H.G.B.

In my case I have the older ones with the spring loaded pins, which I like by the way. My replacement tweeter had the rear push on connectors. After locating the connector's position a small I pilot was drilled through the wood followed by clearance holes so the push on terminals could be embedded into the cabinet. They have no function at this time. The 2 thin wires from the tweeter fell off so I held them captive in the push pins and laid them over the original connection. The wires didn't like soldering but they are connected now.. Do you know any one who has repaired Allison tweeters? I am using a pair of RDL F-1 and I suspect they share the same tweeter. e.g. wide dispersion. So I purchased a pair of ELAC speakers about 6 weeks ago and when I a/b them-- they just can't compare to Roy Allison's speakers in any way. They are going back. I did own a pair of model 6, model 4, the power hungry modern model 8 or 9 where the woofer is pointing at an angle to the floor. I still have the ESW in the closet. It's sad when one makes a decision to sell one's equipment and then its gone are. Such is life. Oh yes, I have 2 Allison 3 woofers which were overhauled-- yet they were placed in storage facing each other. Well I won't do that again. LOL

Well new and old I'm still learning and I appreciate your input. I will check out this impedance issue further however. I didn't realized computer grade caps were already used in 1977 by Allison. Thank you

Hi guys, I got back to my hifi/stereo life a few months ago and am using the Allison 3 speakers again. My ears have lost the ability to hear highs at my older age, yet I will not stop cold turkey and walk away from my stereo system. The selector control on the tweeter is now set to full output. I realized that the one tweeter has blown and I used a spare which was bought years ago. This new one is now-- after some modification --was installed and it's working. These drivers are not drop in as I quickly realized. The little wires which go to the connector poles just about dropped off during handling and had to be soldered back into place. Luckily it held, yet I don't trust the connections, because they wires are extremely thin. Had Roy Allison been alive and his company had prospered, I'm sure the tweeter would have been updated. The nipple shaped tweeter was ahead of its time, still is and but needed some connecting help. The model 3 has a 4Ω impedance and its not to be used with with certain ONKYO receivers which only work down to 6Ω. I finally had to try the speakers however and connected them and played the system at a low output. The speakers came back to life and I was pleased. All was well-- yet I'm wondering whether I caused the original tweeter's demise because of the mismatch and cranking it up a bit. There are several factors in play here which according to some gurus on YouTube may be detrimental to the longevity of the speaker. The age of the drivers may affect the performance. For example-- I blew a tweeter on the speaker years ago when my reel to reel was rewound with a high screaming output. A lesson learned very quickly. The electrical mismatch such as I mentioned above... and the age of the crossover may be suspect. Crossover have a life and the parts such as capacitors lose their values, which in turn affect the resistors and nothing is what seems anymore. No one wants to talk about this-- yet the problem exists-- it's there-- within the bowels of the 1977 speaker cabinets in my particular case. I'm not that gifted about the electronics here-- yet I'm curious what you could add this situation. H.G.B.

Doug, we purchased a large house and still it's not enough room for my speaker setup. I had JBL L-100's, Scott S-8, Allison 4, 6 and the more modern 9’s when I was younger Currently there are the following speakers in my possession yet: RDL Acoustics F-1, Allison 3's, JBL L-26's, Rogers LS-5 and Rogers Studio 2 and of course the subwoofers, the original Sunfire with 2,700 Watts RMS and a small VMPS running on a SA230 Dayton Audio Subwoofer amp. Well, now I can't appreciate any great high fidelity sounds as much as before-- because I'm a proud owner now of Costco hearing aids…. which are in a drawer by the way. My dream was a room built just for my stereo and entertainment, yet it won’t happen anymore. It’s too late. Enjoy your F-1 speakers, they aren’t very efficient yet they do sound good considering the subjectivity of it all. BTW these speakers have a thermally-activated poly switch in the crossover network. This is backup safety in case of overheating and according to the instructions may take an hour to cool down before things are returned to normal. At that time they play at a considerably lower volume. I just reconnected the F-1's and with the hearing aids on they sound really crisp with more than adequate bass. Hans

Hi Doug, Yes I still have the ESW with 12 page instructions. I also have the RDL Acoustics F-1 speakers in the original RDL shipping box. Hans

Hi Handel, if you are interested in the RDL speakers yet-- I have them and in the original shipping box. The woofers have been overhauled about a year ago and the speakers sound great. I'm south of Tampa, FL. HB