Cerwin Vega AT-15 Moving Dilema
- Thread starter redondo2018
- Start date
redondo2018
Active Member
O.M.G. that's something.
mikeybc
Listener
As the saying goes.... "go big or go home"
I had a set of battered, but functional DX-9's I put some Selenium tweeters into.
The improvement was huge.
Sold them for 180 bucks, I think, and have been kicking myself ever since.
Realize, I have Ohm Walsh 300 mk2's, McIntosh XRT20's, and EV Sentry VI's. Still, that Cerwin Vega magic scratches an itch that many do not.
I hope you keep them.
The improvement was huge.
Sold them for 180 bucks, I think, and have been kicking myself ever since.
Realize, I have Ohm Walsh 300 mk2's, McIntosh XRT20's, and EV Sentry VI's. Still, that Cerwin Vega magic scratches an itch that many do not.
I hope you keep them.
teal'c
Nuclear Cardiac Parent
Now instead of the center, push at 4 spots relatively equidistant on the cone, not the dust cover. ID where the scratching is coming from and try moving the cone while tilted slightly towards and away from that section. Instead of pushing it up and down to get the noise, you want to try to move it without getting the noise.
The 10 I did were much worse than that.
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redondo2018
Active Member
Ok, I'll try - one thing I didn't show is that cone is about half an inch lower (towards the magnet) then the other cone was - i.e. the coil or spider has collapsed towards the magnet. I can pull it back out - would that just be solved by gluing the foam in place or would it pull down on the foam?
teal'c
Nuclear Cardiac Parent
That is a different story. I replaced the spiders when I had that problem with a 12TR, but there has been mention that this works though I've never tried it..
redondo2018
Active Member
Yeah, I think what happened is the woofer got pushed in pretty hard at some point as the cap is crushed as well. That's fine, I was resigned that it had to be reconed.
avguytx
Lunatic Member
I just sold a set of VS-150's that I thought I might build new cabinets for that I bought 2 years ago. 2 years ago. I missed them for a few minutes and now doesnt matter; I've sold far better speakers that I do miss. I did, however, replace them with a pair of ads L1230's and I don't have to build new cabinets for them. They just need cabinets cleaned up and grills recovered.
Its been a year. Are you really going to ever get to them?
Its been a year. Are you really going to ever get to them?
MRPerformance
Sports car guy
That doesn't tell you a lot. It'd be interesting to know if you can find a "sweet spot" where the voice coil doesn't rub at all. The clearance between is necessarily pretty small so the cone doesn't have to be off center very far at all before it starts to rub.
Can't tell without looking at them but it wouldn't be surprising if there's nothing wrong with them other than the missing foam. But if you really want to retain the look of the original cone it'd be better to replace the voice coil & spider before refoaming because new foam is pretty much impossible to remove without damaging the cone.
That might be best left to someone with a lot of experience in speaker repair since you basically get one shot at it before having to resort to a new cone. Just depends on how confident you are in your own abilities in that area. I don't know if forum rules permit recommendations so I'll refrain from making any, but there are a few companies around that could likely make the driver as good as new while still retaining the original cone.
redondo2018
Active Member
The reason I haven't done them so far is it was kind of pointless - I had nowhere to put them to use them (4 people in a 1000sq apartment that's already full of records ;-)) but I'm moving to a house so if I bring them - and yes, I'm leaning towards it now - I will definitely fix them up because they're going right in the living room. Since no one has mentioned ditching the cabinets, I guess I need to bring them too - they really aren't in terrible shape, they are just heavy and the veneer is ugly - hoping I can just paint them over with black DuraTex without having to go through stripping the veneer.I just sold a set of VS-150's that I thought I might build new cabinets for that I bought 2 years ago. 2 years ago. I missed them for a few minutes and now doesnt matter; I've sold far better speakers that I do miss. I did, however, replace them with a pair of ads L1230's and I don't have to build new cabinets for them. They just need cabinets cleaned up and grills recovered.
Its been a year. Are you really going to ever get to them?
avguytx
Lunatic Member
That definitely makes sense as to why you didn't use them before. I know what you mean about the cabinets being rather ugly, but, they would need to be just as big, interior volume wise, so they would perform properly. You could shape them a little differently but they would still be large and heavy. Stripping the veneer off of those would be a nightmare....trust me. It would probably take less time to build a new set and veneer them! haha. Who knows, though. You could always cut off that front baffle lip, where the grill fits into, and make it flush to the cabinet, then possibly laminate them with some 1/4" thick birch or oak that comes from Lowes or HD. It could be attached with contact cement, I would imagine, then you would have a "wood veneer" and could stain and/or poly coat it. And the grills would still work. Just a thought.
lowercasee
Active Member
Another vote for keeping them, fixing them up, and rocking them for another 30 years. I have about half a dozen sets of CV speakers and I can tell you the 15" ones are in a class all by themselves.
redondo2018
Active Member
OP UPDATE: I took them with me! After I got up here, I brought the woofer to the local speaker guy and in 1 second he said they needed a recone. He tried to get the original grey ribbed cone but, as everyone seems to say, they are not to be found. Anyway, I decided to not wait until I redo the cabinets and just get them up and running, and they sound great. I'll probably end up painting them black over the veneer with Duratex at some point, but for now, they are properly rocking.
Nice! Don't paint them - they look good as-is! (IMHO of course).
redondo2018
Active Member
Yeah, from a distance they don't look too shabby
I'll admit, esp. with all of the other woodgrain in the setup. Who knows, maybe they'll stay this way for awhile...
Yeah, from a distance they don't look too shabby
You could veneer them. Here's the veneer job I did on on my VS-120's:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...20-cabinet-refresh-and-veneer-project.842903/
NicholasG
Active Member
Agree. Got my first pair of Cerwin Vegas (217r) with 15's and literally impressed with their sound. Bass is impressive at all levels and across all music. Glad you decided to keep them I feel you would have missed them. Excellent work on restoring them.