Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
![]()
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Maybe somebody here might have a usefull suggetion.
I have a pair of Advent Legacy speakers which I bought in the late 80's, new, driven by an SR-3A Nakamichi receiver. About 16 years ago the foam in the woofers basically disintegrated and I had them rebuilt by a lab in PA, can't remember the name. They sounded really great afterwards. Anyway, they sound pretty bad now - sort of mushy and fuzzy.. Can't make out the lyrics easily to well produced songs. The foam around the woofers still looks perfect. I have Audio-technica headphones and the receiver is very clear through them. I played some music through the Advents at volume and headphones at the same time to see if the clarity was breaking down with a load larger than the headphones, and the Advents sounded fuzzy and the A-T's sounded clear. Any ideas regarding cleaning the sound of these babies up? Gotten attached to them over the last 35 years:-) |
#2
![]()
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
In article 1lzbs69.1hzpycp8fcf9cN%paulfuchs@spamain'tkosher. oink,
wrote: Maybe somebody here might have a usefull suggetion. I have a pair of Advent Legacy speakers which I bought in the late 80's, new, driven by an SR-3A Nakamichi receiver. About 16 years ago the foam in the woofers basically disintegrated and I had them rebuilt by a lab in PA, can't remember the name. They sounded really great afterwards. Anyway, they sound pretty bad now - sort of mushy and fuzzy.. Can't make out the lyrics easily to well produced songs. The foam around the woofers still looks perfect. I have Audio-technica headphones and the receiver is very clear through them. I played some music through the Advents at volume and headphones at the same time to see if the clarity was breaking down with a load larger than the headphones, and the Advents sounded fuzzy and the A-T's sounded clear. Any ideas regarding cleaning the sound of these babies up? Gotten attached to them over the last 35 years:-) First thing I'd check, is to see if they still sound bad when played on another receiver... they probably will but it's good "due diligence" to make sure that the problem is entirely isolated to the speakers. "Mushy and fuzzy" isn't a terribly precise definition of the problem, so I'll just suggest a number of things which *might* go wrong with the speakers which *might* account for this description. - Another failure of the foam surround. If the foam disintegrates, or the glue junction between the foam and diaphragm (or foam and frame) breaks, air will leak out as the driver moves back and forth. This will wreck the "acoustic suspension" spring action of the air inside the enclosure, and may also make chuffing or whoofing sounds. If "mushy and fuzzy" includes "sounds as if the speakers are farting when the bassist hits a low note" this is something to check :-) 15 years isn't a bad lifetime for foam surrounds, alas... it's possible that the replacements are failing again. - Air leak elsewhere in the cabinet (again, this wrecks the acoustic suspension system). - The woofer voice-coil suspensions may have sagged with age, allowing the voice coil to rub against the magnet assembly or frame. This results in nasty-sounding distortion. You can sometimes detect this by *gently* pressing in on the woofer diaphragm, right around the dust cap in the center, with the receiver turned off. Press straight in and release, slowly, and don't overdoit. If you sense a gritty-feeling "something is rubbing" sensation, or hear a scraping, then this is your problem. It's sometimes possible to have such drivers repaired (similar to a re-coning but it may require replacing the "spider" as well). - The tweeters may not be working right. If the speaker system was overdriven to excessively high volumes, the tweeter voice coils might have overheated and burned (leading to warping and rubbing) or actually burned out. Some tweeters can have their voice coils replaced; in other cases it's necessary to replace the tweeter with a compatible one (if you can find one - crossover changes may be required). - Component failure in the crossover(s) - a dried-out electrolytic capacitor would be the likeliest, I think. - Blown fuse in the crossover (if the speaker has 'em for protection), shutting down the tweeter. Fuses do wear out with age and need to be replaced. - Advents, being classic rock-era speakers, may not like modern music and might be refusing to play it out of distaste :-) |
#4
![]()
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Dave Platt wrote:
In article 1lzbs69.1hzpycp8fcf9cN%paulfuchs@spamain'tkosher. oink, wrote: Maybe somebody here might have a usefull suggetion. I have a pair of Advent Legacy speakers which I bought in the late 80's, new, driven by an SR-3A Nakamichi receiver. About 16 years ago the foam in the woofers basically disintegrated and I had them rebuilt by a lab in PA, can't remember the name. They sounded really great afterwards. Anyway, they sound pretty bad now - sort of mushy and fuzzy.. Can't make out the lyrics easily to well produced songs. The foam around the woofers still looks perfect. I have Audio-technica headphones and the receiver is very clear through them. I played some music through the Advents at volume and headphones at the same time to see if the clarity was breaking down with a load larger than the headphones, and the Advents sounded fuzzy and the A-T's sounded clear. Any ideas regarding cleaning the sound of these babies up? Gotten attached to them over the last 35 years:-) First thing I'd check, is to see if they still sound bad when played on another receiver... they probably will but it's good "due diligence" to make sure that the problem is entirely isolated to the speakers. "Mushy and fuzzy" isn't a terribly precise definition of the problem, so I'll just suggest a number of things which *might* go wrong with the speakers which *might* account for this description. - Another failure of the foam surround. If the foam disintegrates, or the glue junction between the foam and diaphragm (or foam and frame) breaks, air will leak out as the driver moves back and forth. This will wreck the "acoustic suspension" spring action of the air inside the enclosure, and may also make chuffing or whoofing sounds. If "mushy and fuzzy" includes "sounds as if the speakers are farting when the bassist hits a low note" this is something to check :-) 15 years isn't a bad lifetime for foam surrounds, alas... it's possible that the replacements are failing again. - Air leak elsewhere in the cabinet (again, this wrecks the acoustic suspension system). - The woofer voice-coil suspensions may have sagged with age, allowing the voice coil to rub against the magnet assembly or frame. This results in nasty-sounding distortion. You can sometimes detect this by *gently* pressing in on the woofer diaphragm, right around the dust cap in the center, with the receiver turned off. Press straight in and release, slowly, and don't overdoit. If you sense a gritty-feeling "something is rubbing" sensation, or hear a scraping, then this is your problem. It's sometimes possible to have such drivers repaired (similar to a re-coning but it may require replacing the "spider" as well). - The tweeters may not be working right. If the speaker system was overdriven to excessively high volumes, the tweeter voice coils might have overheated and burned (leading to warping and rubbing) or actually burned out. Some tweeters can have their voice coils replaced; in other cases it's necessary to replace the tweeter with a compatible one (if you can find one - crossover changes may be required). - Component failure in the crossover(s) - a dried-out electrolytic capacitor would be the likeliest, I think. - Blown fuse in the crossover (if the speaker has 'em for protection), shutting down the tweeter. Fuses do wear out with age and need to be replaced. - Advents, being classic rock-era speakers, may not like modern music and might be refusing to play it out of distaste :-) Thanks for the time and effort you put into your answer. Greatly appreciated. |
#5
![]()
Posted to rec.audio.tech
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Thanks to everyone here who gave great detailed, and actionable
responses. wrote: Dave Platt wrote: In article 1lzbs69.1hzpycp8fcf9cN%paulfuchs@spamain'tkosher. oink, wrote: Maybe somebody here might have a usefull suggetion. I have a pair of Advent Legacy speakers which I bought in the late 80's, new, driven by an SR-3A Nakamichi receiver. About 16 years ago the foam in the woofers basically disintegrated and I had them rebuilt by a lab in PA, can't remember the name. They sounded really great afterwards. Anyway, they sound pretty bad now - sort of mushy and fuzzy.. Can't make out the lyrics easily to well produced songs. The foam around the woofers still looks perfect. I have Audio-technica headphones and the receiver is very clear through them. I played some music through the Advents at volume and headphones at the same time to see if the clarity was breaking down with a load larger than the headphones, and the Advents sounded fuzzy and the A-T's sounded clear. Any ideas regarding cleaning the sound of these babies up? Gotten attached to them over the last 35 years:-) First thing I'd check, is to see if they still sound bad when played on another receiver... they probably will but it's good "due diligence" to make sure that the problem is entirely isolated to the speakers. "Mushy and fuzzy" isn't a terribly precise definition of the problem, so I'll just suggest a number of things which *might* go wrong with the speakers which *might* account for this description. - Another failure of the foam surround. If the foam disintegrates, or the glue junction between the foam and diaphragm (or foam and frame) breaks, air will leak out as the driver moves back and forth. This will wreck the "acoustic suspension" spring action of the air inside the enclosure, and may also make chuffing or whoofing sounds. If "mushy and fuzzy" includes "sounds as if the speakers are farting when the bassist hits a low note" this is something to check :-) 15 years isn't a bad lifetime for foam surrounds, alas... it's possible that the replacements are failing again. - Air leak elsewhere in the cabinet (again, this wrecks the acoustic suspension system). - The woofer voice-coil suspensions may have sagged with age, allowing the voice coil to rub against the magnet assembly or frame. This results in nasty-sounding distortion. You can sometimes detect this by *gently* pressing in on the woofer diaphragm, right around the dust cap in the center, with the receiver turned off. Press straight in and release, slowly, and don't overdoit. If you sense a gritty-feeling "something is rubbing" sensation, or hear a scraping, then this is your problem. It's sometimes possible to have such drivers repaired (similar to a re-coning but it may require replacing the "spider" as well). - The tweeters may not be working right. If the speaker system was overdriven to excessively high volumes, the tweeter voice coils might have overheated and burned (leading to warping and rubbing) or actually burned out. Some tweeters can have their voice coils replaced; in other cases it's necessary to replace the tweeter with a compatible one (if you can find one - crossover changes may be required). - Component failure in the crossover(s) - a dried-out electrolytic capacitor would be the likeliest, I think. - Blown fuse in the crossover (if the speaker has 'em for protection), shutting down the tweeter. Fuses do wear out with age and need to be replaced. - Advents, being classic rock-era speakers, may not like modern music and might be refusing to play it out of distaste :-) Thanks for the time and effort you put into your answer. Greatly appreciated. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Refurbishing Small advents | Tech | |||
FS: LARGE ADVENTS see Image... | Marketplace | |||
Large Vintage Advents | Marketplace | |||
Large Vintage Advents | Marketplace | |||
WTB- Large Advents | Marketplace |