RSC grilles & midrange restore continued......
Cbret3500,just getting into my RSC cabs once again so thought I would add something to our tiny RSC Library,there isn't many of these Santa Maria Series speakers left,or maybe they are still in use,Ha!...Mine are,everyday!
I had a similar find to you,my RSC's had badly damaged mids and tweeter cones,from previous student owners overzealous young puppy,likely because of no grilles,surprisingly the recessed woofers survived.Phew!
I guess we have to accept any RSC Columbus series speakers from the seventy's will likely need some sort of partial restore,cabs,grilles,crossovers,as they are getting older & seem very rare as seen from the scattering of ownership across Canada.
So we 'Columbus Collectors' must do our best & improvise,just like old Chris Columbus did when he first came to our native shores.
For me its still ongoing as I find different sources as resources,I'm still looking for Jensen tweeters,but these work & sound fine for lots more enjoyable Music Listening.
After total dismantling my speakers last Summer,first came a cab sand-n-oil-n-shine,re-stuff with way less Dacron white,non itching damping,only covered back,one side and bottom with damping,removed old school intermittent slider switches,yanked mine out & we bypassed em,then re-soldered the whole crossover,checked the cap values,I kept my original caps as they were bang on,then reinstalled crossover,mounted all drivers to baffle board,I really like the way these boxes assemble.
For grilles,it was only a single afternoon job,took some Masonite and just made a simple perimeter grille frame,cut out the big center with a jig saw,painted it black & let dry for 2 hours in the Sun,covered it with new black cloth,installed(stapled),then stapled on some old Velcro from an old ripped grille I had kicking about and attached to match the Velcro tab locations on the original baffle board.Done,this really cleaned em up Nice!
I still pop off the grilles for extended Listening,these are my daily runners,I really enjoy them with Vinyl & cd through my low watt Philips 784,I see many use older Pioneer receivers with them,but this Philips is just such a perfect match for my tastes & similar(18watts)low power is plenty enough to get these big woofers moving some air to give that RSC Phat,full bodied Canadian Sound Eh!....I love it,its detailed enough,with a Lively sound.
I think I may have stumbled upon another option for Santa Maria II mids in the if anyone comes across a pair with damaged mids.
Mine,like I mentioned were puppy dogged,got em for $20.00,bought them mainly for for the woofers to try in a former TL project.
I am so glad I decided to pop the RSC woofs back in there boxes & try repairing the mids-n-tweets!.I Had nothing to loose but a bit of glue and an afternoon outside in the Sunshine.
I repaired the paper cones very gently with tweezers,X-Acto knife,using diluted white glue & tissue paper(still holding after 9 months of daily playing),they work/sound excellent,but I decided,I am going to pull em and possibly re-cone them like other folks have done to theirs,they deserve it in my opinion.
As luck would have it so I can still Listen to Music while doing repairs I came across some some vintage early Sansui SP-1000's recently,and immediately noticed that along with their almost identical box dimensions,the Sansui's have a nice sized Alnico magnet & similar large sealed back mid range...Sweet!...Its labeled an S-1000 Squawker(8ohm-25w) & it looks like it will be a drop in replacement,same bolt pattern.Looking good so far!
I Listened to the Sansui's briefly for a week before dismantling to give mint cabs to a friend for a 3-way project(I do not like the look of lattice grilles at all,not to mention they must be nuts to dust!)and sure enough,I swear their mids are identical in size and in sound to the RSC Santa Maria II's crystal clear mid range.What Luck!
The Sansui SP-1000's design also happens to be an identical 4 speaker,3-way design just like the Santa Maria,except they have a smaller 10 inch woofer.
After some Listening to this substitution and if it works or does not work I will post results...Peace & Harmonies
Altec Concert Kenny