SAE MK-12
A speaker that survives in the record as a single line in a 1972 directory, and nothing more.
Overview
The SAE MK-12 shows up in one place in the documented record: the loudspeaker listings of Audio's September 1972 annual directory issue. The model appears there with its woofer, mid-range, and tweeter columns, next to the Rectilinear III Lowboy and the Scott Design 61. Audio (September 1972, p.89) listed the SAE Mk 12 in its loudspeaker section, and that entry is the only confirmed contemporary reference to the model that has surfaced. No review text goes with it. No measurements, no spec sheet, no owner's manual, no service literature.
That single listing establishes only a few things. The MK-12 was a loudspeaker, and a multi-driver one, given the columns the directory gave it. It was on the American market in time for the 1972 directory, which Audio compiled from what manufacturers were willing to supply. And it carried the SAE badge. Everything past that is undocumented: no production years, no original price, no power handling, impedance, sensitivity, frequency response, crossover point, cabinet dimensions, or weight. No circuit topology. Nothing says where the MK-12 sat in SAE's lineup, or whether it was built in-house, sourced from an OEM, or offered as a companion to the company's electronics.
SAE is remembered for its electronics, the amplifiers and preamps that built the brand's following among people who cared about clean circuit design. A speaker wearing the SAE name is a genuine outlier. SAE's model numbering in this period ran across a range of components, and the surviving period press documents other SAE products far more thoroughly than it does this one. Anyone who claims to have the MK-12's numbers is working from something other than the sources available here.
A seller listing an "SAE MK-12" should be asked to verify the model number against the unit's own rear panel or faceplate. The description should also be cross-checked against the period record, which for this model is a single directory line. Buyers should expect to do their own verification.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.