N.E.A.R 40m

[nobbyv]

Anyone familiar with these or the later 40me's? Can't seem to find any info...

 

[cableguy]

Got me a pair of NEAR 15 M Monitors...amazing speakers.

 

[crunkarelli]

I heard the MAST, 40me and 50me back in the mid 90s. Great sounding line of speakers!

 

[nobbyv]

Finally got these home. Unfortunately, they were not in as good a shape as the seller led me to believe, but they were cheap enough.

Cosmetically, the cabinets are about a 7/10. No major damage, just some peeling veneer in one spot. I likely will re-veneer them to make them look a bit more "modern" (instead of the '80's oak look) The cabinets themselves are amazing: VERY heavy, and fiberglassed on the entire inside. Worth what I paid just for these.

The tweeters appear to be the original Vifas (DT25 G) and are in good shape.

The woofers however are not so good: one is blown, and both need re-foaming. I am not sure if they are the originals. They have no markings on them, other than the number 24144 screen printed on the magnet backplate.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed? I'd like to resurrect these speakers. Some people mentioned they have had luck contacting Lewis Athanas from N.E.A.R. directly for advice. Does anyone happen to have his email?

Alternately, anyone have any suggestions for replacement woofers?

 

[RevAmish]

I had a pair of 50m's at one time and did contact Lewis with questions because I couldn't find any specs on them. He's a very nice guy, i'll PM you his e-mail address. If your woofers are spun aluminum then more than likely they are original.

 

[nobbyv]

If your woofers are spun aluminum then more than likely they are original.

Thanks for the email; I pinged Lewis and will see what he recommends. The cones of the woofers do NOT appear to be aluminum, unfortunately. They look like poly to me.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Shame they scooted the woofer so far away from the tweeter. There would have been better integration with them closer together.

 

[audiozaz]

Shame they scooted the woofer so far away from the tweeter. There would have been better integration with them closer together.

+1 on that, my exact thought when I saw them. The kind of crossover frequency required to make that work would blow the tweeter voice coil in not time.

az

 

[nobbyv]

+1 on that, my exact thought when I saw them. The kind of crossover frequency required to make that work would blow the tweeter voice coil in not time.

az

I haven't calculated yet what the crossover frequency is, though I don't think the Vifa can play all that low. Guessing somewhere in the 4500Hz region. Their top of the line 50me used an angled front baffle for better time alignment of the woofer and tweeter, though interestingly the woofer and tweeter appear to be spaced about the same distance apart (with a 3-4" midrange between them).

 

[Dale A B]

The NEAR models ranged from the 10 ($330 list) up to the 80 ($1480/pr).
Near-40m had a freq resp on 32 - 28, spl of 88, $800/pr (1989).

NP - UFO - the Bootleg Box