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Fried Signature Q/3 rebuilt

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ginshin99

New Member
I just bought a pair of Fried Signature Q/3 from GW. The foamed surrounds are all gone. One speaker has a block of foam at the bottom vent. It is in very bad shape. I broke it in two pieces just by touching it. I believe this foam is needed for the vent to work. Where can I find a replacement?

As my another DIY TL speakers use only pillow stuffing, I will try replacing the foam with polyester stuffing first.

Does Anyone have any experience with this speaker design? The box is not big but have three braces inside, which is better than my other vintage speakers. There are three NP capacitors in the series crossover. The speakers were made in 1981. I definitely will replace the capacitors after I repair the surrounds. There is a resettable fuse, which has a very poor contact. I will bypass it for the time being.
 
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The Qs are outstanding small speakers, and you are right in thinking that they won't sound right without that foam in the duct. You can play them without it, but I think that the bass will be boomy and power handling will be compromised, since the woofer won't be controlled as its supposed to be. I don't think fiberfill will be much better. I don't know what the density of the foam is supposed to be, but I'd try cutting blocks of mattress foam as a starter. You also might be able to contact the revived Fried company, which seems to be still in business outside Philadelphia. They apparently take a long time to respond to emails etc. since they are just some buddies of Bud Fried who want to keep his speaker legacy up and running.
I had a pair of the original Qs and loved them. Replaced them with some IMF TLS 50s, which were an improvement, but much more hassle and less of an improvement than might be imagined -- the Qs really are pretty good. I think the resistive line is an inspired innovation, since it allowed more to be spent on drivers and crossover and less on enclosure than with a full TL, but I thinkg they also allow freer and deeper bass than aperiodic loading which they also resemble.
 
I replaced the foamed surround, the 8 uF and 12 uF NP capacitors with new PartsExpress NP capacitors. I replaced the 4 uF NP capacitor with 4 uF MPP from PE simply because I had them in hand.

I plugged the vent with fiber fill in hand and gave them a quick listen. I was surprised at the sound. The speakers sound fast and deep. More dynamic than others I have.

BTW, the crossover is a 2nd order series with impedance compensation for the woofer. They have a three position switch to change the tweeter output.
 
The open cell foam in my TLS80s is fairly dense - denser than the average foam mattress pad. It could be fun to pick up some different density foams from a foam shop (the one around here frequently has odds and ends for free or very low prices) and see how the sound varies.
 
ginshin99 said:
They have a three position switch to change the tweeter output.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the crossover values. Using the switch, I hear more of a change in the midrange response when compared to a Dynaco A-25, which this speaker's sound reminds me of. The Q/3 has tighter bass and a sweeter tweeter than the A-25 to my ears, in addition to being more a bit more efficient. Like you, when I found my Q/3, the foam had deteriorated to dust. I found some square foam from Ace Hardware (used to seal in a window AC unit) and cut it match the dimensions of the original foam. Works like a charm!

Fine sounding little speakers.:music:
 

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For the curious people, I traced the crossover for Q/3. The values for the inductors are not marked and I have no capability to measure them.
 

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I'm no expert but that looks like a series crossover -- Bud Fried was one of the few manufacturers who use them. Not sure of the benefits or downsides to their use, but another idication of his willingness to not follow the crowd.
 
More on tweeter

After a few days listening to the rebuilt speakers, there is a problem with the tweeters. They do not sound right. The speakers have a nasal tone. The high broke up a bit. I decided to take the tweeters apart to check. I attached a few pictures of the tweeter parts. You can see the tweeter dome was assembled hastily.

There are three pieces of felt inside the dome to minimize cavity resonance. The manufacturer used glue to glue the felt to the dome. The residual glue spilled to the magnet gap and inside of the aluminum former. I cleaned them up and put everything back together. Now it plays better music. I will listen to them more.
 

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I have a pair of Fried tweeters for the Q/3. They are in storage and would be God's Own Nightmare to find (my wife packed them). But if you get in a bind on them, let me know via PM.
 
I did some more listening. The speakers now sound much better. Highs are loud and clear. However, I could not tell that much differences between the three different switch positions at the back. I will check the connections next time and may replace the 12 uF capacitor to a film capacitor.

This experience taught me a lesson that do not trust other people's review on vintage audio equipment. The conditions of them are much more important than the design and brand differences.
 
I saw a pair of Fried speakers for sale on CL. I had never heard of the brand, so I thought for sure the guy was going for a "Best of Craig's List" award by selling his "fried" speakers.

What an unfortunate name. But, I guess it could have been worse -- "Blown." ;)
 
ginshin99 said:
For the curious people, I traced the crossover for Q/3. The values for the inductors are not marked and I have no capability to measure them.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I am restoring a pair of these Fried q3 speakers I was given, but the crossover in mine also has a polypropylene capacitor in parallel with the 4uf electrolytic.

The value was blacked out by a marker, but it is EC brand and 200v dc. What could be the purpose of these, and could someone have added them in a modification?

Thanks
 
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