ironlake Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I did not know this as I thought I had the first large advents purchased from mels audio in duluth, mn. in Jan of 1969. Latter in years I purchased another mint in the original box pair and was surprised to see when I took the grill cover off that the tweeters did not have a steel grill protecting them. If you look closely at the photo of the tweeter in the ad on the large advent only you will see it has no grill cover on it.Then when I looked at the grills they had what looked like window screen in them., That was the protection for the tweeters.Also there was a extra wood block right under the tweeter for more protection thus the reason for the first tweeters with the square around the tweeter with one point facing too the side so the grill could attact to the velcro on it. When the metal grills showed up on the tweeter the post under the tweeter disapperaed and the square masonite around the tweeter pointing straight down,Many of you may already know this but thought some of you would not.Also in most cases if the masonite under the grill is light brown in color the inside will be filled with pink fiberglass. When it turned black it got yellow foam stuffed inside and did not have as much deep bass verified with a frequecy sweep generator. Also that foam is in most cases rotten now and a mess to get out. The pink fiberglass is still in great shape.When the improved large advent came out they raised the crossover higher to protect the tweeter and relied on the woofer to go higher up in the audio band, Stereophile poo pooed it and said it no longer could be recommended by them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 January of 1969 sounds way too early to have bought Advents. Particularly if they had the metal screens mounted on the tweeters themselves. I don't believe they were on the market yet then.The first Advents did not, indeed, have those metal grilles on the tweeters but, as you found, had window type screen mounted over the speaker grille hole. Originally, there was no extra velcro block under the tweeter (I have a very early pair like that) but was added later as further protection for the tweeter.What are the serial numbers of the pair you first bought?I also don't believe the position of the tweeter masonite panel had anything to do with the velcro block. It could have still been installed with the corner pointed straight down. I think Advent originally just turned the panel enough for access to the tweeter mounting screws and then, later, standardized the 90 degree position.After field problems with tweeters being damaged, in spite of the window screen and velcro block efforts to abate them, Advent made the metal grilles available to owners free of charge if they wished to mount them on their tweeters. This was sometime in 1971. At the same time, Advent began installing the grilles on the tweeters in new units.The switch to foam as the filler was sometime in 1975 and we have speculated (OK, I have speculated) that the main reason may have actually had to do with OSHA and hazard issues with fiberglass. OSHA was, at that time, becoming more and more of a factor in manufacturing.In any case, the foam only affects the lower frequency response a couple of Hertz and I can't hear any difference between my pairs with fiberglass in them or foam. All of my pairs have the regular masonite colored grilles. I believe any use of black-faced speaker boards or grilles were just happenstance as it seems pretty random with some units very close in serial numbers having one or the other.Welcome to CSP and I'm sorry to be so disagreeable. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlake Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well, I ordered the speakers in dec of 69 and they arrived in jan of 70. the tweeter with the masonite surround would not fit with the extra velcro support as it was in the way. I believe this was one of the first orders the store had for the speakers. mel of mels audio had heard them at a show and knew an organ buff like me would love the low bass they had.I will admit that I still used my ar 2ax:s for classical music as I found the advent tweeters harsh on strings compared to the ar;s.Try to mount a tweeter with the point straight down with a velcro support underneath, then you will see what I mean, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 OK, December of 1969 sounds more like it.I should have been a little clearer about the tweeter masonite panel. Even though a tweeter with the corner straight down won't fit on a speaker board with the extra Velcro block as it exists, Advent could have placed the block a little farther down and made it work.That's why I don't think the placement of that panel, rotationally, had to do with the block but, rather, they just originally turned it enough to gain access to the mounting screws and then later standardized the 90 degree position as production went along.However, It could be that they wanted to get the block as close as possible to the tweeter cone and, so, turned the masonite just enough to access the mounting screws and still be able to get the block close but my pair without the blocks (and no mounted metal grilles) have the tweeters with the panel just barely turned too.Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Wait a minute. So, your pair you bought in December of 1969 have the extra Velcro block?If so, that would alter my ideas of when Advent started to put them on there although it just seems more likely they would have added the block after field complaints about tweeters being damaged.Does your pair from then have serial numbers?Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlake Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Wait a minute. So, your pair you bought in December of 1969 have the extra Velcro block?If so, that would alter my ideas of when Advent started to put them on there although it just seems more likely they would have added the block after field complaints about tweeters being damaged.Does your pair from then have serial numbers? No, I no longer have them as when the foam went I sold them not knowing that the foam was going to become available. Yes the jan 70 speakers had no grill on the tweets and the grill had the window screen in the grill. The wood block was also there to protect the tweeter. I know the tweeter had the masonite off set as I order a pair of new ones when I purchased my second set latter in life and the screw holes were so drilled so you could only mount the tweets with the masonite down on top of the wood blocks. Yes the dec speakers had the extra wood block.Sold them to a friend who had burned out a set and got the right ones off ebay when the photo show the point angled to the right side.My current serial numbers are for latter ones but still the masonite woofer and grill with extra wood block and non screened grill. Also I have the nice pink fiberglass insulation with the pink mesh to keep out the fiberglass from the speaker.Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlake Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I no longer have them, so I can;t look at the numbers. when the foam rotted I sold them to a friend and he paid a fortune to get them refoamed. I got advent herititage;s then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlake Posted January 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 A little more detail on my 1st large advents. They came without steel mesh on the tweeters, the window screen was in the hole in the grills and the extra velcro support was there too. I saw some large advents at the hi fi store, (mels) latter in 1970 that had mesh on the tweeters, no screen in the grills but still had the extra velcro support by the tweeter and the masonite around the tweeter was still canted to the right. I would guess leftover orginal cabinets and tweeters.In 1971 I heard a double advent system at The Sound Of Music (now best buy) in edina, mn. I loved the system so much that I purchased another pair of large advents:still the nice wood cabinets, but no extra velcro block under the tweeter, and the masonite board around the tweeter had its one point facing straight down. They also had the yellow foam inside the cabinets instead of the pink fiberglass as in my others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlake Posted January 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 One more thought on my 1st advents is that the woofers had a putty like you can get to put around windows for winter cold under the woofers. Also the tweeters had the same. Not sure when the foam for the tweeters came out. I know the utility cabinets I got later had the putty under the woofers but the foam under the tweeters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 My 1970 pair has the Mortite/putty under the tweeters too but I know I have seen pairs on eBay with fairly low serial numbers (probably 1971 or so) with the foam gasket so they made the change fairly early.The Mortite was used on the woofers throughout production of the original Advent loudspeakers and then changed to a thin foam gasket with the New Advents.Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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