ADC 303a loudspeakers

[d-ray657]

This week, I picked up a pair of ADC 303a loudspeakers. I like the sound, but I might want to tweak the tweeters. My question is: does anyone know how to get the grilles off of them? They certainly won't come off with bare fingers. They are more than just a frame - feels like they are fibreboard with cutouts for the drivers. The fabric-covered board seems to be attached to another board that is indented into the cabinet by about 3/4". Fumble-fingers here tried a small pry bar and succeeded in cracking the corner of the grille.

These have good sturdy cabinets and feel and sound like there are substantial drivers inside. I don't know if they are going to need foam, but I do know that I will be refinishing the cabinets. I would appreciate any information on this model, particularly information on how to remove the grilles. Thanks.

Regards,

D-Ray

 

[archie2]

Dunno about the 303a but I had a pair of 303ax and the grills were just "tarred" on.

 

[glxie63]

Yeah, I have the 303AX and the grills came off easily. They seemed kind of glued on. When I got mine the midrange and treble controls did nothing. I just finished recapping last night and now they work.

Yours probably won't need a refoam. Mine don't have foam, they used that butyl stuff.

good luck

george

 

[kenhappen2u]

same here , i have a pair of 303 ax and they were also glued on/ black tar . i used a butter knife and on both sides with some even pressure to pry them off ..... once you get them off glue some small velcro strips on the cabs and the back of the grills so you dont have to go through that mess again . ...just a thought

Ken

 

[Blast]

I "just" picked up a pair of 303A myself at an estate sale for $20. Did you ever figure out how to get the grills off? Mine don't want to budge. Looks like I'm going to have to open one of them as I measure under 1 ohm on the speaker terminals. The other cabinet measures 6.2 ohms and works.

Saw a forum (I think in AK) where a guy left the grills alone and cut into the backs of the cabinets. I think he said the drivers were mounted from the inside anyway. I also see a guy selling magazine reviews for $6. Apparently these were reviewed in March 1965.

 

[Blast]

Hey, D-Ray- did you ever work on your 303a's? I posted this thread and have since begun opening the cabinets: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=177003&highlight=303a

 

[MrRogers385]

 

[MrRogers385]

 

[MrRogers385]

 

[MrRogers385]

The grills pry right off with a flat head screwdriver or small pry tool(preferred). They were nailed unto mine. You pry where the grill is secured(it shouldn't flex much) four corners and in the middle is a nail. There is an extra nail in the bottom left corner of mine. Speakers come out of the front. Thanks God I didn't hack up my box from the back. Perhaps on the ax model you must hack the box. (The Brentwood model too it seems you must cut the box) mine has no crossover adjustments. Plain Jane 303As

 

[darkblue94]

Gosh, I sure hope the poor guy didn't wait the whole seven years to find out how to open them up.

 

[MrRogers385]

haha, I sure hope not.

 

[Blast]

The grills pry right off with a flat head screwdriver or small pry tool(preferred). They were nailed unto mine. You pry where the grill is secured(it shouldn't flex much) four corners and in the middle is a nail. There is an extra nail in the bottom left corner of mine. Speakers come out of the front. Thanks God I didn't hack up my box from the back. Perhaps on the ax model you must hack the box.

Nice! I had to "hack my box from the back". There's a thread on that somewhere.

Fortunately, the woofers were screwed in from the rear. 50/50 worked well for me that time. My woofers look different than your woofers, as well.

The tweeters are mounted from the front (like yours). I have no idea what the front of my tweeters look like as my grills are still in place.

 

[MrRogers385]

Ahh ok, sorry about the design then. One of mine was making no sound at the tweeter so after pulling the tweeter and testing it, turns out it works fine. There seems to be a break in my 5uf capacitor dohicky.

 

[MrRogers385]

So I seen you finished with yours. Did you ever start on some mc1000s? I was looking at some nice ones on ebay.

 

[Blast]

Even though my 303a ARE "finished" now that I've seen you've been successful at removing the grills I may do a complete rework of mine: larger woofers, better tweeters and crossovers, refinish the cabinets. But, it all hinges on being able to reattach those original grills.

Actually, at this point, I've reworked TWO pairs of MC-1000's in the 'Indignia way":
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...rs-a-k-a-indignia.160535/page-85#post-5213629

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...rs-a-k-a-indignia.160535/page-97#post-8313489

 

[TomReceiver]

I had a set of ADC 303ax and I found them at a thrift store real cheap and all drivers and the slide switches did work. Hard to compare them to any speaker I had, EPI were always better as were my Polks but they did have a place in my living room for about 5 years. I was told that ADC made cartridges 1st then when into speaker production. Not a bad project speaker to work on and yes the tweeters were glued on w/ big 10" woofers w/ doped cloth surrounds.