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DCM Time Window upgrades

M

mhardyman

Active Member
Greetings all. Someone at avsforum.com forum pointed me here.

I have a pair of DCM Time Windows series 1 bought new in 1981. I had to replace the tweeters about seven years in with stock Philips dome tweets. Any alignment they had was lost at that point. The grill foam was replaced with a decent cloth. The woofers are stock and the rubber surround looks to be degrading.

I'd love to keep these in running form as they do sound great and can fill a room well. Upgrading the speakers and possibly the crossover comes to mind.

Any suggestions with what and how?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Thanks for the obvious. Since the X-overs are on the bottom plate they will be a pain.

Was hoping for just a bit more...
 
Try the search feature in the forums for more info on Time Windows repairs and upgrades. There are lots of threads on the speakers and not all of them are about what a pain in the ass they are to disassemble. :D

Just search "Time Windows" and you will find plenty of information.
 
It's funny that your Timewindow surrounds are showing signs of degrading. Mine are rubber and still look like new.

Can't tell you anything more than these guys above have mentioned though, there isn't much more anyone has written that I'm aware of.
 
The crossovers in my 1As are very easy to get to. There is a threaded rod in the 1As. You take the nut off the bottom and it all pulls apart. I had it open at one time and thought the crossovers looked like they used very good caps. However, so did my ADS L810s, and recapping them with Daytons did indeed make they sound appreciably better.
 
Trouble is the replaced drivers means you've already lost much of the magic. There are angled colored lines on them that show each was aligned by hand.

The grill foam is part of the sound. Looks wierd but the acoustic properties of foam are different than fabric. The dispersion pattern is affected by this.

Sounds more like a mismatch between you and your speakers to me. No worries, plenty more speakers to try. When you find one that meshes with you, you will know it...
 
"Having lost sight of our objective, we redoubled out efforts"! -- Pogo

I'm giving up on this thread. Time to move on as life is calling...

The Time Windows still sound as good as ever. The tweeters I replaced were the same Philips units that they originally came with minus the magic that was done in the factory. Since then DCM recommended the Vifa tweets that fit the same opening would do quite nicely as Philips is no longer in the picture. If and when the 6.5" speakers go, I will face that chore at that time.

They still rock!
 
mhardyman said:
I'm giving up on this thread. Time to move on as life is calling...

The Time Windows still sound as good as ever. The tweeters I replaced were the same Philips units that they originally came with minus the magic that was done in the factory. Since then DCM recommended the Vifa tweets that fit the same opening would do quite nicely as Philips is no longer in the picture. If and when the 6.5" speakers go, I will face that chore at that time.

They still rock!
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, the 1As use Viva tweeters. Probably the same ones they recommended to you. I bet they're just fine.
 
replacement woofer DCM Time Windows

I bought a pair a couple of weeks ago and one of them has different drivers. I am not sure which ones they used but they sound spectacular. The guy called DCM and he used what they recommended. Here is a photo from outside at least. They are ugly and covered with over spray. These are my great sounding mutts. Love them. Whatever they are, they are spot on. Probably not much help, by now you may have already replaced them. They have a texture on the driver that is raised like little dots. I will vouch for their sound if you run into this replacement option. I have had about 4 other high end audio guys enjoy them with nothing but praise. I think mine are original TW's.
 

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krowmagnum said:
Try the search feature in the forums for more info on Time Windows repairs and upgrades. There are lots of threads on the speakers and not all of them are about what a pain in the ass they are to disassemble. :D

You will not find many positive thoughts on my threads. :D

Seriously, it is a great sounding speaker...GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...
 
stokedonlife said:
I bought a pair a couple of weeks ago and one of them has different drivers. I am not sure which ones they used but they sound spectacular. The guy called DCM and he used what they recommended. Here is a photo from outside at least. They are ugly and covered with over spray. These are my great sounding mutts. Love them. Whatever they are, they are spot on. Probably not much help, by now you may have already replaced them. They have a texture on the driver that is raised like little dots. I will vouch for their sound if you run into this replacement option. I have had about 4 other high end audio guys enjoy them with nothing but praise. I think mine are original TW's.
Click to expand...

Ok I'm going to lurk for a few years until you finally open up that TW and tell us what the replacement driver is that was recommended by DCM. Be nice to know just in case.
 
This thread seems to be winding down so I hope no one objects to a friendly hijacking.

I've also become a recent TW owner. I think mine are the originals from what I've found, which hasn't been a lot. I am absolutely enthralled with these speakers and am looking forward to lots of listening.

On each face of the speaker, there's a low position port where I assume the transmission line empties out. On one face the port sits a little higher on the other. Does anyone know which is supposed to be facing you, the higher or lower?

I've also searched a lot for info and was wondering if anyone had happened across a diagram of what the internals look like. Just curious ( but too lazy to crack them open just yet.) What a great design!
 
Time Window position

"On each face of the speaker, there's a low position port where I assume the transmission line empties out. On one face the port sits a little higher on the other. Does anyone know which is supposed to be facing you, the higher or lower?"

If you look on the rear of the speaker near the top between the plastic strip holding the grill foam will be a little plate stamped with the serial numbers. They should be sequential as they were usually sold in matched pairs. The lower number will be the left side, the upper on the right.

I bought mine through a small chain in Southern California called Accurate Audio and the sales guy was adamant about this. He only sold a handful of speaker lines and the TM was a biggy for him.
 
Well, that makes sense. I don't think I have the little plates like everyone else, but I did notice the numbers stamped into the wooden base. Hopefully they are in sequence. I was going to clean the living room, but now I have an easy diversion that could be construed as "work."

Thanks for the tip!
 
The speaker are identical so the left right stuff doesn't matter. The lower port is on the same side on both speakers.

So you will have a lower port and an upper port firing at you when set up to point about straight ahead and you sit between them.
 
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