers are absolutely something for you! You wont find a better speaker for the money!

Similar Products Used:

Infinity Delta 70
Philips FB821
Tannoy J30