Thursday night-Friday morning, I had a marathon re-foaming session that lasted to the wee hours morning. Everything centered up fine, but there was not enough glue left to re-attach the gaskets, despite my best efforts, which I was a little disappointed in.
I have to say, this was one of the easier and cleaner refoam jobs I’ve done. The mid-woofers almost look stock!
I stretched the surrounds by momentarily touching a 9V battery to the terminals in both polarities. They then setup all day Friday, and I used some RTV silicone to attach the gaskets. I then connected them up the h/k PM660 which was connected to a Kenwood SA-90 spectrum analyzer/white noise generator and nearly started to cry. Nothing from either tweeters!
I knew the tweeters had tested fine, and I had even taken the time to disassemble the L-Pads and clean them. This time I was smart, and the first thing I checked was the tweeter fuse. Both fuses, although they looked fine were in fact blown. I did not have any 800mA fuses about, so I installed some 5A ones temporarily.
So white-noise back on. One thing that I immediately noticed about this set that is different from the first is the presence of low-bass. I was the goofy LC cap that the other set had that eliminated it. Now that I know that, I can tell the current owner and he can decide if he wants to mod them or not.
Anyways, they have been playing white noise at almost exactly 2.83V since 6 p.m. yesterday. When I woke up, I switched over to the CD player and started playing Sneaker Pimps Six Underground. With the h/k in “Main Direct” mode (bypassing the tone/balance/mode controls; this mode also removes 7dB of gain by removing the tone amp’s NFB from the path) they were breathtaking. Unlike the previous set, there was no apparent lumpiness in the bass response, nor was there a deficit in the infrasonics. The Equasounds may have a little more bass extension (into the teens), but these new zero9’s are definitely more balanced and have more energy.
The hallmark of the zero9’s, of course, was the excellent high-frequency extension. In that regard, they are identical to the previous set, which is to say, magnificent. Highs are so airy and effortless that they merely exist, without strain or coloration. The mid-range driver also pulls its own. Again, the midrange is the same as the previous set, and I can find no cause for complaints. Uncolored, clean, and clear.
Now that I have a winning speaker on my hands, it is a matter of making it look presentable. With the grilles on, they do look okay. But, the cabinets are scratched and one has a nasty gouge, and one of the grilles is stained. All strictly cosmetic, but cosmetics are partially why I got rid of the other ones.
Time to go to school on veneering, I guess.
that the Japanese could make darn nice speaker systems.
