Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear

[FluxT]

I have a set of Fisher speakers (a very ill-advised purchase before I really knew anything) that I've long since upgraded from and have long since tried to sell, to no avail. They've been sitting for over a year now, and frankly the sight of them is starting to bum me out. Any friends looking for a music system would want something smaller, and any of them with any knowledge of speakers would prefer something a bit higher fidelity...and smaller. Would be a shame to bin them, since they're utterly pristine-not even a scratch on the fake vinyl or a dent in the cones.

As is, they sound fairly decent! A bit too midrangey and dull, but with proper EQ and they transform into something decently punchy. So if I can't sell these or even give them away, why not mod them into something better? The weak-spots are the usual cheap old speaker weak-spots: the crossover is but a resistor and a couple capacitors (6.8uF and 3.3uF caps, and a 1.5ohm resistor, IIRC?) wired between the drivers, the cabinet is empty and unbraced, and the tweeter is a cheap 3" paper cone. Very cheap, very basic. How hard would it be to wire up a slightly better crossover and add in a nice dome tweeter?

The nearest specs I could find on these are:
Model: Fisher DS177
Woofer: 12" cone, 50-70 watts, DCR=4.3 Ohms
Midrange: 5" cone, DCR=6.5 Ohms
Tweeter: 3" cone, DCR=3.0 Ohms
Power Handling: 5-75 watts (not sure if peak or continuous)
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
Model Year: ca. 1981-1984?
MSRP: $99 (1981)

 

[Nightwisher]

In my opinion, it's not worth the effort. By the time you spend the time and money to upgrade them, that could have gone into a better pair of speakers. Donate them.

 

[Mister Pig]

Or they could be candidates for the Econo-wave project.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....onowave-speaker.150939/page-843#post-12414110

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[ivandezande]

Donate them and buy a much better speaker for the price of "transforming" them. It's not like they have real veneer or are built really well or anything.

 

[stickman]

It would only make sense to modify these speakers if you already had the replacement drivers lying around unused as spending money to acquire better drivers would not be economically justified. These are a perfect candidate for donation to your nearest Goodwill store.

 

[swechsler]

Donate them and buy a much better speaker for the price of "transforming" them. It's not like they have real veneer or are built really well or anything.

Agreed. If you don't like your charity shop, put them up on Freecycle, Craigslist Free items, or one of the many free lists on Facebook. Or you could even put them on eBay with a $1 buy-it-now price, pick-up only.

 

[62vauxhall]

You could calculate the internal cabinet volume and get a speaker kit that needs an enclosure of that or similar size.

 

[donprice]

Garage or patio speakers.

 

[RTally]

There is nothing wrong with using a simple, first order crossover circuit, provided the drivers are suitable. Generally, the fewer crossover components, the better the drivers are. The Fishers are likely an exception, though.

I got a pair of Fisher speakers with my Realistic STA-2100D. The Fisher cabinet was flimsy and sufficiently rigid for a speaker of its size. It needed thicker walls, not just bracing.

I suggest donating the speakers to a thrift or selling them for a small amount. Surely there is some college kid who wants speakers that play loud. I was surprised I got $40 for my pair of Fishers. I would have gladly sold them for $20 because that was more than they were worth.

 

[kryten79]

i like the find a college kid or let someone "find' them in a thrift store. I listed a big pair of Kenwoods on CL for a couple weeks at $50. they functioned, looked good played loud, but.......they sounded like 1990 3-ways, just not good.
It wasn't worth my time or money to rework the crossovers.
the only time I played them up was outdoors. Kabuki !!!!
I donated them, they were priced at $19.99 and were gone in two days. Someone is happy.
I sort of hope I started them down the rabbit hole.

 

[grillebilly]

A rule to live by is never invest a lot of money in something you can't sell for a lot of money. Only exception being something you will go to the grave with.

 

[FluxT]

The answer presented itself last night, I think. There's been talks at my dorm of setting up a proper 5.1 system in the common room for movie nights. As of right now, the setup's a 10ish year old Denon AVR powering two lattice-grilled Realistic speakers and three small satellite speakers. Over break, someone got careless with the volume knob and two of the satellites got blown out. I reckon with some rearranging and judicious cable management, they'll make good surrounds or mains, depending on how efficient they are compared to the Realistics.

 

[Nightwisher]

The answer presented itself last night, I think. There's been talks at my dorm of setting up a proper 5.1 system in the common room for movie nights. As of right now, the setup's a 10ish year old Denon AVR powering two lattice-grilled Realistic speakers and three small satellite speakers. Over break, someone got careless with the volume knob and two of the satellites got blown out. I reckon with some rearranging and judicious cable management, they'll make good surrounds or mains, depending on how efficient they are compared to the Realistics.

Now there's an idea.

 

[donprice]

Disposable dorm speakers? Perfect!