I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

All tips and suggestions appreciated.

In article , Bruce
Dahms wrote:

I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

The midrange and tweeters for the NS-1000's are getting hard to
find and are very expensive. I think that you might do better to
sell the 1000's on E-bay, or part them out, and use the funds to buy
something new and modern. As much as I like the 1000's, and I owned
them since the early 80's, I doubt that you could do as well with
smaller cabinets, and you would be out of luck when you eventually
have a driver go bad. Another idea would be to paint the cabinets
with a black urathane paint, and then use chains to hang them from
the ceiling (thus freeing up the floor space).

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ==================

In article , Bruce
Dahms wrote:

I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

The midrange and tweeters for the NS-1000's are getting hard to
find and are very expensive. I think that you might do better to
sell the 1000's on E-bay, or part them out, and use the funds to buy
something new and modern. As much as I like the 1000's, and I owned
them since the early 80's, I doubt that you could do as well with
smaller cabinets, and you would be out of luck when you eventually
have a driver go bad. Another idea would be to paint the cabinets
with a black urathane paint, and then use chains to hang them from
the ceiling (thus freeing up the floor space).

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ==================

On 20 Oct 2003 11:04:39 -0700, (Bruce Dahms)
wrote:

I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

How about changing the big ugly wife? :-)

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On 20 Oct 2003 11:04:39 -0700, (Bruce Dahms)
wrote:

I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

How about changing the big ugly wife? :-)

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

(Bruce Dahms) wrote in message om...
I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

There's nothing you can do about the size of the cabinet. That's
determined by the requirements and operating parameters of the
woofer. Putting the midrange and tweeter in separate cabinets,
even in some fancy tube, would only make the whoe combination
larger, because you'd still have to maintain the enclosed volume
you now have. The "correct dimensions" are the ones you have now.
The only thing you might be able to do is change the proportions to
come up with a different footprint.

As far as internal parts are concerned, you have to be careful about
simple substitutions. A properly designed crossover will take into
account the losses of the specific components used, and replacing
them with "better" components make, in fact, make the system worse,
because those losses, around which the system was designed, are now
gone.

The NS7000 probably uses electrolytic capacitors in some portions
of the network, and those probably SHOULD be replaced, as they do
tend to deteriorate over a span of 20 years. Resist the urge to
replace them with fancy film types, for the reasons outlined above.

If the pots are noisy or intermittant, for sure, replace them. If
you have no intention of adjusting the levels, your can replace
them with the equivalent reistor network, but don't be disappointed
if you do not here huge improvements, unless the pots are worn or
broken.

As to replacing the wire with something fancy, consider the fact
that when you replace the foot or so of wire between the crossover
and the drivers, you still have something like 40 feet of very ordinary,
non-magical copper wire in the voice coil of the woofer (for instance),
and similar lengths in the inductors, etc..

(Bruce Dahms) wrote in message om...
I've owned a pair of NS1000M speakers for almost 20 years. I still
love their sound, but my wife wants them out because they're big and
ugly. The cabinets are getting ratty, and the grilles disappeared long
ago. Cladding the cabinets in new veneer would not resolve the size
issue.

What if I put each woofer into a new cabinet, and mount the other two
drivers in some type of tube or post on top? Would it matter if the
the smaller drivers are placed further back (I would put the midrange
driver at ear level)? Assuming I know how to construct a rigid cabinet
of the correct dimensions that contains the correct amount of damping
material, would this be a silly exercise? What about the guts?
Should I replace the pots with resistors? The cheap clips at the back
of the cabinet will obviously have to go. Should I replace the
capacitors on the crossovers? What type of wire should I use to hook
everything back together?

There's nothing you can do about the size of the cabinet. That's
determined by the requirements and operating parameters of the
woofer. Putting the midrange and tweeter in separate cabinets,
even in some fancy tube, would only make the whoe combination
larger, because you'd still have to maintain the enclosed volume
you now have. The "correct dimensions" are the ones you have now.
The only thing you might be able to do is change the proportions to
come up with a different footprint.

As far as internal parts are concerned, you have to be careful about
simple substitutions. A properly designed crossover will take into
account the losses of the specific components used, and replacing
them with "better" components make, in fact, make the system worse,
because those losses, around which the system was designed, are now
gone.

The NS7000 probably uses electrolytic capacitors in some portions
of the network, and those probably SHOULD be replaced, as they do
tend to deteriorate over a span of 20 years. Resist the urge to
replace them with fancy film types, for the reasons outlined above.

If the pots are noisy or intermittant, for sure, replace them. If
you have no intention of adjusting the levels, your can replace
them with the equivalent reistor network, but don't be disappointed
if you do not here huge improvements, unless the pots are worn or
broken.

As to replacing the wire with something fancy, consider the fact
that when you replace the foot or so of wire between the crossover
and the drivers, you still have something like 40 feet of very ordinary,
non-magical copper wire in the voice coil of the woofer (for instance),
and similar lengths in the inductors, etc..

(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

"John A. Weeks III" wrote in message ...

The midrange and tweeters for the NS-1000's are getting hard to
find and are very expensive. I think that you might do better to
sell the 1000's on E-bay, or part them out, and use the funds to buy
something new and modern. As much as I like the 1000's, and I owned
them since the early 80's, I doubt that you could do as well with
smaller cabinets, and you would be out of luck when you eventually
have a driver go bad. Another idea would be to paint the cabinets
with a black urathane paint, and then use chains to hang them from
the ceiling (thus freeing up the floor space).

Good point about the drivers, John. I suppose it's too much to expect
them to last forever. Any suggestions on a suitable replacement? I'm
in Canada, so I'm kind of partial to Paradigm. The chains are an
interesting idea, but I doubt the wife would be too keen on them (you
can read whatever you want into that).

"John A. Weeks III" wrote in message ...

The midrange and tweeters for the NS-1000's are getting hard to
find and are very expensive. I think that you might do better to
sell the 1000's on E-bay, or part them out, and use the funds to buy
something new and modern. As much as I like the 1000's, and I owned
them since the early 80's, I doubt that you could do as well with
smaller cabinets, and you would be out of luck when you eventually
have a driver go bad. Another idea would be to paint the cabinets
with a black urathane paint, and then use chains to hang them from
the ceiling (thus freeing up the floor space).

Good point about the drivers, John. I suppose it's too much to expect
them to last forever. Any suggestions on a suitable replacement? I'm
in Canada, so I'm kind of partial to Paradigm. The chains are an
interesting idea, but I doubt the wife would be too keen on them (you
can read whatever you want into that).

(Bruce Dahms) wrote in message . com...
(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

IF the system was designed properly, the box is critical to the
correct operation of the speaker. It forms an integral part of
the physical operating parameters of the woofer. Boxes are just
not there to keep the rear radiation of the woofer from escaping.

The midrange is the heart of the system for the midrange frequencies,
just as the woofer system (including the box) is the heart of the
system for low frequencies and the tweeter is the heart of the system
for the high frequencies.

Change the volume of the enclsoure, and the system WILL be different.

(Bruce Dahms) wrote in message . com...
(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

IF the system was designed properly, the box is critical to the
correct operation of the speaker. It forms an integral part of
the physical operating parameters of the woofer. Boxes are just
not there to keep the rear radiation of the woofer from escaping.

The midrange is the heart of the system for the midrange frequencies,
just as the woofer system (including the box) is the heart of the
system for low frequencies and the tweeter is the heart of the system
for the high frequencies.

Change the volume of the enclsoure, and the system WILL be different.

On 21 Oct 2003 08:03:07 -0700, (Bruce Dahms)
wrote:

(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

The bass driver operates well into the midrange, and is a major
contributor to the sound. As Dick Pierce noted, it *must* be used into
that box volume in order to retain the same bass response. Note also
that the box is not too rigid, and therefore contributes its own sound
signature. Change *any* of this, and you change the sound of the
speaker. Basically, renew the electrolytics with modern versions of
the same type, replace the spring clip terminals by decent binding
posts, tidy up the appearance if necessary with a lick of paint, new
veneer and a new grille cloth, but otherwise leave well alone!
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On 21 Oct 2003 08:03:07 -0700, (Bruce Dahms)
wrote:

(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote in message ...

If you do any of this, you will no longer be listening to Yamaha
NS-1000Ms, but to a homebrew which happens to use the same drivers.
Judge for yourself the odds of this sounding as good as the original.

Thanks for the feedback Stewart. Probably a silly question, but how
critical do you think the box is to the sound? Isn't the midrange
driver the heart of these speakers?

The bass driver operates well into the midrange, and is a major
contributor to the sound. As Dick Pierce noted, it *must* be used into
that box volume in order to retain the same bass response. Note also
that the box is not too rigid, and therefore contributes its own sound
signature. Change *any* of this, and you change the sound of the
speaker. Basically, renew the electrolytics with modern versions of
the same type, replace the spring clip terminals by decent binding
posts, tidy up the appearance if necessary with a lick of paint, new
veneer and a new grille cloth, but otherwise leave well alone!
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering