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Realistic Optimus T-120

Unican_Eric

Unican_Eric

Pioneerious Collecticus
Last year I had these given to me. They were out in the garbage, it was raining.
Both the Mids and the Woofs needed new foam and the tweeters were pushed in. The bottoms were swelled and grills shot. They should have stayed in the garbage but I thought they might be resurrected.
In my spare time I fiddled with sanding down the veneer and rebuilding the swollen bottoms. They were really bad, I actually had to replace the whole bottom on 1 with new wood. Used wood filler to reform all the back corners and gave them a coat of Walnut restore a finish.

I just got the mids and woofs back tonight. They were a damn pain in the ass to refoam, The fellow who does them for me said he never had such a bastard of a pair to do. I vacuumed out the tweeters and they came out well.

I am listening to them now and I cant believe the sound, I am awed. Geez these sound good. Total investment was $30 to have them refoamed and my time. the wood was free as well as the finish restore.

I am replacing my Mach II on the main computer with these I love them so much. Smooth Jazz on RadioIO is whats going through them right now.

Just need to redo the grills as the wood on them are perfect.

Never pass a set of speakers in the garbage I tell ya.
 

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Nice work! I have a set of Mach one's that I'm going to refoam and I rescued them from the curb. I've heard a lot of good things about them as far as being a rock music speaker. Nice score! :thmbsp:
 
Very nice. I just resurrected a pair of Nova's although they need a little more work.

Question - what is Walnut restore a finish? Is that the brand name and where can I find some?
 
Fletch said:
Very nice. I just resurrected a pair of Nova's although they need a little more work.

Question - what is Walnut restore a finish? Is that the brand name and where can I find some?
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I found it at my local Home depot. Works pretty good.



deaner33 said:
Did the refoam guy say why they were such a pain to refoam?
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He said the voice coil clearance was not very much and it was hard to line up especially on the 1 ten inch driver. He thinks being out in the rain the water might have warped the cone. He didn't shim them I believe.
 

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Gonna revive this thread...

I have a set of T120's that I trying to find replacement 10" driver surrounds.. been a struggle to find them.... but hopefully ReEdger can help me out.

Can you tell me how your refoam guy did your surrounds? Did he put them back the way they were from the factory (ie: glued to the backside of the cone) or did he glue them to frontside... kind of hard to tell in your pic but it looks like it was done on the frontside.

Also... I see that he tried to shim one voice coil and not the other, reason I can tell is that I see one paper dust cap and one original woven fabric dust cap...

Any info you can give me on this refoam repair would be appreciated!

Thanks

Stan
 
Unican_Eric said:
Last year I had these given to me. They were out in the garbage, it was raining.
Both the Mids and the Woofs needed new foam and the tweeters were pushed in. The bottoms were swelled and grills shot. They should have stayed in the garbage but I thought they might be resurrected.
In my spare time I fiddled with sanding down the veneer and rebuilding the swollen bottoms. They were really bad, I actually had to replace the whole bottom on 1 with new wood. Used wood filler to reform all the back corners and gave them a coat of Walnut restore a finish.

I just got the mids and woofs back tonight. They were a damn pain in the ass to refoam, The fellow who does them for me said he never had such a bastard of a pair to do. I vacuumed out the tweeters and they came out well.

I am listening to them now and I cant believe the sound, I am awed. Geez these sound good. Total investment was $30 to have them refoamed and my time. the wood was free as well as the finish restore.

I am replacing my Mach II on the main computer with these I love them so much. Smooth Jazz on RadioIO is whats going through them right now.

Just need to redo the grills as the wood on them are perfect.

Never pass a set of speakers in the garbage I tell ya.
Click to expand...
I bought a pair back in 1986 and still have them. Our new family cat had picked-up the bad habit to scratch his claws on one of them and the bottom has some damage on it. Any brand of wood filling you recommend?
 
Those look nice with the soft dome tweeter. Beats paper 99/100 times. I have a soft spot for Realistic speakers, admittedly.
 
Loves me my T-120's! :biggrin:
20090110-5220RealisticT-120.jpg
 
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Might check these threads out...

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/optimus-t120-help-please.395721/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....mus-t-120-vs-t-100.464338/page-2#post-7264655 Seems in this post I used the KEF 10" foams for mine and DID have to trim the outside edge. Not a huge deal, but it was an extra pain. Or inconvenience. The T-120 is likely the most surprising of Realistic speakers, and I own many. Surprising bottom end, pretty controlled from top to bottom. Not in the league of "high dollar" speakers, but certainly hold their own well. Still own mine. All original drivers now. Foams for the mids need to be replaced, usually, with these speakers. Foams might also be in that link above.
 
Audiokingman said:
Nice speakers, but those are not the original woofers. Did you purposely replace the original woofers with a different one instead of refoaming the originals?
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Good eye. Actually, I bought them that way. They are Radio Shack replacement woofers. I keep thinking I'm going to get a pair of "framed" woofers for them but it keeps slipping my mind.
 
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