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Optimus 1B loudspeakers

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Flip4tim

New Member
Hello AudioKarma Members,
I've recently broke out the record collection and tuned up the Dual 1216 turntable. Pick up a new Emotiva TA-100 to power it. Unfortunately, the current Onkyo speakers do not do it justice. So I went looking for replacement loudspeakers.
I was recently given a pair of Optimus 1B speakers. They where in storage for an extended time, but appeared to be in good condition. Cabinets (walnut veneer) are solid and the drivers are visually in good shape and move freely. Yeah! The plan was to upgrade the crossovers and replace tweeters. However, when got them home they produced no sound. I removed a woofer to test with an Ohmmeter and it appears the voice coil may have grounded. So, I'm looking for a little guidance. Are voice coils available for this model? I'm sure a professional could repair them, but are they worth it? If I save these cabinets and replace the drivers what are your recommendations? My budget is $300-400. Thank you.

Optimus-1B Oiled Walnut Speaker System
(400-2005) Specifications Faxback Doc. # 32001
Frequency Response:.........................................20 Hz to 20 kHz
Power Capacity:......................................45 Watts (Music Power)
Speaker Complement:..........................10 Inch high-compliance woofer
.........................Two extended range high-compliance 3 inch tweeters
Enclosure:..................Sealed oiled walnut for extended bass response.
Removable grille.
Control:...............................................Tweeter level switch
Dimensions (HWD):.......................................23" x 12" x 11 1/2"
 
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The Optimus 1B is a decent sounding speaker when properly functional, but unfortunately yours have problems. I personally would use the money that you have budgeted and look for something better on Craigslist or the other available sites. If you list your general location in your profile another AK member near you may have a set of speakers they are willing to sell or assist you with finding a pair. Welcome to AK by the way and best of luck to you.
 
Welcome to AudioKarma. Optimus-1Bs are quite nice, but not $300-$400-nice. However, I am surprised that you get no sound out of any of the drivers, including the mid/tweeters, in both speakers. If true, something really catastrophic happened. Are you absolutely positive everything is hooked up correctly? I see the TA-100 has a switch for MM and MC phono inputs. MC cartridges put out much lower voltages than MM, so you might want to check what type of cartridge you have on the Dual. Or try another amp just to be sure. Good luck!

By the way, original drivers for Optimus-1Bs come up for sale quite often on Ebay. If it were my system, I would take my $400 and buy a pair of new Elac UniFi UB5's. They come up for sale at $350 on occasion.
 
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The price was right but, really not worth putting much money into them. I'd play with them to learn more about speaker construction, but that's me. And then, I'd keep looking.
 
Gnesen said:
Welcome to AudioKarma. Optimus-1Bs are quite nice, but not $300-$400-nice. However, I am surprised that you get no sound out of any of the drivers, including the mid/tweeters, in both speakers. If true, something really catastrophic happened. Are you absolutely positive everything is hooked up correctly? I see the TA-100 has a switch for MM and MC phono inputs. MC cartridges put out much lower voltages than MM, so you might want to check what type of cartridge you have on the Dual. Or try another amp just to be sure. Good luck!

By the way, original drivers for Optimus-1Bs come up for sale quite often on Ebay. If it were my system, I would take my $400 and buy a pair of new Elac UniFi UB5's. They come up for sale at $350 on occasion.
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The system works with the Onkyo speakers, so I don’t think it’s the amp/dac setting. I am surprised that I get nothing. I have read good things about the ELAC’s.Thanks
 
homebrew said:
The price was right but, really not worth putting much money into them. I'd play with them to learn more about speaker construction, but that's me. And then, I'd keep looking.
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That’s what I was thinking, putting in new drivers and learning a little about crossovers. I don’t want to OVER spend for the education with these if there not worth it.
 
Flip4tim said:
Maybe “grounded” was the wrong term, but the Ohmmeter read “00” on the woofer.
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What does the meter say when you have it on the ohm setting and don't have the leads hooked to anything?

Also did you disconnect the woofers before testing?
 
waggs098 said:
What does the meter say when you have it on the ohm setting and don't have the leads hooked to anything?

Also did you disconnect the woofers before testing?
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“1” yes, I disconnected the woofer and removed from cabinet. I also placed on my Onkyo it read 6.2
 
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doctorolds said:
The Optimus 1B is a decent sounding speaker when properly functional, but unfortunately yours have problems. I personally would use the money that you have budgeted and look for something better on Craigslist or the other available sites. If you list your general location in your profile another AK member near you may have a set of speakers they are willing to sell or assist you with finding a pair. Welcome to AK by the way and best of luck to you.
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Thanks, I’m in Southern California
 
If you testing device is an Onkyo and you got 6.2 ohms on the woofer outside the box then the woofer is good if when you hook it up to the wires inside the box and it reads 00 ohms then the crossover is at fault. The crossover needs rebuilding. Not hard to do lots of help here.
 
borus said:
If you testing device is an Onkyo and you got 6.2 ohms on the woofer outside the box then the woofer is good if when you hook it up to the wires inside the box and it reads 00 ohms then the crossover is at fault. The crossover needs rebuilding. Not hard to do lots of help here.
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The Onkyo woofer, is a working speaker that I had used to confirm to myself that I'd set the meter correctly, the Optimus speaker read "00" outside the box. I do think the crossovers will need updating at the least and will look for guidance for the members if I can get to that point. Thank you for the help.
 
I still find it unusual that both loudspeakers produce NO sound, while I don't know what happened to them prior to me getting them, it still seems odd to me...
 
And a note on the tweeters, get only factory used good replacements. They are 16 ohm and cross over at 350 hz, so there are basically no new tweeters that are bolt in replacements.
 
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