Empire Grenadier 8000P

Wow, this takes me back....If I recall correctly, Down firing woofer, these holes are an addition to a slot load or port.

Hi timlub,
Thanks for your response. If I read the information I have found correctly, it should take you back to 1967 or maybe 1968. You are correct as they do have a 12" downward firing woofer and a midrange/tweeter plate that is shared with the Empire 9000, 9000M, 8000 and 8200. I removed the lower plate to clean out 50 years of spider webs and dust bunnies and to look at the surrounds on the woofers. They look good for 50 years of hanging upside down. I also removed the top (mine have the standard wood top as opposed to the marble upgrade) and neither on the top nor bottom do I see any other slot, opening or port. Just the ones on the back of which one system has four of the ports plugged and two open and one with 5 of the ports plugged and one open. If they are the ports used as a slot load, it sounds like they should all be open. One thought I had was that maybe these plugs were installed only for storage and/or shipping (maybe to keep out critters) and were meant to be removed upon unpacking and set up. The older gentleman I bought them from said he had never hooked them up or played them from the day he bought them. Maybe removing the plugs was called out in the owners manual as part of the setup, but since he never used them, he never took the plugs out. They are in unbelievably good physical condition for being 50 years old. The cabinets are nearly flawless. The wood is just dry and needs to be treated to bring it back to new luster. Maybe I'll try taking all the plugs out and running a few tests. Thanks again!

I've always wanted to hear those speakers. Have you listened to them yet?