[DVS]

My old MG 1.4's are sounding flat and lifeless. They work OK, in other words
no odd noises or distortion.

Anybody have any thoughts or info on rebuilding them? Is this something that
an amateur can do at home?

I'm assuming I'll be able to get parts form Magenplanar. Will call them next
week.

Thanks,

Smitty

[Andreas Hünnebeck]

DVS wrote:

My old MG 1.4's are sounding flat and lifeless. They work OK, in other
words no odd noises or distortion.

Anybody have any thoughts or info on rebuilding them? Is this something
that an amateur can do at home?

The only thing I had to do on both my MG1.4s was to glue the wire back
onto the membrane (at the ends only). It was a very messy work but it
can be done.

If the sound is no longer good enough buy better speakers. It took me
a very long time to find suitable speakers, but finally I bought
a pair of active studio monitors (Klein&Hummel O300D). I plugged them
in and after a few seconds I realised how bad the Maggies had been.

bye
Andreas
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[pj]

If there is a buzz, then it probably just means regluing the tweeter wire to
the membrane, but I don't think that is the problem here. Since it sounds
dull, I think the tweeter wire is broken (a very common problem - the
aluminum wire fatigues with age and use). I know that the MG-1 had aluminum
wire, so I don't think you can make a good repair to the wire. You probably
need to replace the entire aluminum wire on the membrane. You can either
send it to Magnepan and pay them to do the work or they at least used to
sell repair kits.

It is a PITA to do, but it isn't rocket science. I found that the 2 most
difficult parts were holding down the wire as you glue it to the membrane
and stretching the sock (grill cloth) back on so you can reattach it to the
bottom of the speaker. If you decide to rebuild it, you might want to plan
on buying (or making) new socks for it. New ones have a bit of extra
material so you can grab it and stretch. Once it is attached you trim of
the excess.

If the later MGs started using copper wire (I don't think they ever did) you
might be able to solder the broken ends of the tweeter wire together, but
you cannot solder aluminum.

Hope this helps.

"Andreas Hünnebeck" wrote in message
om...
DVS wrote:

My old MG 1.4's are sounding flat and lifeless. They work OK, in other
words no odd noises or distortion.

Anybody have any thoughts or info on rebuilding them? Is this something
that an amateur can do at home?

The only thing I had to do on both my MG1.4s was to glue the wire back
onto the membrane (at the ends only). It was a very messy work but it
can be done.

If the sound is no longer good enough buy better speakers. It took me
a very long time to find suitable speakers, but finally I bought
a pair of active studio monitors (Klein&Hummel O300D). I plugged them
in and after a few seconds I realised how bad the Maggies had been.

bye
Andreas
--
Andreas Hünnebeck | email:
----- privat ---- | www : http://www.huennebeck-online.de
PGP-Key: http://www.huennebeck-online.de/publ...gp_andreas.asc
GPG-Key: http://www.huennebeck-online.de/public_keys/andreas.asc

[Peter Wieck]

pj wrote:

If the later MGs started using copper wire (I don't think they ever did) you
might be able to solder the broken ends of the tweeter wire together, but
you cannot solder aluminum.

There are tiny little silver-plated or gold-plated aluminum crimps
available for joining breaks in aluminum wire. The plating makes for
good contact even through the oxidized surface and does not contribute
to further corrosion as would copper or other semi-noble materials.

Your local audio repair shop may not be willing to sell them to you (or
even admit they exist but they certainly do - and they use them), but
you can find them at any bead shop in various gauges. I have a vintage
voice-coil (1932) on a Zenith radio with such a repair now 15 years
old.

Look for "large" and "small" crimps mid-down, right.

http://www.eebeads.com/_string.htm

They truly are tiny. And they really do work. I keep two sizes in my
junk box, I believe a tiny bag of 20 half-gold/half-silver cost me a
whopping $2.49. You can also get solid or plated gold, silver and solid
aluminum or copper wire or at the same place you get the cinches. The
advantage is that wires sourced from Jewelry Findings shops may be
purchase as "hard", "annealed" or "dead soft". Your local Jeweler's Row
will have at least one such shop. If not, on-line.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA