Design Acoustics PS-10 Speakers

[teal'c]

Your main concern is not centering the voice coil. Rubbing scraping noises, VC damage, amp/receiver damage from shorting. Hook it up to something, I use a little Lepy $20 amp and an MP3 player, run a 30 Hz tone through it, and you won't need to worry. You want the cone moving up and down at a decent clip, but not all out.
I made my tone in Audacity, but you can use the computer into an amp too.

 

[DMcB123]

Your main concern is not centering the voice coil. Rubbing scraping noises, VC damage, amp/receiver damage from shorting. Hook it up to something, I use a little Lepy $20 amp and an MP3 player, run a 30 Hz tone through it, and you won't need to worry. You want the cone moving up and down at a decent clip, but not all out.
I made my tone in Audacity, but you can use the computer into an amp too.

Thanks very much for this. This gets played when I am glueing the surround to the frame? Or both glueing steps?

 

[GD70]

Thanks very much for this. This gets played when I am glueing the surround to the frame? Or both glueing steps?

The frame. Glue the surround to the cone first, let it dry.

 

[DMcB123]

The frame. Glue the surround to the cone first, let it dry.

Thanks! I saw you had answered a different question of mine in one of your older threads about your set of PS-10s. (I'm kind of stalking those older threads of yours as a guide to my new set).

Here is a question I'm afraid to ask b/c it will demonstrate the big gaps in my knowledge: I'd like to play the tone to center the voice coil when I glue these surrounds (rather than using shims/slicing the dust cover). Am I able to run the woofer itself directly to an amp for this with speaker cable, or does the woofer need to be installed in the cabinet with the mid and the tweeter and connected via the loudspeaker connections? Is it a mistake to bypass the crossover?

Reason I'm asking is that I've brought the woofers to work where I planned to do the refoaming, and the cabinet is at my house.

 

[GD70]

Thanks! I saw you had answered a different question of mine in one of your older threads about your set of PS-10s. (I'm kind of stalking those older threads of yours as a guide to my new set).

Here is a question I'm afraid to ask b/c it will demonstrate the big gaps in my knowledge: I'd like to play the tone to center the voice coil when I glue these surrounds (rather than using shims/slicing the dust cover). Am I able to run the woofer itself directly to an amp for this with speaker cable, or does the woofer need to be installed in the cabinet with the mid and the tweeter and connected via the loudspeaker connections? Is it a mistake to bypass the crossover?

Reason I'm asking is that I've brought the woofers to work where I planned to do the refoaming, and the cabinet is at my house.

Yes, connect the wires from your amp /receiver to the woofer. Play the tone. Keep the volume fairly low, just enough to make the woofer move and center itself.

 

[DMcB123]

Yes, connect the wires from your amp /receiver to the woofer. Play the tone. Keep the volume fairly low, just enough to make the woofer move and center itself.

This is a very delayed thank you reply, because I did the refoaming some weeks ago and have been enjoying the speakers since! I even purchased a new amp to drive them because I was concerned the one I had wasn't powerful enough and I've grown attached to the speakers. I'm at the early, find-any-excuse stage of this hobby.

Now I'm just trying to find a schematic to see about recapping them (and learning how to do that because I haven't before) and contemplating picking up a PS224 to set them up with. Thanks again!

 

[GD70]

This is a very delayed thank you reply, because I did the refoaming some weeks ago and have been enjoying the speakers since! I even purchased a new amp to drive them because I was concerned the one I had wasn't powerful enough and I've grown attached to the speakers. I'm at the early, find-any-excuse stage of this hobby.

Now I'm just trying to find a schematic to see about recapping them (and learning how to do that because I haven't before) and contemplating picking up a PS224 to set them up with. Thanks again!

Glad they are singing again!
Pull the woofer, note the cap values. Get replacements, poly film from PE will work well, and won't break the bank. Modern caps have higher voltage ratings which is fine. The values are what's important to match.

Glenn

 

[mitchalee]

Working on a pair now I just picked up from a thrift. YES to all that has been said. I already have a set of D12s that I adore. Use as the fronts for a surround sound system. What is great about then is that they simply disappear and all that's left is the music or sound. I don't know how many times I have gotten up to check the door, etc. They really fool me every time. And with music, they are equally spectacularly invisible.

WELL, back to the DA PS-10s. The first thing I noticed is that the magnets on the woofer and mids are identical. And the voice coils look to be the same as well. This may explain their wonderfully integrated sound and stage positioning. Also the mids are only 4" but their cones are tarred cloth and rubber, so they may weight as much as the feather weight paper and foam woofers. Ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls, Design Acoustics may have been up to something here. A little like Bose did with their 901s having 4" and 4.5" drivers. Is that right? Anyway, Bose and Polk both play around a lot with the size and weight and positioning of drivers to make speaker systems that sound way better than they should. I think DA is playing the same game here. Do not quite understand it yet. But need to work on iy because I wish to replace the woofers with some that will hit 20 hz. May be impossible in this size enclosure. We shall see. In any case, I would not count on replacing the woofers with some modern generic whizz bang as a good move. Will take some study.

Back to the D12s, now their woofers are quite incredible pieces of work. Had mine re-coned. Did not work out well. One rubs now. Yikes. But they are a fantastic fit for the D12s and I suspect the PS-10 woofers are equally well considered even if they have a mid-range-sized magnet. Very odd design, these Design Acoustics PS-10s.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I came across an original D12 brochure the other day in my stereo stuff. I sure wish I could have heard a pair of D12 somewhere in my life

 

[superstar19]

Glad to find some threads here on the PS-10s. I picked up 4 of these (2 pair) via a FB Marketplace ad. Showed some wear but overall still looked decent. The foam around the woofers on all of them was completely gone so these will require the re-foam.

Gave them all a trial run when I got home and they function, but I noticed only one of them gave clear sound. The other 3 had a somewhat muffled or AM-type sound to them. Not sure what that could mean, but upon further thought now I'm wondering if maybe the pots for the high frequency level adjustment could use a cycle with the De-Oxit.

 

[superstar19]

Glad to find some threads here on the PS-10s. I picked up 4 of these (2 pair) via a FB Marketplace ad. Showed some wear but overall still looked decent. The foam around the woofers on all of them was completely gone so these will require the re-foam.

Gave them all a trial run when I got home and they function, but I noticed only one of them gave clear sound. The other 3 had a somewhat muffled or AM-type sound to them. Not sure what that could mean, but upon further thought now I'm wondering if maybe the pots for the high frequency level adjustment could use a cycle with the De-Oxit.

Was able to start taking them apart today, and do some continuity checks. As for the 3 speakers that had the muffled sound, the 1" tweeter in each of those registered no continuity. I've never done any speaker work so looking for any thoughts/suggestions on next steps with those.

For reference here are the average measurements I got from the 4 sets:

10" Woofer: 5.4
5" driver: 6.1
1": 5.5 (only 1 unit registered)

 

[DMcB123]

Was able to start taking them apart today, and do some continuity checks. As for the 3 speakers that had the muffled sound, the 1" tweeter in each of those registered no continuity. I've never done any speaker work so looking for any thoughts/suggestions on next steps with those.

For reference here are the average measurements I got from the 4 sets:

10" Woofer: 5.4
5" driver: 6.1
1": 5.5 (only 1 unit registered)

I hope someone responds to you with good info, I can't do DIY yet so I can't help you. I hope to learn to use the multimeter I have one of these days.

I did find a set of crossovers on ebay from someone parting out PS10s, I'm planning on recapping those as my first project.

 

[superstar19]

I hope someone responds to you with good info, I can't do DIY yet so I can't help you. I hope to learn to use the multimeter I have one of these days.

Thanks! I have very basic (probably less!) electrical DIY experience as well but if you have a meter, just do a youtube search for checking speaker resistance/continuity and watch a few videos. I watched a couple of re-foaming vids as well so I can get the woofers back in shape.

I got some offline input from another forum buddy, and he thinks the little 1" tweeters are blown and probably best bet would be to just replace them. So if anybody here has some recommendations on some 1 1/8" poly/dome tweeters that would be a good match for the PS-10 that would be great!

Model: PS-10
Frequency Response: 48 Hz - 22000 Hz
Sensitivity: 90 dB/1 meter/watt @ 8 ohms
Driver Complement: 1 x 10" woofer, 1 x 5" mid, 1 x 1 1/8" poly dome tweeter
Cabinet Style: Bookshelf
Dimensions/Weight: 14"x11"x13.75" 23.75 lbs
List Price: $500/pr
Crossover Frequencies: 190 Hz, 2400 Hz
Manufactured: 1983 - ?

 

[superstar19]

Bump

Thanks! I have very basic (probably less!) electrical DIY experience as well but if you have a meter, just do a youtube search for checking speaker resistance/continuity and watch a few videos. I watched a couple of re-foaming vids as well so I can get the woofers back in shape.

I got some offline input from another forum buddy, and he thinks the little 1" tweeters are blown and probably best bet would be to just replace them. So if anybody here has some recommendations on some 1 1/8" poly/dome tweeters that would be a good match for the PS-10 that would be great!

Model: PS-10
Frequency Response: 48 Hz - 22000 Hz
Sensitivity: 90 dB/1 meter/watt @ 8 ohms
Driver Complement: 1 x 10" woofer, 1 x 5" mid, 1 x 1 1/8" poly dome tweeter
Cabinet Style: Bookshelf
Dimensions/Weight: 14"x11"x13.75" 23.75 lbs
List Price: $500/pr
Crossover Frequencies: 190 Hz, 2400 Hz
Manufactured: 1983 - ?

 

[vintagerocks]

Bump

Your best bet is to replace the tweeters with the same model from Design Acoustics. They show up on eBay quite often.

 

[superstar19]

Your best bet is to replace the tweeters with the same model from Design Acoustics. They show up on eBay quite often.

I have time. These require a lot of clean-up/repair.

How I picked them up:

Woofer surround foam completely disintegrated:

Getting them cleaned up for new surrounds:

Surrounds glued to cone (ignore the Aleen's, that was for a different project)

 

[superstar19]

The bases were pretty grimy from the foam disintegrating directly on them:

After a quick cleaning session with a mild mix of Simply Green:

Just glued the surrounds to the frame on 3 of the 4. This is my first time ever messing with speakers, but found plenty of tips on this forum so I used 30hz tone, but couldn't get the 4th one hand aligned without rattling so I didn't proceed with the glue. Thinking I may need to use shims for that one. I had one set of tweeters that were good so tomorrow I'll re-assemble what should be a fully functional one and see what we good.

The workshop:

 

[manish]

Hey, I am located in Detroit, I have been searching for a pair myself let me know if you wanna sell a pair to me.

The bases were pretty grimy from the foam disintegrating directly on them:

After a quick cleaning session with a mild mix of Simply Green:

Just glued the surrounds to the frame on 3 of the 4. This is my first time ever messing with speakers, but found plenty of tips on this forum so I used 30hz tone, but couldn't get the 4th one hand aligned without rattling so I didn't proceed with the glue. Thinking I may need to use shims for that one. I had one set of tweeters that were good so tomorrow I'll re-assemble what should be a fully functional one and see what we good.

The workshop:

 

[QUiKSR20]

The Aileens Tacky glue is actually the preferred glue around here for woofer surrounds, ive done 3 sets of Design Acoustics ( PS9 / PS10 / PS1010 ) 2 I used Simply Speakers Glue which sets up fast but isnt forgiving. After talking to alot of people ive learned the Aileens is the way to go in the future.. Reach out if you have any questions I am very familiar with the speakers ( had 4 sets ) and still have 3 and listen to them often.. I also had a bum tweeter which I replace and also redid all the foams.

They are really great little speakers, Before you bolt them back together put a fitting washer in each of the holes, Makes for a much cleaner install and prevents the bolt from burying into the wood.

 

[superstar19]

Hey, I am located in Detroit, I have been searching for a pair myself let me know if you wanna sell a pair to me.

PM sent.