Blvdre

Ditto to what others have said. When things go wrong, it's very important to document everything. Save packaging/ receipts/ e-mails/ note phone calls, take pictures, and list problems, and do it all in a timely manner. He's messed things up for himself by not being thorough. I'd let him know that in the nicest way possible, and he should be grateful for any financial help you decide to offer toward the repairs.

The lack of high-end is most likely not your amp. Try plugging each driver (midrange then tweeter, one at a time) with a rag, and listen to the open driver to make sure it's working. If all of the drivers are working properly, you may need to replace the cpacitors in your crossovers. This will potentially make a big difference in your high-end output.

Sky Hits and Oldbuckster, if you're not hip to the Trojan website, it's definitely worth checking out. A ton of oldies... Trojan Records

oldbuckster, if you're talking about his avatar, that would be King Tubby, producer/ mixer extraordinaire.

Please refrain from re-hijacking your thread for the sake of post counts... Kindly discontinue the practice of chiding others for refraining from re-hijacking threads for additional cheap posts. Please, people! I cannot condone those who disapprove of the practice of chiding others for refraining from the re-hijacking of threads for additional cheap posts (myself excluded of course).

That they are. Thanks djk .

Sorry to hear he's still having health issues. He serviced my preamp back in May and we had a nice chat. He also sent a letter w/ the unit on it's return, apologizing for the delay (due to health issues, VASC). Hope you're feeling better, George

Stickler? There's nothing wrong with that (my reply did read a bit flippant, not intentional). I appreciate your insight into the various approaches to measuring sensitivity, and the part the horn plays. Specs can certainly be misleading if the test criteria and conditions aren't clearly defined.

Thanks for the clarification, Gil. Since I'm using the autoformer to adjust the high-end attenuation, and have several options (taps), I just wanted a ball-park starting point. One x-over's done, so I'll hook it up today and see how it sounds.

I suppose things did get a bit off topic You know it was this thread that reminded me that his speakers were in such bad condition. He's so busy with my neice and nephew (sports), I don't think he ever gets a chance to sit down and listen to music anymore. Perfect time for me to pick up the Genesis and fix 'em up for him. This would be my first refoam, but I have a couple of good friends that are experienced and could help me through any tough spots.

Thanks SF, just what I was looking for.

Can anyone tell me what the sensitivity rating for the k-55 is (1W, 1M)? I'm finishing up a pair of Al's gentle slopes for my 902 /511/ lascala bass combo, and would like to get a ballpark on my autoformer setting. Tried the search, no dice.

That's exactly how felt when my wife and I gave up drinking. Of course it was for the best (she needed to stop in order to kick the smoking habit, and I joined her in support). I miss having a nice single malt and a stout. If you happen to drink, Colter, have one for me and I'll have a couple of scoops for you.

Geez, you guys are evil. Tempted with speakers and ice cream. Just what I need, to be even fatter and more broke. Thanks for the offer arfandbark, it would be my brothers call. I've seen complete refoam kits on e-bay, fairly inexpensive with detailed instructions. The guy even says he'll provide phone support if you need it, so we may go that route.

I've also had good luck on Audiogon, although I did have one bad experience. I purchased an old Audio Research SP4 Preamp from a gentleman who had stellar feedback. When I received it, it was not as described. There was orange paint (?) on the power cord, the faceplate corners were a bit mishapen, scratches all around (especially on the back where someone had replaced two pair of input jacks, you know, the wrench swirlys). I figured, OK so it's in rough shape cosmetically, I can get over that. Then I plugged it in. The Volume pot was very dirty, and exercising the wiper didn't do the trick. Dissapointing. Then I changed the input selector switch. Holy Crap! No damage to the speakers, but that was it, I pulled the plug (so to speak). I then popped the cover...holy hell. Someone had been playin, etches broken and badly repaired, tented components, a general mess. When I called the gentleman, his son spoke with me and said his father's been in the hospital, etc. Long story slightly shorter, the preamp ended up in the trash, and my wallet was a bit lighter for it. Unfortunately Paypal doesn't provide much protection for non-ebay items, only if the item doesn't arrive. If I had payed via credit card, I could've made a claim. Live and learn.

If you're looking to improve efficiency, your woofer is the weak link, so I'd start there.

The problem with Isopropyl alcohol is that often times the version sold in drug stores is isopropanol "mis-labeled" as isopropyl alcohol. Isopropanol will leave a lot of residue on the PCB. Sounds like your friend has a tried and true method . My favorite was trichlor (anyone remember trichloroethane? but you had to be careful not to breath too hard around it.

I had a pair of these back in the 70's as well - they were my first decent pair of speakers, $400 new I believe. Nice sound, my brother currently has them, but they are in need of surround replacements, as there's some serious foam-rot going on.

That's a good point. A solder joint will eventually become oxidized, and if it continually reheats without a flux being applied to clean the oxidized layer, the solder will degrade as it is continually re-flowed (just a guess). The other issue is temperature. I believe solder will flow at <400 F, but you really need ~700F to create a proper shiny joint. A joint that is heated due to current flow might not be at an optimum temperature. Of course the other scenario is that the joint isn't heating enough to cause the solder to flow, but the uneven expansion and contaction of the two dissimilar metals of the lead and solder eventually cause the joint to fail.

Sounds like the problem may have been a cold solder joint, and re-soldering the connections did the trick. Just as a suggestion, if you ever have the need to clean a circuit board again, and you don't have a proper flux cleaner, use isopropyl alcohol (you can be generous) and let dry thoroughly (no rinse necessary). The problem with water is, it may contain various salts which are conductive and these will stay on the PCB as deposits (unless of course you use a good quality distilled water).

Lesson learned... You're right about the packing issue. In my experience, a majority of people don't understand what is required to pack an item adequately, so having anything shipped to you is a risky venture.

Sure, the clarity caps (PX) are nice and fairly inexpensive. I'm using them in a set of passives, and they are definitely nicer than the inexpensive Solens. http://www.madisound.com/manufacturers/claritycap/px.php Edit: scratch that, I wasn't paying attention to the values required.

Dammit Duke, I know. I just got a beautiful set of 902's from Bill and Steve, I was just trying to save a buck. Why does that always seem to end up costing me more? I guess I like to gamble, and most of the time it pays off, but when it doesn't.... I contacted the seller, we kind of tested each other out to see if we were on the up and up (and knew our asses from our elbows), and the short story is that he'll refund my costs including shipping, if I pay to ship the driver back to him. Sounds fair to me. He said he checked the driver out thoroughly, no rubbing in the gap when it left. it wasn't very well packed though; double boxed, but the driver was face down with no packing under it. When a box is dropped hard on a flat side, you can't tell (unless you put those stress indicators in the box). Maybe that caused the issue.

Good ole Wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_mean_square

Picked up an Altec 416-8C from ebay, $135 shipped described as "tested, works great". I received the driver today and found that the voice coil is rubbing in the gap. No need to test, doesn't work great. What a PITA. Haven't heard back from seller, but this kind of stuff usually works out in the end. Still a PITA and disappointing.