IMF TLS 80 II crossover cap replacement, round 2!

All right AK!

Since I was so successful with the right speaker, it's time to do the left. This time I'm gonna include many more pictures so you can all see what's going on. Might be a good reference for anyone who does the crossover cap replacement on these most excellent loudspeakers.

OK so tools:

Solder iron
Vacuum Solder Sucker (could use bulb or braid too)
Long flathead screwdriver (for prying crossover board off of foam)
Philips Screwdriver (for taking front baffle off)
Pliers (needle nose is best)
Wire brush (for cleaning foam off of crossover board)
Capacitors to replace with (I bought mine from falconacoustics.co.uk - excellent price! no affiliation)
Good light source (don't wanna do this in the dark)
Pants
Your sanity

Process:

OK so first it starts with the speaker itself. Look at how glorious she is.



Don't worry babe, you are only coming apart for a little while!

OK now onto the dissection..




Here is where that flathead comes in handy. You need a long one.



OK good, the crossover is unhinged. Now time to unhook the wires.. take some pictures of what is what of course!




For easy reference, inside the speaker the wires going on the top of the board are bundled together and look to be coming from the speaker terminal, whereas the bottom wires are also all bundled together.

If you are using this thread to help yourself do an IMF TLS 80 II crossover cap replacement, the color of wires go:

Top: Black Red White Blue
Bottom: Black Green Red Orange Yellow Purple White Black

The length of the wires also helps you figure out which one goes where, but a picture is worth a thousand words!!

Next, we take the wires off.



Bottom wires are off, now the top wires..



OK, good to go now. We've got 'er out of there, time for the dirty work.



Use a wire brush to clean off as much foam as you can. You could use rubbing alcohol to get the glue off, I couldn't find my bottle of it around the house so I just wired brushed it off as best I could.

Now onto the whole reason we're here, the capacitors need to be replaced!



OK, halfway there. Now for the rest.



And we're done! I didn't do the green caps because I don't want to replace good parts. They are original to this crossover so they are the best part for the job. That isn't to say you couldn't replace them, I just opted not to.

Now this is where the hard part begins, putting in the crossover board. Rewiring it inside the speaker is not an easy task, I recommend you get an extra pair of hands to help you with it.

Once I'm done this step, I will put more photos up. To be continued..

OK got it all done.

No pictures because.. it was seriously the biggest pain in the ass EVER lol.

But I think these pictures give you the gist of it..

Anyhow, I'm gonna clean up the room and get these babies set-up good and proper, I shall report my findings on their sound.

Okay well first off.. wow..

I need a bigger room for these LOL

But wow. Remarkable. Very accurate and smooth sounding. Vocals are full, it's a "wall of sound".. but do I ever need a bigger room for these. Either way, I'm very happy to have them.. I just know what awaits when they get the room they deserve.

Now that's left is to just fix the crossover onto the foam again. Does anyone have any recommendations for what type of adhesive to use to stick them onto the foam? I'm not touching those crossovers for another 30 years so..

I don't mean to dig this thread up from the dead but...

I just scored a pair of mint TLS80s for 250$ and although they sound wonderful, with my ~10W SE amp fully cranked I can start to hear bass leaking through to the other drivers/tweeters. Subsequently I am planning to replace the caps...

I opened up the one speaker to find my caps are "tropical fish" types and without value markings. So I was hoping you could help me with:

Values
and Brand/Source for your caps.

This would save me quite a bit of trouble trying to reverse engineer fatigued capacitors.

Thanks!

You know what? I'd use velcro around the edge of the PC board, it has an adhesive already!

wrightg said:

I don't mean to dig this thread up from the dead but...

I just scored a pair of mint TLS80s for 250$ and although they sound wonderful, with my ~10W SE amp fully cranked I can start to hear bass leaking through to the other drivers/tweeters. Subsequently I am planning to replace the caps...

I opened up the one speaker to find my caps are "tropical fish" types and without value markings. So I was hoping you could help me with:

Values
and Brand/Source for your caps.

This would save me quite a bit of trouble trying to reverse engineer fatigued capacitors.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Digging up old threads is fine. Especially if they are mine.

As for capacitors, I bought my kit from http://www.falconacoustics.co.uk. They supply a kit for the crossovers in both. The ALCAPs they have are made by the same guy who made the ELCAP caps which are original to the boards in there.

One thing to make sure of is, which TLS 80 do you have? The original or version two? The original has no stands, and has a twisted looking foam that is a greenish color. The series two has a yellow looking foam that is bubbled and comes with stands.

Great job on finding a set for $250, you did very well.

The only other thing I could mention to you is to make sure the tube is sealed around the midrange driver - that could be causing the leaking you are describing.

Thanks for posting this, CD. Don't you just love the fact that the crossovers are glued to foam? I confess that I did not re-cap mine - Sir. Byrd did a great job on it. I was listening to some Mannheim Steamroller Christmas tunes on them earlier this evening and they are just wonderful, wonderful speakers! :yes:

thank you so much!

They are in fact TLS80 mkI, serial# 1941. However, I am a little confused as the crossover currently has some "tropical fish" caps (which I believe were generally made by ducati in the 60s and 70s). They appear to be original, and different than those from your pictures. Then again, I just noticed you have mk2.

I will buy a cap kit and check the mid drivers.

They are the second best speakers I've ever heard, and certainly the best production speakers I have ever heard. For 250$, I almost feel guilty!

wrightg said:

thank you so much!

They are in fact TLS80 mkI, serial# 1941. However, I am a little confused as the crossover currently has some "tropical fish" caps (which I believe were generally made by ducati in the 60s and 70s). They appear to be original, and different than those from your pictures. Then again, I just noticed you have mk2.

I will buy a cap kit and check the mid drivers.

They are the second best speakers I've ever heard, and certainly the best production speakers I have ever heard. For 250$, I almost feel guilty!

Click to expand...

I haven't personally looked at an IMF TLS 80 I crossover board so that is certainly a possibility. Either way, schematics are easy to find. I will find the TLS 80 crossover schematic for you and post it - it should give you all you need to properly recap it. The kit from Falcon supplies the correct parts so no need to go sourcing out different caps from different places, it's all there

Cool, I've already ordered the kit. Hope it comes in good speed, I would love to have peace of mind whilst disturbing the neighbors.

Dang man, what happened to the images? Well, I suppose it was 4 years ago. I've tentatively agreed to trade my vintage DIY Bozak B302A's for a pair of IMF TLS-80's. Tentative because I don't know the condition or if there are any operational issues. From what I read, I'm being backed into a corner as to my choices of caps. I'd rather not have them delivered from the UK, but I will if I have to. Don't want to mess with the original voicing of the speakers, that ain't cool.

Do you still have 'em?

Biggles

Biggles[/QUOTE]
Don't you just hate it, the internet leaks like a sive. My two pet peaves, pictures disappear from the net and articles are not dated.

Anyway, don't worry about ordering from the UK, it is safe and fast. I just received some caps from falconacoustics.co.uk last week and they took no more than one week to get here. Haven't had a chance to put them in my TLS80 MK II yet. I'm too busy listening to them!

That was really a steal you got on that TLS80 set for $250. Good luck with your crossover update.

drbiggles said:

Dang man, what happened to the images? Well, I suppose it was 4 years ago. I've tentatively agreed to trade my vintage DIY Bozak B302A's for a pair of IMF TLS-80's. Tentative because I don't know the condition or if there are any operational issues. From what I read, I'm being backed into a corner as to my choices of caps. I'd rather not have them delivered from the UK, but I will if I have to. Don't want to mess with the original voicing of the speakers, that ain't cool.

Do you still have 'em?

Biggles

Click to expand...

International shipping these days is pretty fast for small light packages, and international air shipping rates are pretty good, especially with the strong dollar against the GBP (£) or the Euro these days. Remember, for orders from England, you use the non-VAT (value added tax) price. My problem will be having some speakers and parts that a friend is holding for me in GB shipped, likely will be a bit more for maybe 30-35 pounds of gear. Luckily, not shipping heavy amps or such.

The Falcon ALCAP non-polar electrolytic caps are the best similar versions to the original ELCAPS that IMF, KEF, and many others used in their 70's-80's speaker crossovers. Falcon may have helped supply the original OEM parts or crossovers, although IMF probably had help from ELAC / TDL in putting them together. Don't forget to replace caps and resistors (if found) behind the input cups next to any "perspective" adjustment controls, they are part of the schematic, but are not located on the main crossover board.

Shipping from Falconacoustics was cheap. I ordered capacitors sets for my IMF TSL 80 II and my IMF Super Compacts. Shipping total was $10.95 and no import tariff. Could not have shipped them cheaper in the USA.

Got it and I understand about higher quality speakers wanting a specific capacitor, not a problem. I haven't received the IMF's, yet. I have tentative plans to take my DIY Bozak B302A's up for auditioning. If he likes them, we're going to trade. Am told his IMF's are in near mint cosmetics, grills to. The internals/drivers are all supposed to be as well taken care of, so they may not need new caps. I'm just making an attempt at getting my ducks lined up so I can shoot them if need be. I'm really excited about the trade, mostly because I'd like to hear the IMF's and I'd also like to have a factory made pair of speakers in my living room. I'm not all that excited about getting rid of the Bozaks though. They're the first speaker that I've ever owned that I have "issues" with selling. All the others were great and all, but after a month or two, no issue in releasing them into the wild.

Biggles

Are all the pictures from the OP dead/removed? Would love to see the pics from the work, if possible!