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McIntosh XR-19 potential speaker replacements...

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DoobZilla

New Member
I've recently decided to begin restoring a pair of McIntosh XR-19s I inherited from my father some years ago. A good friend of mine has been refoaming the speakers and we found that one of the XR-19s had been water damaged. Long story longer, we're having difficulty and I'm afraid that I'll need to find some replacement speakers for both of them.

Has anyone done this, and if so, what speakers do you recommend?

Btw, I'll be driving these through a C32 into an MC 2500. I have no intention of fully opening these up once finished, but I will be running a record player, an old Tandberg reel-to-reel, and probably some sort of Bluetooth thingamabob.

Any help or advice is welcome, thanks!

Edit:spelling (thanks, fat thumbs)
 
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Welcome to AudioKarma! Excellent speakers and very worthy of a good restoration. I love mine - your dad had great taste. The2500 is a good match for them, although I run mine with my MC275 whereas my MC2500 drives XRT-22s. But they were fantastic when I tried them with the 2500 and a MC2205.

The roll on the foam is larger than most generic foam, so make sure you're using the correct foam.

Audio Classics might have a replacement woofer, or point you towards an acceptable substitute. They deserve better than some generic woofer.

You might want to read up on them on Roger Russel's web page - he designed them when he was chief speaker engineer at Mac. http://www.roger-russell.com/xr19.htm

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.
 
w3jn said:
Welcome to AudioKarma! Excellent speakers and very worthy of a good restoration. I love mine - your dad had great taste. The2500 is a good match for them, although I run mine with my MC275 whereas my MC2500 drives XRT-22s. But they were fantastic when I tried them with the 2500 and a MC2205.

The roll on the foam is larger than most generic foam, so make sure you're using the correct foam.

Audio Classics might have a replacement woofer, or point you towards an acceptable substitute. They deserve better than some generic woofer.

You might want to read up on them on Roger Russel's web page - he designed them when he was chief speaker engineer at Mac. http://www.roger-russell.com/xr19.htm

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the recommendations! I did ensure that the foam is correct and my buddy has already finished one of the XR19s and we've done some light testing. So far, so good!
 
DoobZilla said:
I've recently decided to begin restoring a pair of McIntosh XR-19s I inherited from my father some years ago. A good friend of mine has been refoaming the speakers and we found that one of the XR-19s had been water damaged. Long story longer, we're having difficulty and I'm afraid that I'll need to find some replacement speakers for both of them.

Has anyone done this, and if so, what speakers do you recommend?

Btw, I'll be driving these through a C32 into an MC 2500. I have no intention of fully opening these up once finished, but I will be running a record player, an old Tandberg reel-to-reel, and probably some sort of Bluetooth thingamabob.

Any help or advice is welcome, thanks!

Edit:spelling (thanks, fat thumbs)
Click to expand...
Welcome to AK!! You're in the right place for some great advice on your XR-19 pair.
BTW, I also use a C32 and MC2500 for my garage system. Great combo!
 
onwardjames said:
As the proud owner of some XRT20's I had to refoam and restore myself, tread easy, take your time, and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Best of luck!
Click to expand...

I just picked up a pair of XR19’s in decent shape. The 8” woofers are toast, though. I am about to restore them starting with those. Do you have a any pics of your rebuild? Any specific tips?
 
Snappahead said:
Why don't you call Miller Sound near Philadelphia and see if they can rebuild your speakers?
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Because I’d never heard of them. I’ll check it out thanks. I’m in KC and these are large heavy units. I don’t really want to ship them if I don’t have to.
 
wwmeredith said:
Because I’d never heard of them. I’ll check it out thanks. I’m in KC and these are large heavy units. I don’t really want to ship them if I don’t have to.
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Just send them the speakers that need repair, not the cabinets. Miller is highly regarded and do beautiful work.
 
wwmeredith said:
Because I’d never heard of them. I’ll check it out thanks. I’m in KC and these are large heavy units. I don’t really want to ship them if I don’t have to.
Click to expand...
Make sure you wrap and protect them properly for shipping. No need to aid handlers in adding to the damage...
 
wwmeredith said:
I just picked up a pair of XR19’s in decent shape. The 8” woofers are toast, though. I am about to restore them starting with those. Do you have a any pics of your rebuild? Any specific tips?
Click to expand...

I don't wish to scare you, but the magic of that 8'' woofer is the heart of the sound, so says the late Roger Russell, who I had the good fortune to speak with (via email).

It is NOT an easy refoam, at least I didn't think so, due to the extreme thin-ness of the cone.

If you're not patient, it can be disastrous. Do they only need a refoam, or are they somehow damaged?
 
Send the damaged woofers to Audio Classics for replacements. They will have the crossover schematics and available replacement parts also. Just ask for Steve or Ryan.
 
Or use Dr Dave at Speakerworks in Tulsa. He refoamed my XR19 drivers (8” and 12”) and did a fantastic job. I’m driving mine with a Krell FPB 200C - they pair well with class A amplification too. Great speaker.
 
GeoffC said:
Or use Dr Dave at Speakerworks in Tulsa. He refoamed my XR19 drivers (8” and 12”) and did a fantastic job. I’m driving mine with a Krell FPB 200C - they pair well with class A amplification too. Great speaker.
Click to expand...
The Coneologist himself ...
 
onwardjames said:
I don't wish to scare you, but the magic of that 8'' woofer is the heart of the sound, so says the late Roger Russell, who I had the good fortune to speak with (via email).

It is NOT an easy refoam, at least I didn't think so, due to the extreme thin-ness of the cone.

If you're not patient, it can be disastrous. Do they only need a refoam, or are they somehow damaged?
Click to expand...

There was no damage. Just crumbly foam. I ordered a foam kit for this speaker set and refoamed all six speakers. This was my first refoam, and it’s not perfect I’m sure, but wasn’t too bad.

I cleaned up the cabinets inside and out, replaced the Velcro tabs holding the grills, and waxed the finished surfaces. I’ve tested all the drivers and tweeters with my multimeter, and they’re within spec. I will call audio classics about that crossover schematic.

I’m putting everything back together today and I have a C32 and MC2205 I can hook them up to. So… We’ll see how I did on the refoam :) If it turns out I screwed it up, audio classics has straight up replacement drivers for these.
 
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