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#1
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Allison One speaker repair
Hello,
I have been out of the "stereo loop" for almost 18 yrs and am returning and wishing to rebuild/replace my existing system. I have a pair of Allison Ones, circa 1984, that need the woofers re-foamed. I need to replace one mid-range and one tweeter as well. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction for re-foaming and quality replacement parts. I have given up on the Allison company making it back from the grave and am now looking for outside help. Thank you in advance for your help. Marshall |
#2
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dugger4 wrote:
Hello, I have been out of the "stereo loop" for almost 18 yrs and am returning and wishing to rebuild/replace my existing system. I have a pair of Allison Ones, circa 1984, that need the woofers re-foamed. I need to replace one mid-range and one tweeter as well. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction for re-foaming and quality replacement parts. I have given up on the Allison company making it back from the grave and am now looking for outside help. Thank you in advance for your help. You can get supplies for refoaming your speakers at: http://www.newfoam.com/video.asp http://www.simplyspeakers.com/2doityourself.htm I recommend a kit which includes a new dust cap and shims. You cut off your old dust cap and use the shims to positively center the cone while the old surround is removed, its residue cleaned off, and the new surround is glued into place and the glue allowed to set. Then you glue on the new dust cap. Without the shims, there is a chance that you will wind up with a crooked cone that will rub. You will have to do the job over again. You will have a long face. Don't ask how I know. -GP |
#4
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Try he
http://www.allisonacoustics.com/ http://www.allisonacoustics.com/parts.html -- DG "dugger4" wrote in message ... Hello, I have been out of the "stereo loop" for almost 18 yrs and am returning and wishing to rebuild/replace my existing system. I have a pair of Allison Ones, circa 1984, that need the woofers re-foamed. I need to replace one mid-range and one tweeter as well. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction for re-foaming and quality replacement parts. I have given up on the Allison company making it back from the grave and am now looking for outside help. Thank you in advance for your help. Marshall |
#5
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Russ Button wrote:
If that much is gone with your Allison loudspeakers, then I recommend you consider them to be history. As do I. Getting OEM replacement drivers for those systems is just about impossible. If you really like the cabinets, you can buy new drivers from Madisound and populate the enclosure. I'd also recommend talking to the folks at Madisound and telling them what you're planning to do. They can make suggestions as to what drivers would work well together in that size enclosure and would be able to provide you with a suitable crossover as well. Be sure to measure the internal dimensions of the enclosure and have that ready for the people at Madisound. I doubt that Madisound can really help that guy. Here is why. First, we have the problem with the tweeters he needs to replace. Yes, tweeters (plural(, because if he goes the OEM route and gets an other-brand replacement he will have to replace all four (two in each system). Unfortunately, getting a proper impedance and efficiency match (and size for the cutout match, too) is going to be just about impossible. Yes, standard one-inch tweeters will work OK, although not as good as those convex Allison jobs, but they will still be OK. Unfortunately, the problems I noted will probably dominate. Replacement tweeters from OEM outfits will probably play either too loud or too soft. Second, the midrange. Well, the Allison midrange is a sealed-back dome design that cannot be duplicated in the Model One by mounting a standard cone midrange that requires an open space behind it. That enclosed space will also be occupied by the woofers and the result would be an acoustic-pressure disaster. Consequently, the only option is to get a sealed-back driver of some kind that is able to get down to the 350 Hz crossover point to the woofer. In addition, it will have to be a four-ohm-rated driver with an efficiency match to the originals. Not likely. OK, the woofers are the only area where something can be done that will work, because the foam surrounds can indeed be replaced. What's more, an outfit like Eminence (who for a while at least was making the woofers in the new-company Allison models) will be able to come up with something. However, given that the tweeter and midrange problem is not going to go away, that solution to the woofer problem is academic. I suggest that the man keep hammering away at the new Allison outfit to see if they can come across with replacement drivers. They were making them themselves for a while and I read somewhere that they might have some other OEM outfit now making versions that are very similar to the originals. If they can get this man new drivers, ALL of the midrange and tweeter units will have to be replaced to keep the performance balanced. Yep, the replacements will probably not be quite the same in terms of behavior as the originals. Still good, but not quite identical. Unfortunately, my experience has been that the new Allison outfit is not up to the task of either duplicating the older Allison drivers (especially the midrange) and is also not up to the task of supplying them, even if they can build the things. Howard Ferstler |
#6
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dugger4 wrote:
Hello, I have been out of the "stereo loop" for almost 18 yrs and am returning and wishing to rebuild/replace my existing system. I have a pair of Allison Ones, circa 1984, that need the woofers re-foamed. I need to replace one mid-range and one tweeter as well. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction for re-foaming and quality replacement parts. I have given up on the Allison company making it back from the grave and am now looking for outside help. Thank you in advance for your help. Marshall I suggest that you start scoping ebay and see when someone puts up a pair of three-way Allison models for sale. These could include the Model 8, CD-8, CD-9, Model 9, AL-125, AL-130, and of course the earlier Model Two and Model Three, and the Model One. If you see such systems for sale, even if they are listed as being in somewhat beat up condition, you can purchase them as parts mules. (Store for potential future use the drivers you do not need.) This is because the tweeters and midrange drivers in any Allison three-way system will perform the same as those that are used in the Model One. This approach assumes that at least some of the tweeters and midrange drivers in those systems are OK, of course. Note that later midrange and tweeter drivers had plastic mounting plates instead of mdf, and still later ones had protective screens built over the domes. However, they still perform the same as those early versions. As for the woofers, you would probably be able to get a foam-replacement kit from an outfit like Simply Speakers and do the fix yourself, assuming you are willing to do the rather tedious procedure. (Simply Speakers will do the work for you, if you want, but at extra cost.) Another option would be to contact Eminence (an OEM driver builder) to see if they have any Allison-type 10-inch woofers available. They were building the woofers for the "new" Model One for a while, so they might just be able to handle that problem for you. Check with them, though, because I am not sure if the magnet structure on the Eminence woofer will fit into the tight space behind the mounting plate on a Model One. The later Model One, produced by the "revived" Allison outfit had a greater clearance that allowed for that woofer to be used. I am not sure about the older model, with its somewhat smaller interior enclosure space. Howard Ferstler |
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