Advent Small - Grill Fabric

[Bamark]

Please don't threaten to take my speakers away.  I put a different grill fabric on the Advents last weekend.  I basically got tired of trying to find a substitute for the originals.  I did try cleaning them with different fabric cleaners, but they just would not clean up like I thought they should.  So, I got this from Dave Miller at Speakerworks here in Tulsa.  He had recovered my HPM 60's, and gave me this to try on the Advents.   To me they look much better, and all I need to do at this point, is get the badges from JKent.  That said, I did keep the old fabric and the black backing fabric. They will remain in a plastic bag in case I decide to part with them (fat chance).  

Now, another question.  When I recapped these I did not use film caps.  I used non-polarized electrolytics.  To my 60 year old ears they sound great.  But I am curious as to how they might sound with film caps.   Thanks and JKent, I'll be sending you a PM soon.

Mark

 

 

 

 

[ra.ra]

Hark! Crime of the century - - - swapping out that original fabric will result in having all of your membership privileges revoked immediately!  Kidding aside, your re-vamped speakers do look good, but we cannot know the condition of the original fabric that you were unsatisfied with. The speakers will look even better with badges, of course, but without the black backing fabric, it is now possible to see the slight shadow outlines of the drivers thru the new grille cloth.

My own stable includes two pairs of Smaller Advents, and I'll agree that I never found the original Advent grille cloth nearly as attractive as the nubby linen found on classic AR's. But also, I've never tried to re-fresh Advent cloth so I'm unfamiliar with the limitations of this process. 

Regarding caps, the NPE's will be just fine. All of the drivers have aged, obviously, but the caps you have used are superior to the ones that Advent used originally, and if it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. Film caps are great, but they are different from NPE's, and you have done a very fine job of restoring these classic speakers. BTW, are yours showing the 8 and 16uF caps consistent with the early green tweeter?

[Bamark]

Thanks.  I did consider leaving the black cloth on, but was not sure if using it with a different type of cloth would change the sound.  I had removed the original cloth and let it soak in water mixed with a little fabric cleaner.  It was fraying so much on the edges, in addition to shrinking slightly, that there was not enough left to pull over the edges.  In addition, I was unable to find staples smaller than 1/4", so I had to use Allenes Tacky glue for the edges for the new cloth.  That was another reason I did not put the black cloth back on.  That black cloth is probably impossible to find, and I did not want to ruin a future opportunity to re-grill with a more correct cloth (if I ever find one).  Regarding the caps, that's good to know.  They sound really good with the NPE caps, so I'll leave that alone.  Those are 8 and 16 uf caps.  I just had to put a 15 and a 1 uf in parallel.  You may have noticed the HPM 60's in one of the pictures.  I just finished a re-cap on them, and will be putting a veneer on in a couple of months.

 

[ra.ra]

Yeah, your grilles look fine, and adding the black layer certainly does not help with sound quality. Maybe someday I'll try to "freshen" up my original Advent grilles, but I'd probably try to do it without removing the cloth from the grille frame. So, do yours have the green tweeters? .... and was it difficult getting the crossover panel out of the cabinet? Also, do yours have fiberglass or foam fill? 

If you follow this attached link to the end, you'll see how nice these speakers can look when the dreadful faux-walnut vinyl is replaced with real wood veneer. 

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/craigslist-smaller-advent-loudspeakers.734139/page-5

[Bamark]

10 hours ago, ra.ra said:

Yeah, your grilles look fine, and adding the black layer certainly does not help with sound quality. Maybe someday I'll try to "freshen" up my original Advent grilles, but I'd probably try to do it without removing the cloth from the grille frame. So, do yours have the green tweeters? .... and was it difficult getting the crossover panel out of the cabinet? Also, do yours have fiberglass or foam fill? 

If you follow this attached link to the end, you'll see how nice these speakers can look when the dreadful faux-walnut vinyl is replaced with real wood veneer. 

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/craigslist-smaller-advent-loudspeakers.734139/page-5

I tried to clean them while still attached to the frame.  In my case, it did not work.  I ended up chasing stains across the fabric.  Too frustrating.  I was also afraid of saturating the frame and ruining it.  I tried sliding a ZipLoc baggie between the cloth and frame, but quickly gave up on that.  

Removing the crossover panel was not hard because it's just stapled to the cabinet.  Take your time, and you won't damage it.  After putting new caps in, I used some wood glue to reattach it to the cabinet.  If I have to take them out again, a heat gun should soften the glue.  Besides, I figure it makes for an air tight seal.  

Green tweeters, and fiberglass blocks.  I took them out and put them back in the same way.  

I looked at the link you posted.  That was a great job on the veneer. I liked the fabric he used on the grills.

There is a picture of these speakers on this same website with a light colored veneer that I think looks great.  I'm kind of tired of looking at walnut, and think a lighter color would really look good.

[Bamark]

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/cizek/smaller_advent_loudspeaker/smaller_advent_louspeaker_p/smalladvent.html

This is what I want.