Advent / 1 Caps

Mark Davis

Active Member
I won some Advent /1 in a auction. Manufacturer date 3/29/79.

The cabinets are in great shape. They have some scuffs and chips but nothing I can't fix with a re finish.

The speaker attachment block was loose so I am regluing it.

The surround foam looks new.

I can't imagine them being originals, if the were refoamed in must have been some one who was good at it.

Anyways can someone tell me if they were recapped from the picture, they look new also.

Last question Does anyone know what type of finished they used on the wood back in the 70"s.

I was looking at a light fine sanding and using a natural stain to cover any scratches. I would hand rub 2-3 coats of poly cut with mineral spirits and then 2 coats of polyurethane on them.

Once they are done the finish is bullet proof.

Problem is I need to know what is on them before starting. Looks like almost nothing. I read they used tinted lacquer20180419_192552.jpg 20180419_201715.jpg back then.

Thanks in Advance.
 
The crossover looks original. It is an old electrolyic cap rated at 50 v. Anyone taking the time to recap would likely use a much better cap. Also, the glue is old and brown. It looks like it is 40 years old. Replace the cap.
 
RT is correct - - crossover is original and despite the fact that those Nichihon caps are way above average quality, it's a good idea to replace with same uF value, probably higher voltage. Woofers have definitely been re-foamed - - inner foam lip should be placed under outer cone perimeter, but don't fret about it. Re-cap and enjoy.

Re: cabinet finish, many vintage cabinets from the 60's and 70's had oiled veneer finishes. Might have been different during late 70's - - hard to guess/know without pics.

This might be helpful.
http://www.theprojectasylum.com/electronicsprojects/adventspkrepair/adventspeakerrepair.html
 
Any suggestion on a brand or do you have a part number.

The glue is new wood glue I used as the speaker block was loose.
 
RT I think I miss understood. You are talking about the glue holding down the components correct?

Do you just snip the wires and solder to the leads or do you undo everything as far as old solder.

Also do I need silver solder? Its just the gray round device I need to replace. What do you use to glue it back down?
 
Sorry to say the wrong surrounds were used. The all-metal Advent woofer is supposed to have a surround with a small outer flange to fit on the 1/8" ledge built into the frame. The one in your picture is overlapping the ledge and laying up the angled part of the frame. It also appears that the roll is too small. The roll should be 17 - 18 mm wide. And yes, the surround flange should be under the cone edge.

That's not to say those won't work OK but just to let you know.

The cabinets, if not the vinyl wrap version or have not been refinished, are most likely an oil finish. You can tell an oil finish because the wood grain still looks pretty much intact, just colored. other finishes, like varnish types, generally cover the wood grain up.

Doug
 
The glue holding the components down is hot melt glue and could have been brown to begin with. It probably has darkened a bit with age, however.

I guess I don't understand by what you mean by "speaker block". EDIT: Oh, I think you mean the piece of Masonite the crossover is attached to, right?

Doug
 
Yes the crossover on the Advent were glued to that piece of wood. The piece where you see the new glue using out. The speaker wire connections are attached to it as well. It was loose so I glued it back in tonight. Now I am reading you can't change the caps down in the speaker aggghhh.
 
RT I think I miss understood. You are talking about the glue holding down the components correct?

Do you just snip the wires and solder to the leads or do you undo everything as far as old solder.

Also do I need silver solder? Its just the gray round device I need to replace. What do you use to glue it back down?

yes. I was referring to the brown glue on the various components, not the crossover board itself.

The light-blue barrel shaped device is the capacitor. I cannot read the capacitance value. It looks like [Something}.3 uf 50volt. Go to Parts Express and look up crossover capacitors. I suggest a film type cap of the same capacitance. The voltage rating does not matter as long as it is equal to or greater than original voltage rating. It will be 250 or 400 volts because that is what is available. Spend as much as you wish. Typically the prices range from a few dollars to many. You can cut the wires from the old cap and solder to the leads. My preference is to remove the old cap by desoldering the connections.

You do not need to use silver solder. I use hot-melt glue to hold my crossover parts so that they do not vibrate from the sound.
 
I really enjoy my Advent/1....they're my favorite speakers. It was my understanding that they only came wrapped in vinyl....not real wood.
Run them after the recap and see how they sound...maybe you'll get lucky with that foam. I find mine to be warm, full, and lots of bass.
Some people describe the tweeter as harsh...but my 59 year old ears aren't the best judge .
 
if you have real wood veneer that's really cool, and i'm jealous. And if you decide to refoam correctly, they're really easy to do....the only hard part is getting all the old stuff off.
 
Do you think the way they are foamed now affect the sound much? I was told in the above post they were done wrong but probably ok.
 
Yea, i agree...wrong foam, installed wrong, and probably won't hear any difference. They are rugged speakers with a large voice coil gap....they should be fine.

I just snipped the leads to the old cap, soldered a new one in its place, and hot melt glued the new cap right over the old one.

i love mine. I have them sitting on milk crates in the middle of my basement , and they still have plenty of bass.

Enjoy
 
How do you like the speakers. I have read mixed reviews on them?

I really like them. They're not bass monsters, but they do have competent bass. They also have this really nice open, airy sound.

Most importantly to me, the highs are excellent. And I haven't recapped mine.
 
The Advent/1 is basically the New Advent minus the lowest octave due to the smaller cabinet but most music has little content in that lowest octave. You would probably hear a difference if you had the two side by side and switched between the two but otherwise...

I knew they were available in both vinyl and wood veneer but the wood veneer version has the grille mounted forward of the front panel on those plastic ball-and-socket thingies, don't they?

Doug
 
I'd use a 5% Dayton metallized polyprop cap for that.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dmpc-12-12uf-250v-polypropylene-capacitor--027-430

They do not have 13 uf caps, this is a 12, so you have some options. You can parallel a 1 uf, or use 2x6.2 or 2x6.8, or one 6.2 and one 6.8 actually gets you 13.0.

Here's the general metallized poly page with all the values:

https://www.parts-express.com/cat/metalized-polypropylene-crossover-capacitors/294

You can spend more but these are good basic audio caps that will eat that old gray thing for lunch.
 
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