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Marantz Imperial 9's

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I would refoam these long before I did a pair of 901's. Based on what I have read on the others in the imperial line these cant help but sound good.
 
Those are cool. Not sure they are really any good (looks like some reasons they may not be, i.e. lots of drivers, and mediocre ones at that) but I love stuff from that era. Don't know why, either.
They might be fun. Think "rec room party".
 
Well, get busy! ! !

I have the Imperial 8's. See thread for my rebuild.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108377&highlight=imperial

Are they DQ-10, Vandersteen or Maggies? ...no, but they are worth the effort. The refoams are easy ... you can center by feel...no need to even shim.

I quite enjoy mine, but they are huge, gotta admit.

But they are sufficiently rare that they are worth the few bucks for foams ...you have a lot of foam to buy...do you have a good shop locally because they should not cost more that about $4.00 per foam retail ... don't get into any $20 per pair stuff because these foams are readily available.

FYI a local shop that specializes in vintage audio has a pair of the 8's ...he's asking $475....

Worst case, I could price them out locally for you and send them in the post.

I look forward to seeing your progress! All the best.
 
If I didn't have 8 other pairs of speakers waiting for foam I would be more motivated. I am currently trying to make some room for them so I don't fall over myself walking around the Mancave. I use mainelectric for my foam. They have a minimum order of 25 which I will easily exceed :). Are those little mids easy to do? I have only done woofers.

Rick
 
kfa888 said:
"WTF do I do with them"

I'm semi local and a sucker for huge speakers. :D
Click to expand...

What did you have in mind? I don't think I will get to these and I would be interested in having them go to a good home. I know these are super rare and would probably bring a tidy sum if fixed but man...that's a lot of drivers to repair. Let me know what you think. I would like to have them go soon if at all possible...before I change my mind!

Rick
 
Go ahead and refoam them, then give them a fair listen through whatever sources/amps you have around (use several different ones, to get a feel for what is the speakers talking and what is "synergy issues"). You'll be helping to preserve a bit of rare audio history, and giving yourself a chance to experience a sound that few can experience today.

Then if you decide you do like the sound of them, then they were worth the refoam. If you decide you don't want to keep them, you'll have speakers that are much more easily saleable and which will bring more money, because they are newly refoamed.

You can "assembly line" or "batch process" the refoaming work, and it won't really take all that much time. Play some nice background music while doing it, and enjoy the time. It can be a pleasant diversion, instead of a chore, if you decide to make it so.

With a little less emphasis, I agree with Elfasto: Do it!
 
Arkay said:
Go ahead and refoam them, then give them a fair listen through whatever sources/amps you have around (use several different ones, to get a feel for what is the speakers talking and what is "synergy issues"). You'll be helping to preserve a bit of rare audio history, and giving yourself a chance to experience a sound that few can experience today.

Then if you decide you do like the sound of them, then they were worth the refoam. If you decide you don't want to keep them, you'll have speakers that are much more easily saleable and which will bring more money, because they are newly refoamed.

You can "assembly line" or "batch process" the refoaming work, and it won't really take all that much time. Play some nice background music while doing it, and enjoy the time. It can be a pleasant diversion, instead of a chore, if you decide to make it so.

With a little less emphasis, I agree with Elfasto: Do it!
Click to expand...

I will give it some thought but right now, I am not in a situation where I have the patience for that big of a job but I certainly would like to give them a listen afterwards.

Thanks for the kind words,
Rick
 
Those are well made speakers.The only thing they do not do well is the highs.Don't be fooled by the drivers or the fact they say marantz.Refoam them listen and then sell them if you want.I own imperial 6's mine are built like tanks and sound good with tubes.Yours are much rarer and much more exspensive.do a search on them there is a story by one of the guys who designed them.Read it and you will be suprised at what you have.
 
Klownschool,

If Main Electronics (Vancouver, Canada) is your source for foams then they have them for sure because Main is only five minutes from my home and they sold me mine! Anyhow, if ever you require foams but don't want the 25 by mail order, I would be happy to scoot over, get what you need and post if off to you.

Anyhow, ignore the dissing of the Imperial's ...foam them and enjoy the process ...then give them a listen and keep or pass them along.

Cheers

John
 
Replace the phenolic ring tweeters (cheap and dull sounding), unless you want to re-sell. Some domes (Partsexpress?) will liven up the top end.
 
Klownschool said:
I picked up a pair of Imperial 9's today and want to know if they are worth the effort to refoam 8 midrange drivers and 4 woofers. Comments and suggestions welcome.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z28/klownschool/843_4344.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z28/klownschool/843_4345.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z28/klownschool/843_4346.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z28/klownschool/843_4348.jpg


Rick
Click to expand...

Hi Rick, as with anything, the effort required would be up to the individuals' desire to acheive the end result. Judging by the layout, they probably would sound quite good. Two ten inch drivers + a large enclosure means you'll likely get some quality bass response. Not all phenolic ring tweeters are equally created either, some are exceptional. Pop out a tweeter and a mid for a photo upload and lets' see what they look like on the backside.
 
I think you'll find all of the drivers were sourced from CTS. The CTS phenolic ring tweeters are the sine qua non of phenolic rings, if that's not too outrageous of a concept :-)

(i.e., if you gotta live with phenolic ring cone tweeters, those are the ones you'd want)
 
The Imperial line was at about the same quality level as Rectilinear and Advents. Built on a budget and sounding better than you'd think. My vote is to do the refoam and attack the crossover. Besides getting caps, etc. into spec and better components, I'd consider modding it to a bi-wire arrangement allowing for the woofers to be driven independent of the mids and tweeters. From my old memory, I'd suggest dropping a good SS amp on the woofers, something that is fast sounding. For the mids and tweeters, I'd try an amp that is either tubes or has more of a classic tubelike voicing. I think with a little work you may find they are keepers. Some equipment manufacturers made some decent speakers but after the advent (no pun intended) of SS they seemed to fall out of the flavor of the month group.
 
My imperial 6g's have the same tweeters.They do not sound like modern equipment.Im replaceing mine with parts express stuff.If the 9's were mine id ditch them too.When you do you will have a truely outstanding speaker.Remember they do not make speakers like this anymore.The style and the quality.If they did it would cost several thousand dollars.The 9 is a mans speaker a big old chunk of wood:)Do a web search on it or the 6g one of the designers talks all about it on another site.
 
Imperials ... tweeter replacement ideas

I have the Imperial 8's which I have redone but I am interested in any specific suggestions for tweeter replacement...

Is there a really good 'pop in the hole' tweeter replacement or is this a 'pop it in, redesign the crossover' thing?

The tweet was very commonly used in the day so I expect there is something with those exact dimensions.

My Imperial 8's will require four tweets only.

Thanks
 
What would be a correct sounding replacement tweeter for those phenolic ring tweets? I have a pair of 7s that may need new tweets, after a refoam the mids, and would like to know what to use instead of just sticking something in the cabinet.

So does anyone have the performance specs of the phenolic tweet or recommended replacement?
 
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