Jim Pearce

I heard a couple of terms here that stuck in my mind and they are lively quote and flat quote. That's probably the most important statement in the writing, the reasons for that might be obvious. I think that speaks of the differences between the east coast and the West Coast sound, (ugh) in other words engineering goals and speaker design goals or voicing or whatever some of you may prefer to call it. Then of course someone alluded to the fact that some of the components, the tweeters I guess, have been degraded in one of the set of speakers which of course trumps everything, there is no way a valid subjective audition could be done given that, unless it was stated from the outset that you were going to compare a pair of speakers with degraded tweeters to a different pair of speakers with up-to-speed tweeters. If another driver were added to one of the pairs then of course they would not be the same speakers as designed, ditto if they were redesigned with a different circuit or a different component. Then there's the idea of newer technology if the jbl's are from a later era. My two cents. Oh, right... Location, location, location.

Ah! Yes, I have seen this before but forgot about it. Thank you.

Thanks, I have it loose on my shelf that I can't remember which cabinet it came from. If it has the same DCR measurement as a silver one would that be any indication as to whether or not it is a perfect match? How does one tell, otherwise?

I bought a pair with one black tweeter. What's the story?

Hi guys, Who knows where I can get some of the pins for the 2ax? Hopefully they won't be the ones that will eventually in a humid environment bleed rust onto the fabric. Thanks!

You guys are amazing.

Hi guys, I opened a pair of 2ax and 1 has a short, square magnet and the other a tall round one. Which is the best and why? Thanks!

So the craft store stuff is solvent-based?

Aha, thanks. And I shudder to think how many surrounds on various speakers from different makers have been ruined by people using watered-down caulk, watered down Aileen's or Permatex or some other product to seal them. Man am I glad I waited until I listened to all of you guys... Incidentally the proper stuff is only thinnable with tolulene I believe?

Hi, 1. I have what appear to be a Roy C type modded pair of these that have the terminals taped over, rivet-like terminals like the ones shown here instead of the pus in types. Does that mean my loudspeakers were built in Holland? What's the story on those differences? 2. Also, the white glue for the surrounds you are referring to... Is that the typical white glue that most people use for woodworking projects? I have some Bose 300 ones that I'm going to do as my first ever refoam job as practice for my ARs, ahem, and have been wondering what adhesive to use. 3. I have a pair of 2axs with mismatched woofers...one has a short square magnet with a sticker that says it is a factory replacement and a Masonite ring, the other has a conical taller magnet. Which woofer is preferable? Thanks!

Have followed several members here for about 20 years, none more closely than Roy. So many reasons! Mainly because he's the, THE...iconic hero and champion of my only real hobby now. Hats off to you, my friend! We are all sooo grateful.

"Good" means different things to different people. The 8080, to me, sounds good regardless of what setting one uses. All things being equal, which of course they never are, I run everything flat as a rule, regardless of the equipment maker. that's related to why I prefer what's known as the East Coast sound over what's sometimes called West Coast. I have diminished sensitivity of high frequencies in my left ear so I tend to run things a little hotter on the left side (West Coast, lol?) and attenuate accordingly frequencies at the left speaker only. I do not use equalization because I believe it complicates the signal path. I guess things sound "good" to me that way. Or at least better than they would otherwise. Having said all that does not mean I never change things, including my microphilosophies..or mood. What I described is what you might call my macrophilosophy. I just dig Vilchur and Kloss shit. And I don't even have any that's been recapped. Yet.

Note to self... Do your homework before approaching people that matter. It occurred to me that I never tested the pots to see if they actually were offline on these modded speakers, they are. Turning causes no sound differences. Also found that at least one of the tweeters are inop with toilet paper tube. Figured I'd take things apart and photo things. Will send you the pics, Roy. All appears well except some areas where wood screws used in t nuts...!...referring to tweeters and mids but there seems to be good sealant and intact. Woofers seem tight with machine screws and t nuts are tight. Caps look new and have Dayton printed on them. Will send photo of values, etc. Tweeter backs have a slice of cardboard buffer...?...piece of styrofoam and what appear to be somewhat recently wound bright shiny copper coils. Curiously, to me, pots seem to have intact connections all throughout except for one tab. No screening behind woofer and insulation maybe old style original? Now the kicker. Put everything back together, removed jumper wire and connected leads to terminals one and t as opposed to one and two... and the tweeter works. Put jumper wire on and still working. Mid-range still screaming but turned down middle tone control on receiver. Adjusted treble to reasonable range to minimize sibilance. Voila. I have no idea what the hell happened before. The only thing I can guess is that the jumper wire to the t terminal was not tight when I several weeks ago fully auditioned the speakers and I had the leads connected to terminals one and two. When I first got these making the trade for the equipment I had the first thing I did of course was test the tweeters and they worked. Then I quickly put the speakers away and made the trade. So. I can easily deal with tightening the drivers to the cabinet and making sure we are airtight. At this point my question is...do I need screening behind the woofers and will pantyhose or something like that work? I'll send you the pictures Roy and we'll get started on the rebuilds for the 3/4 inch lovelies as our time allows. Sheesh.

In a word, s***.

Oh no! As I have feared may happen, I have clearly been misunderstood by virtually everyone. I would never second-guess anyone here. Never.

Just saw part of your post that said if there's anyone around Oklahoma City they might be willing to provide hands on work. You guys are amazing.

First, tyvm for the trust, which is no small issue. Second, my mentioned screaming was about the mid-range. My modded speakers are just horrible here. I don't mind if tweeters scream... in fact I prefer it. My left ear cannot hear much over about eight or ten thousand. I ascribe that something called psychoacoustics exists however, it can be seen on Wikipedia. But I digress. I traded for the supposedly but now hugely doubtfully Roy C. modded pair with something that I considered of much less value and tested them only cursorily. Further listening found them to be unacceptable for day-to-day use. Thank you for the photo editing recommendations. I'll try. I did not know about the wiring differences between the pots and the L pads. And I'm aware that I'm remiss for not addressing the recapping as primary. I however consider the tweeter replacement / rebuild primary. Right now I have a pair with screaming mid ranges, a pair with no tweeters and a pair that had the black tweeters which now have a pair of red tweeters! All of them have been refurbished in one way or another. My first goal is to get the proper tweeters matched with the proper crossovers. THEN recaps. I have the hivi with the screaming mids, the former black tweeter pair that now have the red tweeters...which sound...wrong, I know. then there is the pair that had the red gums which now have no tweeters at all. All three pairs have been rebuilt one way or another. Two pairs have been rebuilt by a physics professor here in Norman, Oklahoma...from whom incidentally I bought two pair of rebuilt OLAs from...and the ones with the non AR tweeters came from someplace in Northwest Oklahoma. You have supported my decision on whom I'll ask to do my tweeters. Thank you so much for everything.

Oh, and regarding the equalizer... I'm very reluctant to introduce complications into the signal path. These days.

"Suggests" would be the operative term here. I cannot solder... When changing out drivers I cut wires far from the drivers themselves, sometimes needing to patch in wire to lengthen the work and use wire nuts...and I'm only partially adept with a screwdriver. I have not yet damaged a surround with that tool, luckily.

My initial post about this issue was getting pointed in the "right" direction for first, sonic accuracy for the pair I'll be using and on the second pair which I'll be restoring to factory specs for storage as an investment of sorts. I'm finding it so far impossible to send photos and copying and pasting text of the supposed work done to these speakers except by way of forwarding an email apparently. If there is anyone that could see their way to trusting me with an email address, I would love it. I have five or six of these tweeters on a shelf covered gently with a towel and a HUGE sign for my wife that says put NOTHING on top of this shelf or the items under the towel! Ever since my true love cued up a disc with no stylus in the XSV 3000 cartridge on my AR XA one time, she dare not touch anything audio related except for the volume control when we are listening to something and clears even that with me, lol. I'd probably just be better off switching drivers into different different states of crossovers and pots with the different results I get and pick the sound that simply sounds best to me while offering the ability to adjust for acoustics and room placement. Sorry for the convoluted nature of my writings.

It's the mid-range that screams I think. I think that the mid-range screams on all of them. Even the unmodded pair that I have... into which I put the red domes into when I killed the black bullets by cranking a 20 watt Marantz. I have heard that the black 3/4 in lose a great deal of their output over time so I have opened the attenuators all the way and greatly cut the mids anyway, almost turning them off. I am now using a refurbished Sansui 8080 that I do something similar with reducing the mid-range and accenting the treble control but that's another story of course. Having trouble inserting a photo from my files or camera but it is the Hi Vi tweeter with the textile dome. Raised letters say 'Hi Vi' just below the dome. No exposed wiring in front. I will continue to try to send photos to you somehow I don't know if it is a QR 1. My next move is to pull the woofer and shoot a photos of the crossover of the crossover.

Roy, omigosh; sorry! Adams, you nailed it. Sorry as well to the rest; didn't know I was being so cryptic, never meant to be. Have always in my mind thought of them that way, the others as 'red phenolics'. At any rate, I dearly love them, have for various reasons, mainly ignorance and poor judgement destroyed 5, am of very limited means, have 6 boxes complete except for the 5 bullets and am in great pain. So. Before I plunk down a substantial portion of my monthly income I want to be sure it's going to the best option. On the other hand, I DO have a pair of your modded ones that I find intolerably screamy in the midrange. But the pots have been bypassed. A competent friend will put them back in line for $60. Repair of 2 tweeters from our friend here runs $150 or so I guess. Two pair of the non modded tweeterless units have been restored. SO... If cost is not an issue, what is the option where sonic accuracy is the primary goal? I'll then have another pair later set to factory if it's considered different from sonically accurate if so. I apologize Roy if you consider this post stranger yet.

Thank you.

Such heady stuff, this. Thank you all so very much.

I do, yes.