IMF speakers "in the house" --- again: Supercompact II

[Ohighway]

Just happened across a pair of IMF Supercompact II speakers local to me. Picked them up this morning from the original owner (who said he bought them in Norway) Had the original brochure with them.

Seem like pretty cool little speakers to me, though not without problems. The coated midrange surrounds have cracks so will have to be attended to before I use these. A quick audition would indicate everything is functional though. Serial numbers 56309LL and 56309LR.

Pretty excited as now I have some little siblings to go with my TLS-80 speakers.

 

[chicknman72]

they do look promising, sweet :thmbsp:

 

[mhardy6647]

Had a pair (passed on to Nat); they are wonderful loudspeakers. Surprisingly efficient, too.

 

[Ohighway]

Hey Chicknman72, how do you like your Epicure 20+ ??

 

[Nat]

Ohighway:
If you find a source for the surrounds for the mids, I'd appreciate your posting it. I need to refoam them in the Supercompacts I got from Mark Hardy, but haven't gotten around to researching much. Mine need some TLC on the cabinets to look as good as yours -- they've faded and have some big dings.

 

[sealy]

KEF B200 woofers with the big magnets? Although I've never seen B200's with an inverted-roll surround. Can't place those tweeters, though. Are they Audax?

 

[Duckzilla]

Long been a fan of IMF's, very nice sounding speakers.

 

[tensleep]

The light band of color across the baffle at the bottom - is that a port slot?

 

[Arkay]

IMFs are great speakers, as you must already know from your TLS-80s. You've more-or-less got enough now for an all-IMF HT surround system (With TLS-80s, who needs a subwoofer, anyway? )... that would be sweet!

 

[nclh77]

IMF's are great speakers. Good save. Kind of a strange gloss on the mid surrounds. Are they foam? Were they coated with something?

 

[mhardy6647]

The light band of color across the baffle at the bottom - is that a port slot?

It is a port of sorts; stuffed with soft foam. Maybe functionally an aperiodic vent?

 

[Ohighway]

Ohighway:
If you find a source for the surrounds for the mids, I'd appreciate your posting it. I need to refoam them in the Supercompacts I got from Mark Hardy, but haven't gotten around to researching much. Mine need some TLC on the cabinets to look as good as yours -- they've faded and have some big dings.

Yeah, we'll have to figure that one out. Somebody has already been down this road.... do you speak french ? http://www.dcx2496.fr/imf.php

 

[Ohighway]

It is a port of sorts; stuffed with soft foam. Maybe functionally an aperiodic vent?

Brochure description: "Bass performance is maintained via a critically tuned and optimumly damped reflex enclosure (see illustration)."

http://www.marklev.com/IMF/SuperCompact/index.html

 

[Ohighway]

Can't place those tweeters, though. Are they Audax?

Well according to this review, yes, though it doesn't mention a model number.

 

[Ohighway]

IMFs are great speakers, as you must already know from your TLS-80s. You've more-or-less got enough now for an all-IMF HT surround system (With TLS-80s, who needs a subwoofer, anyway? )... that would be sweet!

Funny you should mention.... spotted this while searching: "IMF's had a rather recessed midband (just about adjustable out on the big models - mid control up, top control down) and a rather fruity bass below 100Hz on pre mark 2 models. The Super Compact was designed to mimic this from the upper bass upwards, so they could be used as rear channel speakers with the 50's and above at the front. They ALL need a tightly controlled amp to hold the bass end in check, despite their benign impedance curve..."

 

[Ohighway]

Well I can't really do much with these until the midrange foams are replaced. It appears a sticky coating was applied to the cone and surround at the same time. Made some measurements and found some surrounds on ebay that appear to be the correct size for these speakers. So, they're ordered and ..... hopefully they'll be here in a few days.

 

[sealy]

Those cones look a mess. Unless that coating can be taken off, the mids are probably toast as they won't have anywhere near the frequency response characteristics that they should have, even with new surrounds. It may simply peel off if you're lucky.

 

[vol4]

Ohighway:
If you find a source for the surrounds for the mids, I'd appreciate your posting it. I need to refoam them in the Supercompacts I got from Mark Hardy, but haven't gotten around to researching much. Mine need some TLC on the cabinets to look as good as yours -- they've faded and have some big dings.

Yes. If you find a source for mid surrounds let us know. Mine need them too. I think they all need them. The ones on mine look real rough and grainy. Should have read the whole way through this. The photo is what mine look like.

 

[vol4]

KEF B200 woofers with the big magnets? Although I've never seen B200's with an inverted-roll surround. Can't place those tweeters, though. Are they Audax?

I had mine apart last winter. Heres the speaker markings that i found.

Woof-SP1014 plus KEF11 in a circle and D0177 8ohms with Small magnets

Mid-4EM/101 8ohms

tweet-HD72x8D 25 8-9ohms

 

[Nat]

Sealy -- that is how the cones are supposed to be. The coating damps resonances and may also be used to lower or adjust the resonant frequency, though with midranges that's probably not a major issue. I believe there is no way to remove it, and trying to do so would alter the driver's behavior significantly. I don't know how important it is that the surround be damped, but an undamped surround is better than no surround.
And its possible to get the surround off reasonably neatly without damaging the cone.
So I don't think your prognosis is correct -- certainly I hope its not since I need to replace mine.