Hypothetical Question

[Guest ldschumacher]

Thanks for all the info here - this is a great site. I have a pair of original large Advent and a pair of the original Smaller Advents. All have been refoamed and work great in two differnt rooms. They had as I understand the same woofer and tweeter, but the crossovers were different. Could I build two new cabinets exactly the size of the originals, build two new 'original' crossovers and then use the Smaller Advent speakers in these new cabinets and essentially have 4 large original Advents?

At one time many years ago, I used all of these in a stacked Advent kind of system, but I remember the caveat about the combined impedance being only about 2.5 ohms and thus potentially damaging to my amp, so I have not tried it again. I also remember an article sometime ago giving a 'fix' for this problem by using an in line resistor/capacitor something to get the impedance matched but have long since lost that. Building new cabinets and crossovers would eliminate the concern and provide an upgrade of the crossover as well. I have built several cabinets, so that is not a problem, but finding an original size and dimension spec. might be.

Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi there;

No you cannot just plunk the Smaller Advent drivers into a larger cabinet.

The woofer is the determining factor as to the cabinet size.

The Smaller Advent woofer is not 10" and is also 4 ohms rather than thr Larger Advents 8 ohms 10" diameter.

If you want Larger Advents go to eBay, save yourself a lot of work.

Check out your amplifier spec's and see what the power rating is for under 4 ohms.

For all intent and purpose the Double Advent's will be about 3 - 4 ohms in actual use.

If you amp recommnends no lower than 4 ohms, then get another amp.

Most decent amps will handle 3 - 4 ohms with little difficulty, but read the spec sheet.

Doubling up Smaller Advent's would be a more difficult load at about a 2 (4 + 4 = 2 ohms in parallel) ohms load.

[Doug G.]

Welcome and Vern is right, of course.

The drivers in the original Advents and the Smaller Advents are not the same. The tweeters are almost the same but the magnet is smaller in the Smaller Advent to match the efficiency of the woofer used. The woofers are completely different with the original using a 10" in a 12" frame and the Smaller Advent using about a 9" with a gigantic dust cap (moonscape) to add mass to the cones.

You may be thinking about the New Advent and the Advent/1 which do, in fact, use the same drivers with the Advent/1 having a smaller cabinet.

I would do as Vern suggested and go to eBay to get original drivers and build the cabinets and crossovers around them.

Just measure your existing original Advent and make the new cabinets with the same internal dimensions.

Doug

[dynaco_dan]

Hi again;

My suggestion was to buy a pair of complete speakers, not just the drivers.

By the time you buy the drivers, the woofers most certainly will need re-foamed, crossover components, cabinet material, stuffing material and of course many hours of love and labour, you will have mdf or plywood un-finished enclosures.

Re-foaming can be done with patience for less than $20.00 each in materials only, less than $50.00 each in a shop, another option.

My suggestion is to keep your eyes out on ebay or locally even for a pair of Walnut finished cabinets.

I picked up two pairs locally for under $50.00 each pair, one pair vinyl and the other walnut.

Check out your local Value Village or Salvation Army stores as a suggestion, know your prices though.

We have memebers that seem to find speakers at the curbside, dumps, dumpsters and for $5.00 a pair in thrift shops.

Not my luck.

Carry a 1 1/2 volt battery and test leads to test the raw drivers only, not the entire speakers system.

If you were considering acquiring drivers and making up an AR-LST type speaker, then you would have no choice but to build an enclosure from scratch.

If you were to buy the vinyl version, you can still strip the vinyl off and re-do the cabinets in veneers, walnut, oak or piano black paint, etc..

Unless you have lot's of time and materials and just want to build the cabinets, there's that too.

[Guest ldschumacher]

Thanks all. You make a lotta sense.