newandold

At the end of the day, all that matters is that you’re satisfied! That being said, the replacements you put in are wildly different automotive application subwoofer drivers where the only spec. That matches RA’s originals is the 4ohm. If I were you I would hang on to those originals for a period of time, as you may grow weary 😮‍💨 of those car subs.

Hi Tom, Two suggestions for you…. Ebay. there are several professionals that vend from there and you can communicate with them before you buy regarding roll radius and material thickness etc. The other is Simply Speakers that sells AND repairs for those of us that are so inclined. In the VERY unlikely event you were tasked with IC20 woofers, the surround is the same as what would be used with the A1. There are other differences, most notably the smaller magnets, but not the surrounds.

The most fun 🤩 experience I’ve had in this Hi Fi game up to this point, was having the opportunity to evolve into the flagship, at a time when I thought it was a missed opportunity forever. Now that I’m here I thought it would be fun. to point out some of those hands on differences between the “One” and the “20”…..in the cabinet’s build quality and a few other things; some disappointing and others most welcome. When first I saw that 1987 Brochure for the 20 I was awestruck by those images….everything that I felt could be improved upon with the One, was taken care of with the 20 (or so I thought). Decades later, when finally landed a pair there was ONE thing that bugged me…..not the end of the world however disappointing. Particle board. THE very same underneath that beautiful skin with the “T” nuts that if you’re not careful can be problematic. Anyone who’s dealt with that on The One knows exactly what I’m talking about. No problem here and fortunate that I had the ones for the experience. The rest is a dream come true. No more thin wires attaching the tweeters and midrange drivers on the outside of the cabinets. That’s huge, along with metal grills to protect those delicate domes. Crossover network easily removed from the bottom of the enclosure rather than glued and stapled where it would be a nightmare to pull out. The push in pull out grills with cloth. New cloth can be done on these if and when the day comes.

I stand corrected to you guys. My focus was not on cloth surrounds. How long on average would you go with cloth maintenance before replacement?

Understood about no debate regarding various products for this purpose and I agree with that.……being said IMHO no doping of any kind should be done. That is a road that eventually ends badly. There is the most important thing to understand and that is the difference between acoustic suspension vs. a vacuum seal, which these speakers are not. That means the surround can’t be saved eventually no matter what you do or what you apply. Better to put the effort into replacement instead. High quality replacement surrounds are more durable than some of the material used decades ago. I’ve also seen doped surrounds where they fall apart on the backside….most do not go so far as to get back there, (and it won’t matter any way)

It can be VERY unsettling, when an unexpected pair of hands get in the mix! I had something in a similar vein when my wife took over the controls of my over powered system back in the day. 1000 watts a channel @8ohm…. I arrived home and NO sound from my speakers would emerge. Long story short, I found both in-line MDX-2 fuses to protect the speakers were blown out. I have no idea 🤷‍♂️ what happened (and I don’t want to know.) Replaced the fuses and all was good with no damage (yay)

Alas, my XA was relegated to the trash pile about a year and a half ago. I did pull the Stanton 681EEE-S out of the table and gave it to a friend who upgraded his table with it. He was very pleased with it.

Vintage speakers such as yours can handle anything you throw at them with one important exception and that’s what’s getting lost here. A processor with crossover point settings and dedicated LFE is essential (and I realize you don’t want this) to shield your woofers from bottoming out ( over excursion). as long as you’re not clipping the rest of the material would be child’s play for a system like the 3a One, or a pair of subs would also be needed and you indicated no interest there….that’s ok!

“What I learned 60 years ago is not common sense these days. Nor is common sense so common anymore either. On top of it all, I would never mix a dedicated music-system with a video system, that’s just me as the expression goes and quite rightly so. Additionally, my vintage stuff more than likely would not survive theexaggerated levels in modern movie sound tracks so,I’d have to think modern in any future equipmentselections I may make. For such a video I'd bring in myconventional thinking and buy into those 'chip' ampssome folks rant about reluctantly although. one ofguitar amps is 100RMS watts and class 'D'. Oh my,heaven forbid.” For years leading up to 2000, I was determined to build one system that would render BOTH music and film 🎥 to the highest standard with A frequency range from 20,000 all the way down to 15HZ where you feel rather than hear. There are many out there who feel a dedicated 2 channel system should never be mixed with multi channel, but with today’s modern pre. Pro. Offerings only outdated thinking stands in the way. I have owned and still have two true high end audio preamps that that just happen to have AV capability (Sunfire and Emotiva XMC1) I have separate configuration settings for film vs music that are tweaked depending on source material. None of my 2 channel systems of the past could out perform what I’ve got going on now!

Hi Frank, I use different subwoofer AND processor settings when listening to music VS. special effects movies for exactly those reasons you’re concerned about. Not embarrassing at all….SVS has tier level products and their top level stuff today is practically second to none. I’m zeroing in on the biggest SVS sub. out there now, to potentially replace the Velodyne HGS 18 that’s currently in my system. Velodyne is long gone from the subwoofer business so keeping this beast running could become problematic.

I grew weary of the whole “how many watts” thing decades ago and got past it in 2 ways…. 1= Subwoofers: The Fidelity I crave (and most people) I believe and perhaps 🤔 not realizing it comes primarily from the tweeters and midrange from AR or Allison in my case and not so much the woofer sections. Much of the amplifier horsepower is needed to drive that woofer section, so if you take much of that load away with powered subs., you’ve got yourself more amp. headroom for those mids and tweets. Depending on the crossover point you’re using and if you were diligent in matching the subs to your mains, you’ve got it all including freq. response low enough to enjoy organ music if it pleases you without testing the limits. Put that together with a high power main amp and you can put the whole subject to rest.

LOL…..I think you DO (sort of!) Just finishing KONG SKULL Island 3D as I’m writing ✍️ this! ALA IC20

Now into my 10th year with this extraordinary acquisition of the first pair of IC20’s. (Hard to believe)! Operating flawlessly since the initial and very thorough going over back in 2012. At 35 years “young” minus those 20 years of originally boxed storage, they have but 15 years only of careful usage, with the low end relieved (still) by the Velodyne 18” sub.

High and low powered amplifiers share a common thread. There is PERIL with both when taken to the extreme. The difference? Too Loud with high power and you’ll damage your speakers, but the amp. Will survive it. Try to make it loud with a “toy” amp. and probably, you’ll. Lose them both. I’ll take high power with discretion any day of the week

more than a few

LOL ! (Hardly an expert) just An Allison lunatic who saw the writing ✍️ on the wall and started scarping spare parts! First time I saw trouble as an Allison end user was around 1994, when a woofer I ordered from the company wasn’t exactly what I expected. That being said, It played beautifully, despite it’s appearance being somewhat different. Fast forward past the 2000 reorganization debacle, (for myself at least) its been Ebay all the way. Keeping it going here for as long as possible. Still running my surround system with all original Allison drivers 28 in all, save one Velodyne Sub.

You’re describing a voice coil that is destroyed. The spider and the surround are the suspension components for the coil. There are many ways that could have happened but over driving is most often the cause. The spider sag is another age related phenomenon, where they “ look” fine but have lost compliance thus shifting too much burden on the surround to keep it all together. IMHO, spiders are the most overlooked component when do it yourselfers jump in there and replace a crumpled surround….then think everything is A OK. The reality however, is quite another thing.

https://www.simplyspeakers.com/ My “go to” since Millersound stopped Allison…..and I have had great original Allison woofer work done here. Best shot I know of to maintain that vital original “Allison build”

That’s a good story! I never had a serious listening session with the “six”, but the keyboard player of a small group I was playing with back in ‘88 had a pair book-shelved in his living room. Better in his space as opposed to something like the “four” which needed more space than he had. (I had ones at home back then.) He probably had them because one of the few high end stores near by (Mamaroneck NY) carried Allison at the time. I saw the 9 displayed there but again, didn’t “hear” them seriously. The dealer had only the FM radio playing thru them. Still hooked today, playing mostly Blu-ray films through my “Allison Home Theater” system that contains 3 pair of restored and maintained Allison speakers.

It was fun and interesting to try those different location possibilities afforded by the A1’s! In the 35 years that I owned them, they spent around 14 years on adjacent walls and the balance on one wall. Eleven of those “same” wall years they were kept company by the Velodyne HGS 18 Subwoofer, that brought the response clean down to 15hz. The opposite wall test failed….room constraints at that time prevented me from getting them close enough to the end of the room to kick the bass up.

No surprise coming from Tom (and no one knows better than he). Tom owned the most pristine pair of Allison Ones I had ever seen…..If I recall correctly, the very last pair ever made.

Yours are superior for a very important reason. The original outboard connections for the mid range and tweeters had been done away with And were then wired internally. By far that was the most significant improvement in those speakers.

When the ALLISON:One was introduced originally, The crossover network had a horizontal “slope switch” and no Biamping connection option. When the Biamping option appeared a few years later, I always felt (speculation only on my part), That it was not Roy’s decision, But rather taken under advisement from within the company in order to be competitive with other Loudspeakers operating on that level. My IC20’s are biampable by means of a toggle switch instead of the jumpers. My goal was to completely avoid the Biamp option, and I did so by fashioning 1 foot jumpers, of #12 THHN. That takes the switch with its thin lead connection out of the loop. Each of the five channels of my Allison system, are receiving 405 watts rms@8ohm. Each of the systems is a nominal 6ohm load. The Velodyne HGS 18 Sub. continues to have the system respond down to 15HZ. Before Velodyne went out of business, the California-based company rebuilt and upgraded the class D plate amp. They are back by the way operating overseas and have expanded back to the USA.

The A1 crossover is a passive network. No meaningful difference would come out of it unless you’re doing it to add power to the mix.