Any way to fix a bad sounding Design Acoustics PS10 Speakers (I may have been scammed)?!

[selfilm]

The DAs do have a slightly more laid back high end because of the fabric tweeter. That being said, the caps in the crossover are likely 40 years old now and out of tolerance. That is a simple fix and a great way to learn about how a speaker functions.

Simply remove the base plate and the the woofer on the bottom. IIRC the crossover is either attached to the terminal plate or very close. Label and detach the wires to the 3 speakers and look at the crossover. The values of the caps will be printed on them. You can order the replacements from Parts Express. Remove the old caps from the board with a soldering iron and replace with the new ones.

There could be other less obvious problems within the tweeters, but refreshing the crossover is always my 1st step in restoring older speakers.

Boonaroo, I appreciate this step by step process. I didn't see yours and others responses until I had already sent them out. I definitely would have done the fix / work myself as I think it would have been fun - but at least now, if there's more than what's been described here, it can be manage by a professional. Thanks for taking the time to spell this all out, it was very helpful for future and other speakers I might purchase!

 

[selfilm]

Found this thread in another forum. Has lots of good pictures. Shows the crossover. Somebody in the thread said the caps all tested good in their pair. So, if you can make these speakers sound good using the tweeter adjustment pot on each speaker or your amp tone controls maybe not worth tearing into them.

Design Acoustics PS-10

Nice (but little known) little speakers. I think Glenn has had some experience with them. They have "wood-grain vinyl" cabinets--the curse of the 80s. Woofer is downward firing and the surrounds needed to be replaced. Ordered new 10" foams from SpeakerWorks. The foam attaches to the back of the c...

community.classicspeakerpages.net

Thank you BmWr75

 

[selfilm]

As for trying to clean Treble switch, set speakers on their fronts, spray a" little" Deoxit or WD40 onto toggle and let it drain into switch for a few minutes, then work switch back and forth and repeat, then test speakers. You can use a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll to isolate the tweeters for your ears.

But the toggle switches may have failed, so removing them may be the best solution.

@Sandman1221, thanks for this helpful information

 

[selfilm]

If they sounded good, then tweeters and caps are good. Assuming he did not have any other speakers powered on at the same time during the demo (that would be very deceptive). And seller adjusting Treble on preamp to 2 pm is not much, since it can normally be turned to 6 pm.

So maybe speaker Treble control is now stuck at -3 dB, that is a significant reduction, or if something in the switches got damaged when you played with them it could of cut the tweeters out completely.

Design Acoustics removed those Treble toggle switches in the later PS10 "a" series for a reason!

We'll know more as I didn't see all these comments before speakers went to tech, more to come!

 

[Boonaroo]

We'll know more as I didn't see all these comments before speakers went to tech, more to come!

Good to know these will be completely restored. You will be very pleased with the results. I always wanted a pair of DA 10's but never had the opportunity. Hope you enjoy them on their return.

 

[leesonic]

The tweeters probably need to be re-doped.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...oustics-ps-10-and-ps-10a-restoration.1053826/

 

[hifihal]

Hi Everyone,

The short story is: I now demo all speakers before purchasing used. I did this with a pair of, what looked to be good condition Design Acoustic PS10s (the bass speakers had been re-foamed). The speakers sounded good when purchased, but after I got them home - all highs were gone and it had no good sound in top end. It appears the seller had turned up his treble to trick me in the sale. I know this because he admitted the receiver was set to 2pm on Treble, and when I told him I was dissatisfied and requested to return them having not known he was messing with the eq when demoing, he wouldn't take them back (he knew they had a problem and covered it up when demoing the units). That said, I only paid $60, and I'm trying to make lemonade out of lemons here by reviving the speaker. I've though of replacing the tweeters (Dayton Audio Soft Dome Tweeters? Are they good?), I thought of De-Oxit being put on the manual highs tuning knob on the front of the unit (clan it from back), but before I start wasting any time on this, am I going down a road that's just a rabbit hole without an end in sight. I feel like there's something here to fix - both speakers have the exact same lack of highs and clarity, so I figure it can be fixed. Maybe even more preferrable is to take these units to someone who specializes in repairing speakers, but I know of no such repair shop (I live in Brooklyn, NY so if anyone has any suggestions)? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

After this, I'm considering only buying new components, the heartache may not be worth the fun of the game.

Sincerely,
Scott

Scott, I just literally had the exact same experience. Have to turn the treble up all the way to get any semblance of a balanced well mixed sound. I am also going to have a guy looking at these. I have tested for continuity on both tweeters and they are good. I suspect it is just old tweets but have to replace with new ones to see. How much have you learned from your tech on these? I am about to clean the fabric domes, recover with dope (flexible liquid electrical tape) and try to extract old and replace with new ferrofluid. Found some proper replacements at Midwest Speaker and will try those. My guy got me for more cash than yours did so I am pissed. I had these brand new at one time in 1991-1998 and gave to a friend when I got a surround system....Just want them to sound nice.
So it is
speaker vs
crossover (caps, resistors, toggle switch resistor for flat and -3dB, solders, etc
let me know,
Hal

 

[Sandman1221]

Scott, I just literally had the exact same experience. Have to turn the treble up all the way to get any semblance of a balanced well mixed sound. I am also going to have a guy looking at these. I have tested for continuity on both tweeters and they are good. I suspect it is just old tweets but have to replace with new ones to see. How much have you learned from your tech on these? I am about to clean the fabric domes, recover with dope (flexible liquid electrical tape) and try to extract old and replace with new ferrofluid. Found some proper replacements at Midwest Speaker and will try those. My guy got me for more cash than yours did so I am pissed. I had these brand new at one time in 1991-1998 and gave to a friend when I got a surround system....Just want them to sound nice.
So it is
speaker vs
crossover (caps, resistors, toggle switch resistor for flat and -3dB, solders, etc
let me know,
Hal

If they have ferrofluid that is old it will kill the tweeter output, I know first hand with tweeter voice coils that were stuck in mud-like 43 yr old ferrofluid. I got replacement ferrofluid on ebay and then they sounded great again.

It took a bit of work to get all the old ferrofluid out, I used WD40 and a trimmed down shopstick to clean it out, then 70% isopropanol to clean out the WD40. Be careful removing the voice coils, mine were really stuck in there, if I had the same problem again would spray WD40 into the voice coil groove first to let it loosen up the ferrofluid.