Fantastic Quartet Score

[Micklipsch]

Last night while doing what any sane man would do while falling asleep (looking at audio gear), I fell upon a pair of Quartets on LetGo for, wait for it... $250. It gets better.

 

I hit the person up saying I'd take them. Paraphrasing, it went a little something like this:

 

Hey I'll buy your speakers. Anything wrong with them?

None that I'm aware of. 

Cool. Can I audition them when I pick up?

I don't have any equipment to hook them up to.

Ok I'll bring my own.

(Silence)

Is that ok? What time tomorrow?

Yeah I have a lot of stuff going on so not gonna be possible. 

 

At this point I'm wary of some shennanigans but for the price, it's worth taking a leap. And I did.

 

Headed out to Evanston, 35 minute drive. Get there and he brings them out.... carelessly.

 

The good:

Sequential!

Both grilles with emblems albeit one needs to be reglued back on.

 

The bad:

Right away, I have no idea if they're dead, blown, whatever. Again for the money, I'm taking a chance. I also probably need to slow down a bit anyway, but who the hell doesn't like finding awesome gear for potential steals, right?

There's some dings on the cabs and a little staining, some roughness on a few corners of the risers.

Radiators have the obligatory dents in the dust caps.

Removed the grilles, and one of the 10" woofers has a decent tear!

 

At this point I'm like buddy, I wish you would've told me about this. He acted surprised but it made sense why there was only 1 speaker posted in the pics on the ad. So I'm looking at it going, this's going to cost money to repair/ replace. Yada yada. I could give you, and he blurts $200, and his kid who was doing some translations, $180! I look back down at it again and go, I can do $150. Up to you. "Ok take them."

 

So off I went. Lugged them out of the SUV, into the house, plugged them in, and just damn... they sing. The tear in the one woofer is purely aesthetic from what I can tell as there's no audible noise coming from it during excursion. So I intend to get away with carefully gluing from behind.  

 

From what I've seen of the market lately, these guys are going from $600-$800. So yeah, can't turn this down. The gamble worked out. I figured the damn grilles (which're in great shape in need of just a washing and the emblem reattached) themselves would sell for atleast $100 if I were parting out, so why the hell not take a chance? It paid off, and I'm happy. Pics to come...

[Micklipsch]

[wuzzzer]

Nice score!

 

I repaired a tear in a Chorus woofer with some tissue paper and rubber cement.

[Micklipsch]

10 minutes ago, wuzzzer said:

Nice score!

 

I repaired a tear in a Chorus woofer with some tissue paper and rubber cement.

 Was it done from behind? How’d it turn out looking? My local audio guy was talking about clear adhesive from behind to achieve the most discreetness. 
 

For the radiator dust caps, I tried a mini shop vac to no success. Perhaps I go big league with the big shop vac or maybe the house vac but I’m not sure if it could damage the cone if the cap were to rip off. Going to try duct tape as well. My audio guy says he usually just ends up using an exacto knife carefully and just replaces the cap outright with new. 

[Peter P.]

To repair the tear, why not just use the same adhesive used for replacing surrounds? Simply Speakers sells the stuff. You could probably

call them up and get a recommendation.

 

As for the dented dustcap; try using a small styrofoam cup. Poke a hole in the end to fit the vacuum nozzle, and wet the open end of the cup.

That should provide a better seal for the suction.

 

I had a similar although not as cheap an experience. The Quartets I saw on craigslist were listed at $250. When I arrived, the seller said $350. I had the ad with me and showed him whereupon I got them for $250. An incredible deal.

[wuzzzer]

10 minutes ago, Micklipsch said:

 Was it done from behind? How’d it turn out looking? My local audio guy was talking about clear adhesive from behind to achieve the most discreetness. 
 

For the radiator dust caps, I tried a mini shop vac to no success. Perhaps I go big league with the big shop vac or maybe the house vac but I’m not sure if it could damage the cone if the cap were to rip off. Going to try duct tape as well. My audio guy says he usually just ends up using an exacto knife carefully and just replaces the cap outright with new. 

Yes, I put the black tissue paper on the back of the woofer then applied rubber cement over the tissue paper.

It wasn’t too difficult to see the tear from the front but it did the job.

[CWOReilly]

10 minutes ago, Micklipsch said:

 Was it done from behind? How’d it turn out looking? My local audio guy was talking about clear adhesive from behind to achieve the most discreetness. 
 

For the radiator dust caps, I tried a mini shop vac to no success. Perhaps I go big league with the big shop vac or maybe the house vac but I’m not sure if it could damage the cone if the cap were to rip off. Going to try duct tape as well. My audio guy says he usually just ends up using an exacto knife carefully and just replaces the cap outright with new. 

I’d try to repair it from behind. As for the dust cap on the passive you may be able to push it  from behind. 

[Micklipsch]

45 minutes ago, CWOReilly said:

I’d try to repair it from behind. As for the dust cap on the passive you may be able to push it  from behind. 

Interesting, I'll check that out if I end up removing it. 

 

How about the muck on all the cones? Read everything from repeatedly dabbing it with painter's tape to soft bristle brushes and a vacuum, but frankly, I don't think anything other than the ever-so-slightly damp, super wrung-out microfiber cloth is going to cut it. Possibly with a high speed fan or done in warm daylight.

 

Wish they were easy like the CFs or KG4s.

[Micklipsch]

46 minutes ago, Peter P. said:

To repair the tear, why not just use the same adhesive used for replacing surrounds? Simply Speakers sells the stuff. You could probably

call them up and get a recommendation.

 

As for the dented dustcap; try using a small styrofoam cup. Poke a hole in the end to fit the vacuum nozzle, and wet the open end of the cup.

That should provide a better seal for the suction.

 

I had a similar although not as cheap an experience. The Quartets I saw on craigslist were listed at $250. When I arrived, the seller said $350. I had the ad with me and showed him whereupon I got them for $250. An incredible deal.

Just when I thought I read it all, lol. That's a good idea too. And nice deal on your Quartets as well. Love it when stuff like that works out.

[OO1]

4 hours ago, Micklipsch said:

I'm happy. Pics to come...

you can put a wanted ad on the garage sale section for a K-10-K  woofer , yes a repair will work , but a spare woofer would look much  better 

[Marvel]

My guess, and only that, is there's already tape and/or glue on the back side.

 

DJK recommended this years ago, and it works great. it dries clear and flexible. If the tear is still there to get lined up (or not), put a thin coat on the back side with a small artists brush. You can thin it a little with water. On a second coat, put a piece of strong tissue (a piece of cigarette paper will do fine). Put a couple more thin coats on and let dry. I repaired some JBL rubber surround with splits. After doing the splits from the back I did two or three coats thinned out onthe entire front on the surrounds. That was over 15 years ago. As far as I know, they are still good. (I should call and ask him... we've lost touch).

 

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Glue-Adhesives/Liquid/Weldbond-Universal-Adhesive/p/153529?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9aDBoYKP_gIVmIzICh3zoAxwEAQYAiABEgJAgfD_BwE

[billybob]

DJK...rip