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IMF owners thread!

I was looking for that metal plate but the photo didn't go down that far which is what I was looking for as the differentiation. The rest is good information regarding the logo, etc. Another question for you, what should the logo be on my professional monitors on the grills if any? If I can get a good image of one there is an AK'er here that makes custom badges by cutting aluminum, making custom vinyl labels based on photos, puts it on the aluminum and then clearcoats it all for a reasonable price. He helped me out with my Frieds and the badges turned out great.
 
mccarty350 said:
I was looking for that metal plate but the photo didn't go down that far which is what I was looking for as the differentiation. The rest is good information regarding the logo, etc. Another question for you, what should the logo be on my professional monitors on the grills if any? If I can get a good image of one there is an AK'er here that makes custom badges by cutting aluminum, making custom vinyl labels based on photos, puts it on the aluminum and then clearcoats it all for a reasonable price. He helped me out with my Frieds and the badges turned out great.
Click to expand...

Check out the second pic, it shows the entire front and you can see there isn't a metal plate there. Another indicator is, in the bottom of the ports which you can see in the first pic, it's wood which also says it's the original TLS 80 as the TLS 80 II used an "egg box" like foam and covered the bottom of the port.

As for the badge, I am 99% sure there would have been. Make sure that when you put them on there, that for the left speaker the badge is on the bottom right and for the right speaker on the bottom left - in the manuals they say "Place the speakers so the badges are facing the inside".
 
Thanks!

canuckaudiog said:
Those are TLS 80s.

Nice speakers! Thank you for sharing the pictures with us :)

John - they like to be away from walls. Corners amplify the bass and make them sound a bit boomy.
Click to expand...


Now I need to send pics of x-overs to Falcon, and figure out what to do with my super-tweeter issue. One of them is sonically lacking in this regard, and the dome has been mashed in pretty well. Can these be fixed, or replaced?

What else shall we do to improve what we have here?
 
gamgee-fidel said:
Now I need to send pics of x-overs to Falcon, and figure out what to do with my super-tweeter issue. One of them is sonically lacking in this regard, and the dome has been mashed in pretty well. Can these be fixed, or replaced?



What else shall we do to improve what we have here?
Click to expand...


The dome being mashed in is definitely what is causing the issue with the super tweeter. I had a pair of Celestion Ditton 44s that had pushed in HF2000s and when they were measured they dropped off by 10dB at the crossover point for the tweeter!

There is a fix for it, and it doesn't sound good but it works. Take a tube, like an empty paper toilet roll, and put it around the dome of the tweeter and use your mouth to pull the dome out by sucking air through the tube. Sounds odd but it'll work. The dome won't be perfectly round but it will sound 10x better.

For the recap, the best way to recap is by placing the speaker on its back and then what you do is take out the Kef B139 (the oval bass driver), pry the crossover carefully from the foam it rests on, then using a stiff bristle brush clean off the back of the crossover. There should be enough slack on the wires for you to pull the crossover out of the bass drivers baffle cut out and to be able to work on it from there. Replace all of the black with red ends Elcap capacitors. Also, on this model I believe there are capacitors located on the circuit behind the speaker terminals. Take a look here and make sure to replace the capacitors here as well.

The kit from Falcon Acoustics should have all the necessary capacitors you need, and I believe Falcon will also include any capacitors that were changed if there were any revisions for that models crossover so you should be able to simply order the kit from the website and have all you need to do the recap. It doesn't hurt to send in a pic of the crossover if you want to be 100% certain of course.

Let me know if you have any questions :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Exactly what I needed to know. Now I just need to figure out which badge.

canuckaudiog said:
Check out the second pic, it shows the entire front and you can see there isn't a metal plate there. Another indicator is, in the bottom of the ports which you can see in the first pic, it's wood which also says it's the original TLS 80 as the TLS 80 II used an "egg box" like foam and covered the bottom of the port.

As for the badge, I am 99% sure there would have been. Make sure that when you put them on there, that for the left speaker the badge is on the bottom right and for the right speaker on the bottom left - in the manuals they say "Place the speakers so the badges are facing the inside".
Click to expand...
 
canuckaudiog said:
The dome being mashed in is definitely what is causing the issue with the super tweeter. I had a pair of Celestion Ditton 44s that had pushed in HF2000s and when they were measured they dropped off by 10dB at the crossover point for the tweeter!

There is a fix for it, and it doesn't sound good but it works. Take a tube, like an empty paper toilet roll, and put it around the dome of the tweeter and use your mouth to pull the dome out by sucking air through the tube. Sounds odd but it'll work. The dome won't be perfectly round but it will sound 10x better.

For the recap, the best way to recap is by placing the speaker on its back and then what you do is take out the Kef B139 (the oval bass driver), pry the crossover carefully from the foam it rests on, then using a stiff bristle brush clean off the back of the crossover. There should be enough slack on the wires for you to pull the crossover out of the bass drivers baffle cut out and to be able to work on it from there. Replace all of the black with red ends Elcap capacitors. Also, on this model I believe there are capacitors located on the circuit behind the speaker terminals. Take a look here and make sure to replace the capacitors here as well.

The kit from Falcon Acoustics should have all the necessary capacitors you need, and I believe Falcon will also include any capacitors that were changed if there were any revisions for that models crossover so you should be able to simply order the kit from the website and have all you need to do the recap. It doesn't hurt to send in a pic of the crossover if you want to be 100% certain of course.

Let me know if you have any questions :)





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks!
The supertweeter grill and paper surround are loose. if the tweeter repair/suck works, is there a method/material tip for reattaching those?
 
I would use some sort of adhesive, such as some sort of glue or maybe a double sided thin adhesive.


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It worked!!!!!, and the fuse on the back of speakers, (with lead going to positive speaker terminal) was blown. I found a 2 amp qb fuse in the stuff from the thrift store haul i got these in, replaced it, turned the attenuator to flat and (yes friends) sucked started the tweeter back to life with an empty tp roll. ( not saying where it was found)
I switched the left for right and set up a nice fm antenna. WOW. Thanks much, cant wait to seriously tweek these. As they are, they is nice. Maybe my maggies from an age ago were as engrossing, but the bass on these is....
 
Here are backs with fuses (tweeter???) and attenuator switches as well as one serial number painted on back..
20141030_173544.jpg

20141030_173530.jpg

20141030_173536.jpg
 
Glad to hear the little trick worked out for you :)

The fuses are definitely added by a previous owner, but aren't a bad idea. They protect the entire speaker from getting too much power. Serial 145 though! Those are very early TLS80s. Cool!


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The fuse is supposed to be wired in series with the positive terminal so if you attach your speaker wires directly like in photo 1 on the right speaker, then the fuse is not in circuit unless there is some other connection. To use the fuse, you need to use the red banana at the end of the fuse block as your positive input.

The serial number is on the silver foil label, the NCxxxxxxx number is likely a drivers license for anti-theft purposes. And the model number confirms canucks ID as a TLS80.
 
Ok then.

mech986 said:
The fuse is supposed to be wired in series with the positive terminal so if you attach your speaker wires directly like in photo 1 on the right speaker, then the fuse is not in circuit unless there is some other connection. To use the fuse, you need to use the red banana at the end of the fuse block as your positive input.

The serial number is on the silver foil label, the NCxxxxxxx number is likely a drivers license for anti-theft purposes. And the model number confirms canucks ID as a TLS80.[/QUOTE

Thanks much mech. Will redo.
Click to expand...
 
Cosmetically Completed Professional Monitors

Now if only I had the caps. When I get them recapped I will post full listening impressions.
 

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I am...but I'm tired. That was just way too much elbow grease to get those looking like that. I did not put poly on the front baffle for fear of touching drivers and because it was cosmetically perfect so that was done with howards feed and wax after multiple applications of lemon oil to rehydrate the wood. All other surfaces are semi-gloss polyeurethane that was thinned out with paint thinner and wipe applied sanding with steel wool to try and remove imperfections. With a lot of reflection and bright light you can see the flaws in the poly but I do love the glossiness. I also applied some oil to the drivers considering they are bexedrene and the oil shouldn't degrade anything. Hopefully I'm right in this assumption because I did like the effect of the shininess.
 
I'll have to ask you for pointers on how to do that, I would love to make my RSPMs look like that!


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So I made some major discoveries in refinishing on my last few restorations, first time I used stripper was on my AR11's and the results were so good that I am not going back (I am NOT a handy person..I'm an IT guy). Here is the sum of what I've learned:
1. Don't bother sanding through the veneer and fighting to remove discolorations. Just strip the entire speakers. I use citristrip which makes your home smell like oranges and is safe for indoor use. I put down a drop cloth and coat the speakers several times with citristrip and then let them sit for the majority of a day. I take a plastic square, the type used for scraping food off of dishes in the sink, and then get all the finish off which comes off in a thick goop. I also have the baffle masked off with painter's tape during this stage.
2. I wipe everything down with a bucket and damp cloth until the speakers are bare wood.
3. At this stage I lightly sand all surfaces but the baffle. I then go over the cabs with mineral spirits just to make sure I have all residue off.
4. If you have any deep scratches or pitting you put a damp cloth over it and then hit it with a hot steam iron to make the wood inside the scratch expand and make it level. Then you can sand it.
5. I stained these with two coats of minwax special walnut leaving each application for about 20-30 minutes and then thoroughly wiped all the stain off. This is important or the stain residue will jack up your poly application.
6. Wait about 24 hours.
7. In this case I used semi-gloss poly and thinned it out maybe 30-40 percent with paint thinner. I tried mineral spirits too but the paint thinner worked a lot better.
8. Apply in mega thin coats with a doubled up paper towel. The thinner keeps it from glopping and from air bubbles becoming suspended. If you use a brush or foam brush you end up applying too much and it doesn't self level well.
9. Sand with steel wool between coats if you detect roughness to the touch or see visual imperfections. Once you sand with steel wool you need to wipe with a damp cloth to remove the fragments.
10. Repeat until you're happy...with the thinned out coats they dry mostly in 30 minutes so you can wipe-on apply over and over and over.

Also if I have a corner rounded off or veneer that is chipped I use walnut colored wood filler to sculpt the new corner or fill in the small imperfection. I also have a stain stick that I use to hit really small imperfections.

I also liberally applied lemon oil repeatedly to the baffle to rehydrate the wood and then finished it with howards feed and wax which you don't have to re-apply as frequently but still need to re-apply at some point. Gave the baffle about the same level of luster as the poly did the other surface but requires maintenance.

If someone's a woodworking and give me more tips then even better.
 
Last edited:
All, looking to have some stands possibly fabricated for these things, any suggestions on height, tilt-back, etc.?

Thanks,

John
 
Hi John,

Nice work and the cabinets look great. I generally would not advise applying anything to the drivers (midrange and woofer) as any material be it oil or water, could interact with the cone material. The woofer is fiberglass coned, and the mid is probably a black polypropylene or bextrene (I've never gotten confirmation of bextrene though). I would suggest gently wiping them down again with a dry cloth to pull off any residue.

Those later IMF mids are exceedingly hard to find, as are the IMF woofers, so I'd recommend caution with them. I would be concerned about any material possibly affecting the cone weight, response, or glue joints near the dust cap or surround edges.

Food for thought.
 
I will probably do so. I have seen in other threads where people used lemon oil to actually preserve their surrounds etc. but the safest course is probably do as you say and wipe it down and be safe rather than sorry. I think you had mentioned before a recommended height for stands, I may have some custom metal ones fabricated, can you suggest tilt-back and height?
 
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