• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Fulton FMI speakers. Model and parts reference thread.

Indeed, those are not J Modulars, but rather Premieres. Those upper boxes are the Premiere mid-bass, midrange and treble cabinets. RTR ESL and Rola drivers ceased to be available to Fulton; so he used these parts instead. There were several versions, as you can imagine.
 
Brian Beck said:
Those are the Premier mid-bass, midrange and treble cabinets. RTR and Rola ceased to be available to Fulton so he used these parts instead. There were several versions, as you can imagine.
Click to expand...
Thanks. My recollection is from a friend who had the J Modular with the 80 and the RTR Electrostatic.
 
Those are not the correct tweeters, unfortunately. I don’t know what they are. The original tweeters are Peerless MT-225-HFC Alnico tweeters. Despite having simple-looking paper cones they are actually very smooth and articulate.

IMG_5867.jpeg


IMG_5868.jpeg
 
Doug28450 said:
FMI 80. Any idea what tweeter is installed? Does the woofer look correct?
Click to expand...
The woofers look good/original so yea try to source yourself two pairs of MT-225s and two 6uf audio caps for the crossover while you're in there and you'll be set (bonus points if also replacing those puny/annoying flathead speaker terminals for female banana plugs)
 

Attachments

  • FMI-80 wiring (JoshHendi verified).JPG
    FMI-80 wiring (JoshHendi verified).JPG
    58.6 KB · Views: 9
Thanks for the help. I knew the tweeter wasn't the Peerless. The woofers looked to be original, looking for second opinions.
 
Yes, your woofers look to be the correct Rola 2203 drivers. The good news is that the surrounds are not foam which would be crumbling by now. The bad news is that the cloth surrounds were impregnated with a tacky sealant that kept the woofers compliant. But now decades later that sealant has dried out and stiffened. You can see that one of your woofers has a dark shiny surround while the other has a dried out crusty surround. I wish I had a suggestion for the right stuff, but I don’t.
 
BigscreenBob said:
Can any of you FMI-80 aficionados tell me if there a readily available replacement woofer recommended as a good quality plug-and-play substitute for the 8-inch Rola 2203 25492 woofers used in the FMI-80?

I’m restoring a pair of the very obscure American Monitor “Professional Series” Model 8X speakers — that used the very same woofer as the FMI-80 — which came to me with only one woofer — photos of which I’m attaching here. Other than a case of rubber bloom on the surround, it’s in excellent working condition.

My research tells me that the very same Rola 2203 25492 woofer was used in the RTR EXP-8V. I’m told that RTR manufactured/private-labelled speakers marketed as American Monitor branded speakers.

Finding one or two vintage Rola 2203 25492 woofers seems like an impossible task — so I’m looking for a pair of suitable replacements, new or of more recent vintage.

Thank you for your kind attention.
Click to expand...
If you are still looking for a pair of Rola 2203 25492 woofers, send me a private message.
 
Bill Grandia said:
If you are still looking for a pair of Rola 2203 25492 woofers, send me a private message.
Click to expand...
Thanks, BG. I’m no longer looking. Thanks to a generous member of the Facebook RtR speakers group, I was lucky enough to recently be given a pair of the Rola woofers.
 
BigscreenBob said:
Thanks, BG. I’m no longer looking. Thanks to a generous member of the Facebook RtR speakers group, I was lucky enough to recently be given a pair of the Rola woofers.
Click to expand...
What was the condition of the surrounds of the Rola woofers that you got? Hard as a rock or still compliant?
 
I’m embarrassed to admit that until moments ago, I thought the surrounds on my Rola 2203-25492 woofers shown here were foam.

Silly me. I thought all impregnated cloth surrounds were pleated/folded, and didn’t have a smooth, C-shaped curve profile, just like foam surrounds.

The leading RtR expert on a FB RtR speakers group just enlightened me that these surrounds are indeed impregnated cloth.

In my ignorance, I figured they were foam but with some sort of special rubbery coating.

Live and learn.

And yes, they’re still very pliant, and not brittle, not hard at all.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5478.jpeg
    IMG_5478.jpeg
    239.3 KB · Views: 10
Consider yourself very, very lucky. The surrounds of the Rola woofers in the FMI 80s that are in my FMI E System are rock hard. Worse yet, the local speaker repair outfit refuses to treat them with any softening goop out of fear that doing so will damage the cones.
 
Bill Grandia said:
Consider yourself very, very lucky. The surrounds of the Rola woofers in the FMI 80s that are in my FMI E System are rock hard. Worse yet, the local speaker repair outfit refuses to treat them with any softening goop out of fear that doing so will damage the cones.
Click to expand...
you’d think there’d be a way to rejuvenate that cloth material without ruining the cone.

I’m the last person to be offering any suggestions, but FWIW, I experimented with the American Monitor-branded RtR speakers of mine — before I’d acquired the Rolas — and substituted these inexpensive woofers from Maven Electronics (Electro Mavin — www.mavin.com).

Physical dimensions of these are 100% identical to the Rolas. They dropped right into the RtR baffles for a perfect fit.


My ears were extremely happy with the results.
 
Last edited:
BigscreenBob said:
you’d think there’d be a way to rejuvenate that cloth material without ruining the cone.

I’m the last person to be offering any suggestions, but FWIW, I experimented with the American Monitor-branded RtR speakers of mine — before I’d acquired the Rolas — and substituted these inexpensive woofers from Maven Electronics (Electro Mavin — www.mavin.com).

Physical dimensions of these are 100% identical to the Rolas. They dropped right into the RtR baffles for a perfect fit.


My ears were extremely happy with the results.
Click to expand...
If there is a way to rejuvenate the cloth material without risking damage to the cone, I would expect that the tech at the speaker repair outfit, who has been replacing surrounds for four decades would know about it.
 
Having refurbished a pair of 2203s some years ago 15 years???), that are still fresh, tacky and supple to this day, I can say that it is indeed possible. A friend had bought a jar of some “goop” or “dope” intended for use on cloth surrounds, probably intended more for musical instrument amplifiers. Now, he can’t recall where he got it or what the ingredients were. Back then we cleaned the dried-up surrounds of a pair of 80s which now live inside my J Modulars, with the actual same thinned dope as we used later to paint on the cloth as a sealant.

Bill and I have been communicating privately trying to determine if there is a known-good solution. I have converged on a mixture that I am willing to try. Putting together snippets of information from on-line, I believe that the 2203 surrounds are either cotton or linen and that “right stuff” is un-cured/un-vulcanized butyl rubber dissolved and thinned in toluene. Maybe adding xylene to stretch out the dry time. This is what AR and KLH did back in the day, or so it is purported.

I managed to locate a single 2203, which is particularly crusty. When I get a chance I will clean and restore it with the butyl solution, but I’m really busy right now, so I don’t know when I can get to it. I will measure the resonant frequencies (fs) before and after treatment too.
 
Can someone (maybe @Brian Beck) describe how much looseness/tension there should be on the rola woofers? On the two pairs I have, the woofers can be pushed/moved back n forth however I'd consider them quite 'stiffer' compared to your average woofer of the same size

Versus the 10" and 12" RTR woofers, which are both very loose and can be moved/pushed quite easily (which is what I'd expect from these)... Was the original intention of the doping to make the 8" rolas not move as much?
 
Brian Beck said:
Having refurbished a pair of 2203s some years ago 15 years???), that are still fresh, tacky and supple to this day, I can say that it is indeed possible. A friend had bought a jar of some “goop” or “dope” intended for use on cloth surrounds, probably intended more for musical instrument amplifiers. Now, he can’t recall where he got it or what the ingredients were. Back then we cleaned the dried-up surrounds of a pair of 80s which now live inside my J Modulars, with the actual same thinned dope as we used later to paint on the cloth as a sealant.

Bill and I have been communicating privately trying to determine if there is a known-good solution. I have converged on a mixture that I am willing to try. Putting together snippets of information from on-line, I believe that the 2203 surrounds are either cotton or linen and that “right stuff” is un-cured/un-vulcanized butyl rubber dissolved and thinned in toluene. Maybe adding xylene to stretch out the dry time. This is what AR and KLH did back in the day, or so it is purported.

I managed to locate a single 2203, which is particularly crusty. When I get a chance I will clean and restore it with the butyl solution, but I’m really busy right now, so I don’t know when I can get to it. I will measure the resonant frequencies (fs) before and after treatment too.
Click to expand...
The resonant frequencies of the Rola woofers that I have are as follows:
woofers with hardened surrounds in 80s in my FMI E System....121Hz when installed in the FMI 80 enclosures
woofers with compliant surrounds........76Hz when installed in FMI 80 enclosures, 42-45Hz in free air
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom