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Any opinion on Nova 8 Speakers?

B

bladerunner6

New Member
My folks had a Radio Shack franchise for a number of years starting in the 1970's. Now that I have rekindled my interest in music, I have been thinking about getting a pair of retro speakers for our dining room or basement.

I have a chance to pick up some Nova 8's in good working condition.

Any opinions on these? I will be using these more for background music in the dining room if I were to use them there. Or for workout music in the basement.

Thanks!
 
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Darn nice speaker - just sold a mint pair and I have another pair that went through the VL mods. It's important to note that there is differences between the 8 and 8b models. They share the same cabinets, mids, and have similar crossover designs, but the woofers, tweeters, and crossover points are different. For my current 8's I had to replace the tweeters with 8b versions but kept the 8 woofers.

I don't think you can go wrong with the 8's as they sound fantastic in stock form but I'd highly recommend a recap and cleaning of the l-pads to hear them at their best.
 
Agreed, they are nice, especially recapped. Beware of dead tweeters, it's not uncommon on the Nova 8 (not the 8B so much).
 
tiga said:
Darn nice speaker - just sold a mint pair and I have another pair that went through the VL mods. It's important to note that there is differences between the 8 and 8b models. They share the same cabinets, mids, and have similar crossover designs, but the woofers, tweeters, and crossover points are different. For my current 8's I had to replace the tweeters with 8b versions but kept the 8 woofers.

I don't think you can go wrong with the 8's as they sound fantastic in stock form but I'd highly recommend a recap and cleaning of the l-pads to hear them at their best.
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Thanks for the help.

What is cleaning the l-pads?
 
bladerunner6 said:
Bump

No advice on what is cleaning the ipads?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The L-Pads are the potentiometers (pots) knobs on the back of the speaker that control midrange and tweeter volume. With time, they can get scratchy. There are products, like De-Oxit, that can be used to clean the pots and hopefully remove any scratchiness. If you don't have scratchiness, you can generally skip this. Search AK, there are lots of threads on how to do this.
 
I never had a pair myself but I get the feeling they have a smoother, more Monitor type sound, a sound which I prefer now, than the pair of their Mach 1's I bought new in the mid 70's. I did, and still do however love the looks of the Mach 1's on a pair of angled low stands I bought their too.
 
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L-pad cleaning

Just to note that the l-pads have a sealed back housing making it impossible to get deoxit in there without drilling. I bought a metal drill bit the same diameter as the straw used with the deoxit nozzle (can't remember the size) and carefully drilled a hole in the housing cover. Just go in enough to make the hole and stop. Spray a bunch of deoxit in there and really work the knob back and forth. I then let it dry for a day then covered the hole with a printer label. Worked really well.

Those are nice speakers and worth bringing back to good health. If I didn't just get a pair of Yamaha NS-1000m's I probably would have kept these around. Plus I have another pair with the VL-mods - which still have many of the sound characteristics of the 8's.
 
tiga said:
Just to note that the l-pads have a sealed back housing making it impossible to get deoxit in there without drilling. I bought a metal drill bit the same diameter as the straw used with the deoxit nozzle (can't remember the size) and carefully drilled a hole in the housing cover. Just go in enough to make the hole and stop. Spray a bunch of deoxit in there and really work the knob back and forth. I then let it dry for a day then covered the hole with a printer label. Worked really well.

Those are nice speakers and worth bringing back to good health. If I didn't just get a pair of Yamaha NS-1000m's I probably would have kept these around. Plus I have another pair with the VL-mods - which still have many of the sound characteristics of the 8's.
Click to expand...
Too funny, I did the very same thing with my Fisher receiver. Bloody pots (a couple) were sealed so I drilled them out at the bottom with the receiver tilted so debris would fall down rather than in. Also, having the hole at the bottom meant debris could fall out the hole (if any was still inside) and making it harder for "stuff" to get in. I think I used electricians tape of duct tape, not sure now. Awesome idea that works nicely.
 
I am auditioning a pair right now.I do think these are a very good speaker.They need some room to breathe.You wouldn't think as they are not a large speaker but they do sound better further back from you.At least that was my thoughts.Not being a very good descriptor of sound I would agree with charles 1973 about the smooth monitor type sound.I would highly recommend a pair.edit ..they seem to be amp dependant meaning they didn't sound so good with a hafler amp.They sounded better with Yamaha power.
 
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I've owned (and used) a pair since 1975. I modded them a year later by replacing the top tweeter with a horn and have been in love with then since! Unfortunately, I had to put them in storage a couple of years ago and now have the Elac Unifi Floorstanding Five series and I miss them terribly. If the movers hadn't put them at the back of the storage unit where I can't get to them, I'd still be listening to them!
 
Brett Baird said:
I've owned (and used) a pair since 1975. I modded them a year later by replacing the top tweeter with a horn and have been in love with then since! Unfortunately, I had to put them in storage a couple of years ago and now have the Elac Unifi Floorstanding Five series and I miss them terribly. If the movers hadn't put them at the back of the storage unit where I can't get to them, I'd still be listening to them!
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Interesting that you mentioned replacing the top tweeter with a horn. I found a pair of Nova 7b and someone also replaced the top tweeter with a plastic black “bullet” horn. I’m wondering now if that was the suggested/recommended mod thing from some source back then to improve on the highs on these speakers. It seemed to have worked nicely. How did you came up with that idea to mod yours?
 
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I have 3 pair of Nova 6, the 8 inch two driver version. They are keepers for sure. Two pair spaced about 4-5 feet apart wired left-right-left-right across a bookshelf on the long wall of the basement. No equalization needed and everything sounds good. Sleepers yes.
 
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