Epi t/e 100

[chicknman72]

I just got a pair of EPI T/E 100's from a friend for free, one needs a little glue to fasten the top back down on the cabinet, and they both need foam. Heavy little speakers, they are..... I was surprised, mainly because of knowing they were from the newer generation of EPI's....I have some much larger Magnus series speakers that aren't this heavy....... When foaming these, is there anything special I have to do to prep the speaker cones seeing that they are plastic? I thought I read somewhere on here that you have to prep them with something before gluing the foam to them. :scratch2: He also gave me a Sony ES series cd player...can't wait to check that out :thmbsp:

 

[FreeOrange]

I did a pair of these last summer, and didn't do anything special to prep the cones, aside from getting them nice and clean. As I recall they cleaned up pretty easily. I hope they're not due for an untimely death... I'll be watching this thread with interest.

 

[chicknman72]

I did a pair of these last summer, and didn't do anything special to prep the cones, aside from getting them nice and clean. As I recall they cleaned up pretty easily. I hope they're not due for an untimely death... I'll be watching this thread with interest.

good to know, I will clean them up and hopefully get some foam on them tonight. I hope they come out as good as the last set I did (my first foam job) :yes:

 

[jdcglasnost]

Best method is to attach the foam to the top of the cone. Trying to do so on the back does work with careful cleaning, but will always look bad. I'm not sure of anything special for glue on those cones. I've used the standard white tacky glue without any issues. I did a set of EPI T/E 320's this way, were great for the couple years I had them around. The bass from these is great, the midrange was ok, and the highs were shrill at times. The dome tweeter is not EPI's famous concave by any means.

 

[merrylander]

I have done the 100s and 120s and find that there are resonances. My cure was to cut a piece of 1" dowel just long enough to fit between the front and rear panels just above the woofer opening. If cut just right a dab of glue on either end and there is no need for screws.

 

[chicknman72]

I noticed that these look similar to the old school EPI woofers.....should I not be using regular foams and be using the tapered edge foams? :scratch2:

 

[Andy_H]

I did a pair of these last summer, and didn't do anything special to prep the cones, aside from getting them nice and clean.

Me too. Pretty easy to refoam. I got the surrounds from Rick Cobb. Decent little speaker, especially for the price.

 

[Nat]

If memory serves, the T/E series had the clear plastic woofer with the one piece foam damping layer and surround. So when the surrounds go, you can either fabricate the entire system yourself, or simply replace the surrounds. The problem, though, is that one piece thing -- there is no clean and nice way to replace surround section, so you end up with something messy when you try. But I think that if you glue the surround to the top of the cone, you are displacing the cone somewhat from it's correct position. You could, of course, correct for that by gluing a shim to the basket that is the same thickness as the plastic part of the cone.
The Physics teacher in me recognizes that the correct thickness of the shim should actually be the long side of a triangle formed by the width of the plastic with the cone angle being the same as the smaller angle of the triangle, but somehow I doubt if the fraction of a millimeter will actually matter.

 

[chicknman72]

If memory serves, the T/E series had the clear plastic woofer with the one piece foam damping layer and surround. So when the surrounds go, you can either fabricate the entire system yourself, or simply replace the surrounds. The problem, though, is that one piece thing -- there is no clean and nice way to replace surround section, so you end up with something messy when you try. But I think that if you glue the surround to the top of the cone, you are displacing the cone somewhat from it's correct position. You could, of course, correct for that by gluing a shim to the basket that is the same thickness as the plastic part of the cone.
The Physics teacher in me recognizes that the correct thickness of the shim should actually be the long side of a triangle formed by the width of the plastic with the cone angle being the same as the smaller angle of the triangle, but somehow I doubt if the fraction of a millimeter will actually matter.

:lmao: I just finished....just used the stock MAT foams I have.....

 

[Rescue]

The previous owner of my free Epi T/E 320's had the woofers rebuilt by Huw at Human Speakers. I replaced the mids with replacements from Human Speakers, and swapped out the plastic dome tweeters with some inverted dome tweets from the A series; kind of a kickback to the original Epi design. They sound awesome, though its so important to make sure those cabs are fully sealed.

 

[chicknman72]

Best method is to attach the foam to the top of the cone. Trying to do so on the back does work with careful cleaning, but will always look bad. I'm not sure of anything special for glue on those cones. I've used the standard white tacky glue without any issues. I did a set of EPI T/E 320's this way, were great for the couple years I had them around. The bass from these is great, the midrange was ok, and the highs were shrill at times. The dome tweeter is not EPI's famous concave by any means.

The surrounds are dry, speakers hooked up......and you pretty much hit the nail on the head sound wise. Not bad, by all means....especially for the price... Not quite sure where I am going to put them yet....seeing that the cabinets are a little rough, I may use them in the basement where I am setting up a work area....gotta get some wood putty or something to fill a couple holes left by the previous owner.....drilled holes in the top and bottom that go all the way through the cabinet