Wurlitzer 206 versions

[cinnanon]

Hello all,
Picked up a 206 recently and noticed this one does not have speakers in the console but instead has the regular 200 style speakers on the amp rail. Also the underside of the lid is black but the outside is yellow, as if they (wurlitzer) converted a 200 to a 206.  The music rack is different looking as well, much thinner and has a taller piece across the bottom. Are these common or are they the first of the 206's produced? I am very glad I have the regular speakers as it will make conversion much better.

[pianotuner steveo]

Can you post pics?


Something doesn't sound right

[cinnanon]

Here they are

[cinnanon]

It seems like there are only 2 types of 206's. Ones with speakers on top and ones with speakers in the console. If there are 2 openings in the console, you have the normal 4x8" amp rail speakers. If you have the console with 1 wide opening, you have console speakers and no speakers on the amp rail. Bonus.

[pianotuner steveo]

Most 206's are 206 A's. I believe this s a non A 206. ( early 206) I've only seen one before, but it seems to bring back memories...

[cinnanon]

Correct this is a non-A version of the 206, but there appears to be 2 versions of this non-A 206. Depending on the speakers location.

[pianotuner steveo]

Now I'm confused. I always thought the different amp and the speaker location were the only differences between the non A and the A 206's

[cinnanon]

Me too up until now. I have now seen 2 versions of the 206 for myself. Never seen a 206A but I believe the 206A's have speakers in the console as well. Let this be a hint to those looking for 206's, that these ones with the 2 compartments in front instead of just 1 have speakers like a 200 and can be converted to 200 specs without buying new speakers which are by far the costliest part. The rest is just resistors, jacks, and tremelo pot which can be had a Radioshack for dollars but need a little modification.

[pianotuner steveo]

Yes, I have owned many 206A's, they have 2 8" speakers in the bottom, and the amp is different. I believe the amp is a few more watts also, because it is louder than my 200A.

I used to own a watt meter, I believe it showed my 200A to be around 18 watts and the 206A to be around 25 watts, but I don't know how accurate it was.

[gilded]

Yes, I have owned many 206A's, they have 2 8" speakers in the bottom, and the amp is different. I believe the amp is a few more watts also, because it is louder than my 200A.

I used to own a watt meter, I believe it showed my 200A to be around 18 watts and the 206A to be around 25 watts, but I don't know how accurate it was.

Steveo, et al,

I'm kind of picking up on this thread a couple of weeks later, with a specific question in mind. Steveo, you were saying that the amp on a 206a had more watts than the amp on a 200a, correct? [25 watts vs 18 watts]

So, if I install a Retrolinear Warneck Research ep200a amp in one of my 206a chop-jobs, will I be looking at a change in wattage? How will that effect the sound of the piano?

[pianotuner steveo]

Roughly 25-30 watts vs 18-20 watts, but it has been many years nice I actually measured the output.

I know almost nothing about the Warneck amps other than I hear they are great.
You would be better off asking them for a sound comparison.

[cinnanon]

As for the wattage differences in these pianos, check out this page.
http://home.earthlink.net/~monsanto/Wurlitzer.html

This page has a wealth of information about student models, as well as schematics. I regularly refer to these schematics for vol/vib pot sizes, etc.   look at the page named "200A output"
On the far right you will see the various speaker setups for the different models.  The 214va has 4x22 ohm speakers which I believe is 5.5 ohms total load.  The 206a has 2x10ohm speakers which is 5ohms total.  It appears that the same amp can handle a couple different ranges of loads. How this translates to wattages, I am not sure.  Maybe this is why the consoles are louder. But can these amps really take it?  Can the warneck amp be dropped into a 206a and be ok with a 5 ohm load?  Anyone else have any insight on this?

[Tim W]

Our amps can take all the possible Wurlitzer speaker combinations, don't worry. 
Some added benefits of our amps which we don't advertise is that they are overload protected and over temperature protected.  In the event there is a failure, they shut down or throttle back so that nothing gets destroyed.  After the fault is cleared, they reset.  And there are no fuses to worry about! 

Several factors contribute to overall perceived volume. 

A lower impedance speaker will carry more current for a given voltage applied across it.  While this may electrically consume more power, depending on the design of the speaker, its magnet, its voice coil, cone, spider, etc. this may or may not end up being louder in actuality.
All of this is basically and roughly wrapped into a parameter called sensitivity-- which is how many dB a speaker produces at a given frequency (usually 1kHz) with 1W of power being used at a 1 meter distance.   The higher the sensitivity, the louder a speaker is with 1 watt going through it.

The speaker cabinet matters as well.  206s are usually described as sounding fuller-- the bass response is better from the larger cabinet but its treble response isn't, because of the larger speakers and the fact that the sound comes out at your knees.  The fullness of sound can be perceived as an increase in loudness.  Don't know for absolute sure, however, because I never measured it.

Finally, our hearing is non-linear.  We are more sensitive to certain frequency ranges and less sensitive to others.  Within those ranges, we hear differences in volumes differently.  You can learn more about this by studying Fletcher-Munson curves.

Tim

[yorgatron]

wow, now I want to add speakers to the top of my 206A.