IMF owners thread!
- Thread starter canuckaudiog
- Start date
jimmymcfarre
New Member
New member here, FINALLY finished reading all of this thread so time I posted something myself.
I own RSPM4s & ALS40s. At the moment the '40s are getting all the use as the RSPMs are set up at my parents house; my gf's flat doesn't have room for full size TLs. Next move WILL be to somewhere with room for BIG monitors & the space in which to work on them....
My internet access is from a windows phone; is there any way to post photos on here when not using a proper browser?
I own RSPM4s & ALS40s. At the moment the '40s are getting all the use as the RSPMs are set up at my parents house; my gf's flat doesn't have room for full size TLs. Next move WILL be to somewhere with room for BIG monitors & the space in which to work on them....
My internet access is from a windows phone; is there any way to post photos on here when not using a proper browser?
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Tapatalk is the only app I know of that's easy to use for posting pictures. I'm not sure if it's available on the Windows app store though.
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
The tweeter at ear height is where you want them to be. You will find they sound essentially the same as the TLS 50s but of course without the bass extension. The bass is very good however and impressive for their size.
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radine
Active Member
Imf tls50
Over the last few months I have been putting together a nice wee system from the 70's. The tricky bit has been finding a pair of full range 70's speakers locally that could see off my Proac Response Two S speakers. Today I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of IMF TLS50s and I am completely blown away by them. Awesome speakers that have really exceeded my expectations. The IMFs also seem to have great synergy with the rest of my system. Certainly they like a bit of current which the Kenwood 500 has in spades.
Here's a few pics of my system:
Over the last few months I have been putting together a nice wee system from the 70's. The tricky bit has been finding a pair of full range 70's speakers locally that could see off my Proac Response Two S speakers. Today I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of IMF TLS50s and I am completely blown away by them. Awesome speakers that have really exceeded my expectations. The IMFs also seem to have great synergy with the rest of my system. Certainly they like a bit of current which the Kenwood 500 has in spades.
Here's a few pics of my system:
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Very nice set-up! I personally liked the way the Kenwood Model Eleven II sounded with my IMF RSPMs so I am sure the Model 500 + the TLS50s is a good combo.
Do you have any idea if the crossovers in them were recapped? Being the older generation of IMFs, these ones will be definitely due for it and will benefit quite a bit from it.
Do you have any idea if the crossovers in them were recapped? Being the older generation of IMFs, these ones will be definitely due for it and will benefit quite a bit from it.
radine
Active Member
These have definitely not been re-capped. They are all original. I know that received wisdom has it that speakers of this age will benefit from a recap. However, I have recently restored two pairs of ARs of similar age. In both cases, I took the speakers to my local tech to get the crossovers tested and the caps all measured within spec.
I will be buying a crossover kit from Falcon Acoustics in the very near future but I'll probably just put it in the cupboard for a while. Given the originality of the IMFs, and my experiences with the ARs, I'm thinking of leaving them as they are for a little while. My ears are telling me that the crossovers are still good. They image well, the treble is sparkling and the midrange is in no way recessed. That said, a friend of mine is good with a soldering iron and has offered to recap them for me. How easy is it to access the crossover on these speakers? Is there any great risk involved in letting my friend loose on them?
Edit: Do you know if any of the caps are electrolytics?
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canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Right, and I'm certainly not going to discount your technician's or your own personal experience. I used to think along the same lines, if they test fine, don't replace them. What I've learned though is that you can't simply test the capacitors for just capacitance, you have to test for ESR as well which is a much bigger indicator of their performance. ESR is a tricky thing to test as well - so it's almost pointless to bother and it's much more practical to simply replace the parts.
I'm also certain your ears are not lying to you and that the speakers do sound good. Many things depend on how the capacitors age - environment, heat (caused by high wattage), amount of use, etc. Likely the pair you have has been played at low volumes in a good environment. However, the capacitors are bordering on 40 years of age. Regardless of how good they sound now, they don't sound as good as they did 40 years ago. I say this with certainty because I've replaced Elcaps (the brand of capacitor in IMFs and other british speakers of that era) in about a dozen speakers, half of those being IMFs, and each one made a marked improvement in performance. This is why I stress to do it because you aren't hearing what they really sounded like until this is done. I've also read of accounts where folks recapped them and heard no improvement - I find that unless you do an A/B with one recapped and one all original, you aren't going to be able to detect the difference or know if there is one, and in most cases where I've read of this the DIYer recapped both at the same time and then fired them up.
Anyway, I don't mean to ramble here. I understand you plan to recap them anyways, so I'll answer your questions.
Recapping these is a cinch - the crossover is accessible through the Kef B200 bass driver. Simply take it off, and you will have the crossover there. I am not familiar with the internals on that model so I don't know how long the wires are, but my recommendation is if it is feasible, to keep the crossover wired in when recapping. Otherwise you are faced with resoldering 12 wires to the crossover board and this is time consuming, tedious and tricky.
As far as risk goes, unless your tech isn't very careful, then there shouldn't be any problem.
Yes, there are electrolytics on the crossover. Most of them are. I have not seen that crossover myself, so I can't say with certainty what exactly is on there but expect the majority to be Elcap electrolytics. The kit from Falcon Acoustics will contain all the capacitors you need to successfully recap them. One thing to keep in mind as well, if there is an attenuator control on the back, there will be capacitors on there as well.
I hope that helps. If you get a chance to, have your technician listen to one speaker all original and the other recapped and have him report to you the improvement. Otherwise you won't know where your money is going.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.
OH.. and I want to mention.. go with the Falcon kit - don't bother with anything else. I know you said you will but I say this only because I don't believe in "upgrading" crossovers by replacing electrolytics with poly capacitors and such mods like that. I have found that they change the character of the speaker and delineate from what they originally sounded like which to me is a useless exercise in attempting to get better sound. They were good 40 years ago, they'll be good today.
radine
Active Member
Thanks a lot for your detailed response canuckaudiog. You make a lot of sense and have convinced me to go ahead with a full recap using the Falcon kit in the not too distant future. My aim was to put together a vintage system that I could live with long-term so that I was not always thinking of the next 'upgrade'. With that in mind, I've pretty much decided already that the IMFs are keepers and, therefore, well worth restoring to their former glory.
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
You bet and no problem, I'm happy to help. IMFs really are fantastic speakers - I've been into quality audio reproduction for 2 and a half years and my first pair of speakers was a set of IMF TLS 50 IIs. I then graduated to the 80 IIs and in a few months acquired the RSPM Mk IVs in October of 2012. They are still my main speaker and will not be going anywhere anytime soon. I've gone through a lot of speakers and always have felt the IMFs were the most natural, true-to-life sounding with the best amount of detail and of course, best bass reproduction. You've made a wise choice in those IMFs.
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jimmymcfarre
New Member
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jimmymcfarre
New Member
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jimmymcfarre
New Member
Some old photos of my IMFs. No longer own the mk3s
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jimmymcfarre
New Member
SimplySound
Kent Engineering & Fondry
Good stuff Radine... I have always been intrigued by ProAc and have heard good things about the Response Series. The fact that the TLS-50's seemed to have upstaged the 2's says quite a bit about IMF's!!! Thanks for the feedback...
...and yes, as Canucker alluded to, a recap using the original spec caps from Falcon will go a long way in restoring the character of those IMF's! :thmbsp:
Welcome Jimmy.... nice setup you have there... so you unloaded the RSPM's and what, you still have ALS-40's?
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SimplySound
Kent Engineering & Fondry
Well I guess I'm a little late to this party, but I have a pair of TLS-50 MkII's (Serial # 9943) that I rebuilt a couple years back... this link details what I went through.
And of course....
:worthless:
So we have....
And of course....
:worthless:
So we have....
Attachments
Radfordman
Super Member
Got lucky at Goodwill, story in $ & ¢ but here are the pics as I know you guys want pics
Super Compacts all drivers working, sound great. Lots to compare them to so we'll see. Right now next to the ADS L710s with Paradigm 7SE IIs sitting and ready.
But I got a lot of cleaning to do and some evaluation of the drivers.
Info on which Super Compact these are is welcome as well as any other info.
Nice speakers, I remember these when they first came out. In case there is doubt about the mid-range units, they are EMI paper cones, with an extra coating on them. Surrounds do shrink on these over the years.
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Are you sure they are the EMI drivers? I know they were used in the Studio model but those mids look more like the Peerless KO40MRF.
Edit: Upon looking at the Peerless perhaps you are right, it doesn't look the same.
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Edit: Upon looking at the Peerless perhaps you are right, it doesn't look the same.
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Radfordman
Super Member
Take one out, I bet it's a funny green paint on the chassis, may have some white paper labels on with part number and date code. Yes, EMI, I have a couple here somewhere. KO40MRF had foam surrounds and it's own built on enclosure. Your mids are probably open back chassis. EMI did produce a closed back version, but it had a different shape cone.
And, my friend was Sales Engineer for EMI, told me that he supplied IMF.