quietmouse
Member
I decided to start a thread about the rebuild of my Cerwin Vega 15-T's since there is very little information about them on the web. In fact, the most information I have found about these has been here on AudioKarma. I imagine this will be of some interest to certain members of AK as these are rare and a pretty interesting design, so I will add my experience to the pile. I am including lots of pictures for comparative reasons in case someone has a pair or is looking for similarity between drivers in CV’s.
I am very interested in any information members can share about this family of speakers. I have been told they were Cerwin's shot at creating a true Hi-Fi speaker to rival Klipsch, JBL, etc. I guess sort of in the vein of Pioneer's HPM 150’s, which were contemporaries of these.
Personal history of my pair of 15-T’s
These speakers were in my living room from the third grade till I left home at 16. They came free with my new step-father in 1982. They were the speakers that I heard Pink Floyd’s money on for the first time, at house shaking volume I might add, being powered by a Pioneer Spec 1 and Spec 2 system. I also heard plenty of Moody Blues, Supertramp, Kraftwerk, etc. I guess you could say my step-father was into “The Big Sound”.
I have owned this set of speakers since 1996. I bought them from my step-father because he had long since retired them out to his workshop, where they were rotting away and getting water damaged. The woofers were in horrible shape in 1996, with the foam almost entirely gone and some damage to the cones as well. I called the Cerwin Vega factory in California to ask about repairing or replacing the woofers and was able to talk to a tech who was extremely helpful. He was not familiar with the speaker, but went and pulled a file on them and called me back the next day. He informed me that they no longer produced a woofer that would perform correctly in that cabinet, but if I sent him the speakers he would personally rebuild them to original spec. I mailed them to the Cerwin Vega Factory in California and they rebuilt the entire speaker in the original baskets for $75. Can you imagine that kind of service now?
I sold them once to a friend, but traded him back for them 5 years later. I am now out of college and have the time to rebuild them but I have a lot to learn.
The 15T has a front tweeter and 8 inch mid, a rear firing high frequency horn and a down firing 15 inch woofer.
My first questions are if these impedance readings are correct. The Impedance listed on the back crossover is 4-8 Ohms. I have not seen variable impedance before, but my experience is very limited.
Tweeter:
One tweeter has a black cloth cover that I assume is covering up the soft dome seen here.
Mid:
Woofer:
Rear Firing Horn:
If anyone can tell me if these readings are within spec I would greatly appreciate it!
At this time the speakers are non functional and I am almost positive it is due to the crossovers. They began going out slowly with the attenuators being spotty years ago. I am testing the driver Impedance to make sure that is OK then I will rebuild the crossovers.
My plan is to listen to them for awhile and if they sound as good as I remember then I will invest the work of cosmetically refurbishing them.
I am very interested in any information members can share about this family of speakers. I have been told they were Cerwin's shot at creating a true Hi-Fi speaker to rival Klipsch, JBL, etc. I guess sort of in the vein of Pioneer's HPM 150’s, which were contemporaries of these.
Personal history of my pair of 15-T’s
These speakers were in my living room from the third grade till I left home at 16. They came free with my new step-father in 1982. They were the speakers that I heard Pink Floyd’s money on for the first time, at house shaking volume I might add, being powered by a Pioneer Spec 1 and Spec 2 system. I also heard plenty of Moody Blues, Supertramp, Kraftwerk, etc. I guess you could say my step-father was into “The Big Sound”.
I have owned this set of speakers since 1996. I bought them from my step-father because he had long since retired them out to his workshop, where they were rotting away and getting water damaged. The woofers were in horrible shape in 1996, with the foam almost entirely gone and some damage to the cones as well. I called the Cerwin Vega factory in California to ask about repairing or replacing the woofers and was able to talk to a tech who was extremely helpful. He was not familiar with the speaker, but went and pulled a file on them and called me back the next day. He informed me that they no longer produced a woofer that would perform correctly in that cabinet, but if I sent him the speakers he would personally rebuild them to original spec. I mailed them to the Cerwin Vega Factory in California and they rebuilt the entire speaker in the original baskets for $75. Can you imagine that kind of service now?
I sold them once to a friend, but traded him back for them 5 years later. I am now out of college and have the time to rebuild them but I have a lot to learn.
The 15T has a front tweeter and 8 inch mid, a rear firing high frequency horn and a down firing 15 inch woofer.
My first questions are if these impedance readings are correct. The Impedance listed on the back crossover is 4-8 Ohms. I have not seen variable impedance before, but my experience is very limited.
Tweeter:
One tweeter has a black cloth cover that I assume is covering up the soft dome seen here.
Mid:
Woofer:
Rear Firing Horn:
If anyone can tell me if these readings are within spec I would greatly appreciate it!
At this time the speakers are non functional and I am almost positive it is due to the crossovers. They began going out slowly with the attenuators being spotty years ago. I am testing the driver Impedance to make sure that is OK then I will rebuild the crossovers.
My plan is to listen to them for awhile and if they sound as good as I remember then I will invest the work of cosmetically refurbishing them.
Last edited: