Good Ole Nova 7 B

dracoss

Active Member
A Customer Gave me a nice set of Nova 7 B that were in his basement.
Freed up space for him gave me another project....
Well I think I slowly dinked around with them, replaced everything in them but the woofers and the terminals in the back.
Then I had an idea for colors. Had Lowes custom tint for stain, and then topped em off with watco Black Walnut. The grills were painted with the same factory ford truck paint used for a tailgate repair. They even have metal flake but hard to see unless you look close. New Cloth under the grills.
Hooked up to my Sansui AU-717 and Linn Sondek LP-12.
Bass is good but not over stated. Highs are crisp and the mids are vocal.
Let me know what you think. I know Pretty weird color combo, but it was in my head.....
 

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A Customer Gave me a nice set of Nova 7 B that were in his basement.
Freed up space for him gave me another project....
Well I think I slowly dinked around with them, replaced everything in them but the woofers and the terminals in the back.
Then I had an idea for colors. Had Lowes custom tint for stain, and then topped em off with watco Black Walnut. The grills were painted with the same factory ford truck paint used for a tailgate repair. They even have metal flake but hard to see unless you look close. New Cloth under the grills.
Hooked up to my Sansui AU-717 and Linn Sondek LP-12.
Bass is good but not over stated. Highs are crisp and the mids are vocal.
Let me know what you think. I know Pretty weird color combo, but it was in my head.....

Fantastic work man!

The nova 7B's are some wonderful speakers. For years I ran a set as mains with the Minimus 7's as my rears. You would not believe how well they pair together. If you get the chance to try them together, do so. :)

Kind Regards,
John
 
How did you get the wood so shiny with Watco oil? Did you wax them or what? It looks like polished varnish or lacquer.
 
Tox,
I used Minwax stain first, I had the gal at lowes mix custom for me. It took her a few tries to get what I wanted. Then I put on the watco about 7 times, but every time I left the watco on overnight. Then I would rub it out, and repeat. Not sure I did anything special.
Rtally
Thanks.....I was worried until the final, then I went ok ok that looks alright.
 
How did you get the wood so shiny with Watco oil? Did you wax them or what? It looks like polished varnish or lacquer.
Tox,
I used Minwax stain first, I had the gal at lowes mix custom for me. It took her a few tries to get what I wanted. Then I put on the watco about 7 times, but every time I left the watco on overnight. Then I would rub it out, and repeat. Not sure I did anything special.
Rtally
Thanks.....I was worried until the final, then I went ok ok that looks alright.

I think the secret to getting a shine with Watco Danish Oil is lots of coats. You want the final coat to be smooth, which means there is a lot of layers of oil.

I apply a coating of oil, and while the surface is wet I use 400 grit wet-dry sandpaper to rub it down. After letting the oil soak in for a while, I remove the oil by rubbing a clean paper towel over it until the surface is perfectly dry and smooth. I let dry for a day or longer. Depending upon the wood, I repeat this until there are about 5 layers of oil on the wood. By the last layer, the finish is smooth and has a good sheen with all the wood pores filled. If you put too many layers of oil on, it will be too thick and susceptible to gouging because the dried oil is not that hard.

Some like to apply a hard wax after the oil dries to get that extra shine. I have tried Howard Feed-N-Wax, but I prefer an unwaxed finish.
 
I did use a 000 steal wool sorry forgot to mention that it was a two week process between initial minwax stain and the watco. I guess I should have mentioned that ! Listening to Robin Trower Bridge of Sighs right now and couldn't be happier! 43 year old speakers are rocking! Thing is with this setup no loudness is needed playing at lower levels the old drivers with new crossover just awesome!
If you see these in yard sale grab emm!
Next project: JBL CF100 try and get them to not sound so bright! I bought some L-pads to try and drop the load to the Mids....the bass on these speakers sounds good the highs above mid are good but those damn mids are so bright it hurts especially when I put couple hundred watts through them. well we will see! Might be a lot of work!
 
Realistic Nova 7B was my very first set of real speakers I owned. My dad got them for me as a gift. Don't remember the occasion but I was so happy to have them. I paired them with my Technics SA-80 and Pioneer PL-400 table. Both the receiver and turntable are gone but the speakers remain in my dad's library. They have the original finish and grills.

dracoss, I do think the update is quite impressive, particularly the grills. I was never very find of the plastic wood lattice.
 
Very nice. Out of curiosity, did you go with a different style of mid/tweeter? If so, what did you use? As I recall, the two mid/tweeters were wired in parallel from a fairly basic crossover.
 
Boon, Thank you!
Christian B thank you as well!
Gnesen I did I went with a big crossover and forgive me its been many months from the time I started this project, I keep the original woofers but went with metal mids and dome tweeters. If you real curious I can login and look at the parts I ordered.
 
Wow! Speakers look way cool. Great colors! I have a pair of these speakers too and love the sound they produce. Match great with my Jensen OPC speakers. Would b cool to see the speakers with the cover off. I like speakers lol.
 
Boon, Thank you!
Christian B thank you as well!
Gnesen I did I went with a big crossover and forgive me its been many months from the time I started this project, I keep the original woofers but went with metal mids and dome tweeters. If you real curious I can login and look at the parts I ordered.

Yes, if you could let us know what you used as a mid, a tweeter, and cross-over mods - many would appreciate it. Thanks in advance!!
 
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