I thought the A-4's were made of solid wood until I decided to sand them.

[Guest gregryjo]

I thought the A-4's were made of solid wood until I decided to sand them. (Mind you I am not talking about the vinyl Advents here). To my dismay what looked like solid walnut turns out to be a walnut facia over particle board. I sanded maybe a 1/64" off to find this out.

Does everyone else know this, or am I naive? I've had them since 1987 and I was under the impression that it was solid wood. I have also seen these same Advents advertised as solid wood on Ebay.

Anyway, I learned my lesson a bit too late after exposing a tad of the particle board underneath, but in the process realized that I could easily nsand the old walnut surface (just not too aggressive) and as a result made my beat up cabinets like new. I used 36, 80, 120 and then 200 grit sandpaper. It took me all but 2 hours and the result was amazing. I then applied walnut oil on the finish and they look increible. The only difference from the factory fresh was that the moulding around the front was much lighter. It gave it a distinctive two tone look, yet strikingly beautiful.

Any comments on the walnut over particle board revelation?

Gregryjo

[Guest linedrive]

Most "real wood" speakers of the era were wood-veneered particle board, or plywood - as you discovered, the veneer is quite thin.

Plywood & particle board are more stable, less resonant, and much less expensive than solid wood.

The more elaborate front mouldings like the Advent's or Acoustic Research AR-3a were milled from solid wood. This most likely accounts for the difference in color when you refinished your cabinets.

[Guest One-Shot Scot]

>I thought the A-4's were made of solid wood until I decided

>to sand them. (Mind you I am not talking about the vinyl

>Advents here). To my dismay what looked like solid walnut

>turns out to be a walnut facia over particle board. I sanded

>maybe a 1/64" off to find this out.

....

>Does everyone else know this, or am I naive? I've had them

>since 1987 and I was under the impression that it was solid

>wood.

....

>Anyway, I learned my lesson a bit too late after exposing a

>tad of the particle board underneath, but in the process

>realized that I could easily nsand the old walnut surface

>(just not too aggressive) and as a result made my beat up

>cabinets like new. I used 36, 80, 120 and then 200 grit

>sandpaper. It took me all but 2 hours and the result was

>amazing. I then applied walnut oil on the finish and they look

>increible. The only difference from the factory fresh was that

>the moulding around the front was much lighter. It gave it a

>distinctive two tone look, yet strikingly beautiful.

>

>Any comments on the walnut over particle board revelation?

>

>Gregryjo

I had originally thought that the Advent A3 and A4 cabinets shared the same interior construction. As can be seen in the pictures referenced below, this is definitely not the case:

https://home.comcast.net/~scot100/Advent/Ne...ntCabinets.html

>I have also seen these same Advents advertised as solid

>wood on Ebay.

Buying and selling Advent speakers and components on eBay is a crapshoot. I never cease to be amazed by the inaccurate descriptions supplied by some sellers.

Since you have shown an interest in improving the looks of your Advent A4 speakers, perhaps you will be interested in some additional information which shows how you might also greatly improve the sound of your Advents.

Originally, my main eBay interest was in acquiring The New Advent Loudspeaker furniture-model cabinets, woofers, tweeters, grille cloths and crossovers for restoration. Due to the size and weight of the speaker cabinets, buying them on eBay requires paying between $80-$120 per pair for double-boxing and ground freight.

After a very disappointing and very expensive eBay Advent speaker cabinet purchase, I decided to never again buy heavy, bulky items on eBay. The color of the speaker cabinets did not match, even though the pictures supplied by the seller did not emphasize this shortcoming. One of the speaker cabinets was dented on a bottom corner, and this defect was not disclosed. The shipping charges amounted to over 45% of the total cost. Fortunately, I was able to color match these cabinets with other cabinets which I acquired later.

After this bad eBay experience, I located three pairs of beautiful New Advent furniture-model cabinets on Craigslist, and none of them has cost over $75 per pair. One Craigslist ad got me a $30 pair of near-mint A3 speakers, which had a dead tweeter and woofers which needed new surrounds. The tweeter only needed to have one wire terminal re-soldered and it worked perfectly and the woofers worked perfectly after I installed new surrounds.

While Craigslist has been a great source for Advent cabinets, eBay has remained a somewhat-reliable source for reasonably-priced Advent woofers, tweeters, grille cloths and crossovers. However, I am no longer interested in original Advent crossovers due to the low-quality of their components. Unfortunately, Advent used only the cheapest resistors, capacitors, inductors, terminals and wire in its crossovers. Also, I have the read posts on this forum which indicate that the three-position tweeter switch degrades performance due to the effects of interior and exterior corrosion. Building crossovers for New Advent loudspeakers is very easy and very inexpensive, after taking into account the remarkable improvement in sound quality.

I prefer Craigslist over eBay for buying Advent cabinets. There are no shipping charges (other than driving to the seller's location), the merchandise can be inspected before it is purchased and I am usually able to negotiate a lower price with the seller, either on the phone or at the time of purchase. Additionally, there is no consistency whatever to the amount of money comparable items will sell for on eBay. There are some buyers who will seriously overbid on a pair of Advent speakers (some of these have obvious and serious flaws, such as bad dents and scratches, stained and ripped grille cloths, modified cabinets, non-factory woofers and tweeters etc.) while other near-mint Advent speakers sell for well under their actual value. Yet, even the bargain priced eBay Advents become overpriced once shipping is added in.

[Guest gkentsmith]

I have had a number of bad buying experiences myself on eBay. one pair came in one large box full of peanuts, and nothing else. Needless to say the corners suffered. I have found that the Smaller Advents usually ship better and come in undamaged.

I sell restored Large Advents on eBay and have developed packaging methods that prevent damage. That having been said, there is simply no way around it. The shipping costs (I add $20 to cover new boxes, etc) make up a large part of the cost of the sale.

I also have to say, that eBay buyers are idiots. I picked up a pair of WORKING powered Advents PLUS an Advent 300 receiver for $255 & $75 shipping. Granted, I'm having to make replacement covers for the controls part of the speakers, but that is simple work. What blows me away is that after selling off the receiver for at leaast $150, I'll have a pair of Powered Advents for no more than $180 including shipping.

Since I live 200 miles from the nearest good craigslist area, I only occasionally get Advents from the list. If you are careful, and communicate shipping methods to your seller, eBay CAN work out. I'd rather live near the S.F. bay area for the craigslist, but $600 a month for a 2 bedroom duplex is just not a choice over there (lol).

[Guest russwollman]

Solid walnut cabinets would have been prohibitively expensive, and particle board (MDF) is likely a better choice for cabinet material because of its lack of resonance.

The reference people make that something is "solid wood" is another one of those meaningless terms—just like the "all natural" designation—whose origins lie in the both the unabashed cheapening of everything in the mass market as well as the general confusion about everything which is a hallmark modern life.

And of course on eBay, everyone and his brother are there, and whatever they sell is always the greatest thing since sliced bread.

One other thing today is that there are so many products and so much marketing hype and noise that the real thing is hard to find. After a while, it becomes clearer who's a fraud and who's real. There's a ton of junk to be had and not all of it is cheap to buy.

But you're OK, you got some real speakers and you can make them beautiful again. Restoration is a most sensible sort of consumption.

I've done a fair amount of wood finishing. It can be fun. Let me know if you need help.