Yep - I had to get a dome tweeter replacement on mine. I put a watch out on them and got it as soon as it popped up on buy it now. I think it was $40-something. Will it help if I tell you it will all be worth it?
Lol, yeah patience is a virtue. It's crossed my mind a few times just to scrap them for parts since the drives are so hard to come by, they can go for a premium. But given everything I've read, it will be worth the wait. So they are sitting in my garage for now.
Just thought I'd share something I bought on a whim recently.
Nothing amazing, just a decent bit of kit from Germany
Saba Ultra Hifi Box705
Unusual varnished chip-board finish. I kinda like it.
I'm no speaker expert, but I havn't seen this before except on celestion guitar speakers.
(Two photos of the same cloth-mesh dust cap)
Probably reduces weight and allows for some airflow so the speaker can move more freely.
I see the cloth mesh dust cap fairly regularly on higher-high end speakers, Especially larger woofers. It helps keep them from getting so dang hot inside the driver, especially on acoustic suspension designs. Also, it keeps the dust caps from crumpling at high powers (inverting), allowing them to be just a tiny tiny bit lighter.
I've seen the full mesh cap on McIntosh and Rola designs, and mesh vents in paper dust caps on Kenwood and Sansui's 15'' high end woofers.
Those are a good find! How do they sound?
I see the cloth mesh dust cap fairly regularly on higher-high end speakers, Especially larger woofers. It helps keep them from getting so dang hot inside the driver, especially on acoustic suspension designs. Also, it keeps the dust caps from crumpling at high powers (inverting), allowing them to be just a tiny tiny bit lighter.
I've seen the full mesh cap on McIntosh and Rola designs, and mesh vents in paper dust caps on Kenwood and Sansui's 15'' high end woofers.
Those are a good find! How do they sound?
I was A/B'ing them quite a lot with my Jamo Power 120B (which are basically large 80's teenager speakers) because I was wondering if these would make suitable upgrades despite being about 4 years older. (also puts comparisons into context)
They both have 7" woofers, but the Jamo's enclosure is about twice the cubic volume and front ported and has only one tweeter vs. the two on the Saba (and no bass port)
The Sabas actually sound pretty good. Anything instrumental or acoustic is great, although there was a bit of a spike around 4Khz which made some vocals too hot.
Clearly the Saba has more detail retrieval which is no surprise having two superior tweeters, but I feel these small enclosures don't do the drivers any justice. I think in a larger box, perhaps ported, these would REALLY sing.
There was clearly a big bass roll-off starting around 100hz, so even rock music sounded thin and less impressive. After an EQ bass boost the volume was there without a struggle, but it couldn't produce a good textured sound - bass guitar riffs just sounded muffled.
It was like with the jamos I was being immersed in a large dynamic musical space, and with the sabas I was listening to music analytically in the background. I can see them working well in a very small room or in a very large room at higher volumes.
But maybe they just didn't like my small living room.
Keeping in mind this a "vintage" speaker thread ill be brief. Got to finally hear my NHT Superzero 2.1's today and all I can say is these things image incredibly well and possess a transparency with my Sansui 881 that will have picking up the matching sub.
Keeping in mind this a "vintage" speaker thread ill be brief. Got to finally hear my NHT Superzero 2.1's today and all I can say is these things image incredibly well and possess a transparency with my Sansui 881 that will have picking up the matching sub.
congrats on the NHT score. for the price u paid, i seriously doubt they can be beat! all u need is a SW2P subwoofer to have full range rig - am sure u'll be super happy. i cant wait to pick my 3.3s soon.
back to topic, this is what i picked up after work this evening for $65. to say the least, cabinet's not minty & there some chips here & there but overall, its not too bad. the woofers need refoaming (the cones seems good) which will be a project when i have sometime. all in all, i'd say its not quite a steal but its a decent score (according to AK)
yaa i read the JBL's are well thought of at AK though ive never owned a set before. this L96 came up on the local buysell and is quite highly rated as well so i thought it would be a good 1st project to try out refoaming, refinishing & perhaps recapping. im sure i can sell it easily if i didnt like the sound.
as for the SA8100, i've busy with work & finalizing the move to my new place that i havent had a chance to touch it, nevermind listen. perhaps in Oct when i have a bit of time, i'd do a total deoxit & have a listen. reviews at AK have been good on it though.
I find that the JBL l100's don't quite have the detail in the bass range that I want, but have a very pleasant sound signature that works well with rock and pop music. I imagine the 96's will be similar. At the least, they are easy to sell if you do end up with that route.
I have a technical question. Could it be the JBL and HPM excel in the rock genres d/t the fact they use such a small midrange driver in comparison to the size of the woofer and number of the tweeters? IMO rock is a much less mid focused genre.
I'm not sure it's the size of the components, but how the crossovers are built. Those lines were created by the same guy who clearly had a certain sound profile he liked. There are designs for modern crossovers for those drivers on the internet that really take advantage of them and give a better (less wooly) sound I enjoy, but the ones in there now just don't do it for me. However, there are a ton of people out there who like how they sound now, so I never had the heart to change mine out.
Here are my restored EV Interface A Series III speakers which I bought with perished woofer and passive radiator foams, perished foam lenses for the superdome tweeters, and in dirty condition overall.
Recapped EQ unit with signal-path electrolytics replaced with film caps, and power supply caps replaced. The EQ units are essential to getting the most out of the Interface A-D series of speaker.
The crossovers have been recapped using AXON polypropylene caps throughout. This was a fairly straight-forward job.
I also replaced the original metal binding posts with proper 5-way binding posts which will accept banana plugs.
The tweeter foam lenses have been fitted, and new foam surrounds installed on the woofers and passive radiators.
How do they sound? Very nice indeed! Not as refined as my Focus Audios, but they sound as 'big' as they look. Colour me impressed! They suit my various Sansui amps quite well.
All I need is a bigger house to set them up permanently. This cramped rental property is frustrating the heck out of me. Not long now.
I find that the JBL l100's don't quite have the detail in the bass range that I want, but have a very pleasant sound signature that works well with rock and pop music. I imagine the 96's will be similar. At the least, they are easy to sell if you do end up with that route.
i think the L100 has the paper tweeter while the L96 has the 044 (alu-phenolic resin tweeters). while i have zero experience personally, dudes at AK compares the L96 more to L112 or 4410 (O44Ti tweets). L96 has 10" woofers while the L112 has the 12". L112 has bigger bass while L96 is tighter seems to be the prevalent opinion.
regardless i got this for a taste of the JBL sound but primarily as a project to hone my skills at refoaming, recapping & refinishing cabs before i work on the Yam NS1k. im sure i can get all the money back if i didnt like the L96.
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