optimus pro 4000
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Hi fi fo fun
New Member
Parts Express sent me foam for woofers but it was not correct and let me keep foam no charge. So great, I experimented and made it fit by inverting foam and cutting it down. Apparently the foam PE sells only works on earlier Mach 15" woofer speakers.
On the midrange foam I was able to carefully dab the rotted foam with the sticky white glue that came with foam surrounds. Will work if you have enough "meat" left on the foam and do it a little bit at a time letting dry in between.
*Note that the extra glue on the mids acts as a bit of an acoustic equalizer and pulls the mids down and takes away a bit of detail but they are a bit smoother at top volume, great for action movies.
Used pillow stuffing in port to create a sort of sealed/ aperiodic box instead of lumpy port sound. Note with this you will want to use an eq to boost somewhere 40-50 hz and maybe around +6-8db otherwise bass will be a bit anemic. Play with eq settings a little and use a sweep to make sure response is even.
Anyway these speaker can be good cheap fun and I think they worth saving.
On the midrange foam I was able to carefully dab the rotted foam with the sticky white glue that came with foam surrounds. Will work if you have enough "meat" left on the foam and do it a little bit at a time letting dry in between.
*Note that the extra glue on the mids acts as a bit of an acoustic equalizer and pulls the mids down and takes away a bit of detail but they are a bit smoother at top volume, great for action movies.
Used pillow stuffing in port to create a sort of sealed/ aperiodic box instead of lumpy port sound. Note with this you will want to use an eq to boost somewhere 40-50 hz and maybe around +6-8db otherwise bass will be a bit anemic. Play with eq settings a little and use a sweep to make sure response is even.
Anyway these speaker can be good cheap fun and I think they worth saving.
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Hi fi fo fun
New Member
Some interesting notes on the Pro 4000: As a vintage speaker enthusiast I noticed the nice paper woofer cones were kind of JBL copy cones and the mids had some carefully
place damping foam on the back of the cones. Who ever designed the drivers knew a little bit about high end audio apparently or at least how to make decent sound without
a complicated crossover. I think they said Taiwan but it was a while back that I did the work.
Sold many original oem vacuum tubes as well as quite a few vintage JBL and Altec components to Taiwan so I am guessing there is some sort
high end of audio subculture there like many other Asian countries judging by the amount of quality vintage USA audio items myself and my friends have sent over there.
place damping foam on the back of the cones. Who ever designed the drivers knew a little bit about high end audio apparently or at least how to make decent sound without
a complicated crossover. I think they said Taiwan but it was a while back that I did the work.
Sold many original oem vacuum tubes as well as quite a few vintage JBL and Altec components to Taiwan so I am guessing there is some sort
high end of audio subculture there like many other Asian countries judging by the amount of quality vintage USA audio items myself and my friends have sent over there.
Hi fi fo fun
New Member
Saving the stock Pro 4000 midrange driver foam
Was reading some other posts on Pro 4000 speakers and saw people were trying to tame the mids on Pro 4000's by changing the crossover values, etc. Thinking back, I re-foamed
the woofers and listened to a single speaker with the original mid and one coated with white sticky glue. Mids on the original were a little forward sounding but I since
foam was rotted on my set, I can't say a set with original foam on mids in good condition sounded like this. (folks this is NOT, I repeat not Elmer's white glue and if you use Elmer's on a moving
speaker part , the driver will be ruined..!) *For those that don't know the white sticky speaker glue dries clear and is flexible.
So if you have original mids with good foam I am not sure I would recommend to coat the surround, I did this to save time and money instead of replacing mids or getting them refoamed.
Bet a nice tube amp or syrupy sound vintage receiver or amp would tame the stock mids a bit. The current Marantz surround receivers from the past few are pretty smooth as well if ya want new.
Was reading some other posts on Pro 4000 speakers and saw people were trying to tame the mids on Pro 4000's by changing the crossover values, etc. Thinking back, I re-foamed
the woofers and listened to a single speaker with the original mid and one coated with white sticky glue. Mids on the original were a little forward sounding but I since
foam was rotted on my set, I can't say a set with original foam on mids in good condition sounded like this. (folks this is NOT, I repeat not Elmer's white glue and if you use Elmer's on a moving
speaker part , the driver will be ruined..!) *For those that don't know the white sticky speaker glue dries clear and is flexible.
So if you have original mids with good foam I am not sure I would recommend to coat the surround, I did this to save time and money instead of replacing mids or getting them refoamed.
Bet a nice tube amp or syrupy sound vintage receiver or amp would tame the stock mids a bit. The current Marantz surround receivers from the past few are pretty smooth as well if ya want new.
Hi fi fo fun
New Member
Port Block notes and subwoofers- also just wanted to mention that I would not recommend blocking woofer ports if you do not have a good separate eq or
are using a vintage receiver or preamp with fixed bass/treble controls. I highly recommend blocking ports if you want more and much lower
bass with a sub though.
The vintage stuff almost always uses 100hz on the bass control (and 10k on highs). Never could figure the 100hz/10k bass treble one out, like
vintage houses, sometimes the floor plans are a "what were they thinking" kind of thing. Any you out there know why 100/10k were chosen
years ago please post to let us know why.
I use my pro 4000's on a HT set up with a little bit older Yamaha 5.1 surround receiver, HTR-5540. I think it has 50hz and 15k bass and treble which
work really nice on the Pro 4000 and pretty much any other vintage or mid fi speakers to really wake them up if you are careful with the settings and use
a 20-20k sweep to make sure you are not over boosting anything.
If you are a no eq snob, a sub is another way to go, I really like the smooth bass of a sealed box and I am building a Parts Express Dayton DCS-385-4 15" subwoofer
to go with my Pro 4000's as when you block the ports they start rolling off gently at 60hz instead of down to kind of around 45hz and dropping like a rock below
or something like that.
Had two 10" paper coned Speakercraft Bassx-10's on subs for sub duty but they are too small sounding for the my very large HT room and also do not "woof"
enough for me even with two subs stacked in the corner. BassX-10 a good paper cone sub for a bedroom if you get them for cheap.
Built many different subs over the years and the DCS-385 is a really great woofer to blend with large vintage paper woofer speakers as it has a large paper cone itself.
The only draw back to the DCS-385 is they want a HUGE box to get low, like 8-12 cubic feet. Personally I think the bass is better on a vintage style speaker
in a huge box than a small modern sub with a ton of power, xmax and eq to get down to the 17hz the DCS-385 will do by using a small refrigerator sized box.
Going to try a 4th order bandpass box on DCS-385 to get the tightness of sealed with output of ported. Some say bandpass subs have a delayed slow sound
others figured out how to make fast tight bass. I will experiment and be posting about this.
Ok will shut up now...just when I saw Booted's post on Pro 4000 I thought I would share my experiences as it seems to me this is what "Audiokarma" is all about
and if you send out good karma it will always come back to you...!
are using a vintage receiver or preamp with fixed bass/treble controls. I highly recommend blocking ports if you want more and much lower
bass with a sub though.
The vintage stuff almost always uses 100hz on the bass control (and 10k on highs). Never could figure the 100hz/10k bass treble one out, like
vintage houses, sometimes the floor plans are a "what were they thinking" kind of thing. Any you out there know why 100/10k were chosen
years ago please post to let us know why.
I use my pro 4000's on a HT set up with a little bit older Yamaha 5.1 surround receiver, HTR-5540. I think it has 50hz and 15k bass and treble which
work really nice on the Pro 4000 and pretty much any other vintage or mid fi speakers to really wake them up if you are careful with the settings and use
a 20-20k sweep to make sure you are not over boosting anything.
If you are a no eq snob, a sub is another way to go, I really like the smooth bass of a sealed box and I am building a Parts Express Dayton DCS-385-4 15" subwoofer
to go with my Pro 4000's as when you block the ports they start rolling off gently at 60hz instead of down to kind of around 45hz and dropping like a rock below
or something like that.
Had two 10" paper coned Speakercraft Bassx-10's on subs for sub duty but they are too small sounding for the my very large HT room and also do not "woof"
enough for me even with two subs stacked in the corner. BassX-10 a good paper cone sub for a bedroom if you get them for cheap.
Built many different subs over the years and the DCS-385 is a really great woofer to blend with large vintage paper woofer speakers as it has a large paper cone itself.
The only draw back to the DCS-385 is they want a HUGE box to get low, like 8-12 cubic feet. Personally I think the bass is better on a vintage style speaker
in a huge box than a small modern sub with a ton of power, xmax and eq to get down to the 17hz the DCS-385 will do by using a small refrigerator sized box.
Going to try a 4th order bandpass box on DCS-385 to get the tightness of sealed with output of ported. Some say bandpass subs have a delayed slow sound
others figured out how to make fast tight bass. I will experiment and be posting about this.
Ok will shut up now...just when I saw Booted's post on Pro 4000 I thought I would share my experiences as it seems to me this is what "Audiokarma" is all about
and if you send out good karma it will always come back to you...!
Hi fi fo fun
New Member
Hey booted, l was born in Orange county, NY (which is home of Orange County Choppers show that many still confuse with Orange County, CA)
but moved to Long Island as a teen. It is funny, people in the city and Long Island think anything above the Bronx is upstate.
Can tell you this, is that the tri state area around NYC (NJ, NY, CT) with such a large and dense population is a treasure trove of vintage and new audio compared
to where I am in north Florida and to people in the sort of upstate like I was it is worth looking closer to city for some amazing audio stuff.
I noticed you have upstate New York listed as your location and when I lived in New York I always wondered if the "really upstate"
New York people have some sort of designation of what is actually upstate and downstate?
(I did not ever wander too far north or Orange county so I can't say I heard much on this)
but moved to Long Island as a teen. It is funny, people in the city and Long Island think anything above the Bronx is upstate.
Can tell you this, is that the tri state area around NYC (NJ, NY, CT) with such a large and dense population is a treasure trove of vintage and new audio compared
to where I am in north Florida and to people in the sort of upstate like I was it is worth looking closer to city for some amazing audio stuff.
I noticed you have upstate New York listed as your location and when I lived in New York I always wondered if the "really upstate"
New York people have some sort of designation of what is actually upstate and downstate?
(I did not ever wander too far north or Orange county so I can't say I heard much on this)
booted
donna
i live in Fulton NY. been so busy working.have not had that much time to be on here, I am from Minnesota originally .
