Paradigm Titan V1 Rebuild

[rocketrobo]

I have a pair of Paradigm Titans that I possibly bought new - it was long enough ago that I can't be sure! They have cycled in and out of rotation for almost 25 years, and I've always enjoyed listening to them. Great imaging, balanced sound, I've even used them as desk monitors and been very happy. The last time I used them they sounded ... bad. Kind of muted, with a weird vibration at certain frequencies. I pulled the backs off, and found that the surrounds on both woofers had disintegrated. Also, one of the cheap plastic speaker wire clips has broken. It was time for a reno.

I figured, so long as I was going to do the surrounds, I might as well go whole hog and do the crossovers, and add some cabinet bracing to firm up the sound even more by eliminating any resonance.

There is almost no information out there on the insides of these little giants, so maybe this thread will help others should they decide to go this route.

These speakers were built in in Canada in 1994. At the time, they got some pretty high ratings.

Exceptional... Astonishing.
These Titans are indeed mighty... mighty good value, with measurements that are truly spectacular. The sound is crisp, clean, and dynamic...
-- Andrew Marshall, Audio Ideas Guide

Sonically, the Titan's balance was nearly perfect, and detail was excellent... The Titan would be absolutely fantastic in any role...
Bravo... these speakers offer so much value, it's scary
The Titan would be absolutely fantastic in any role: main, surround, and/or dual -channel center. Bravo!
-- Tom Nousaine, Sound & Image

Paradigm Titan - Low bass extension with powerful impact for its size. Warm mids, detail highs. Very open soundstage with lifelike realism.
-- HighFidelityreview.com

"The Titans are legendary. In a Tom Nousaine article in Sound & Image magazine 1994, the Titans soundly won a 20-way bake-off of name brand bookshelf speakers. After that, no other audio magazine wishing to stay solvent ever did fair comparison tests again, and Sound & Image folded around 1996. A home theatre system featuring the Titans were given an NRC fidelity rating of 7.2 in Sound & Vision (Canada) magazine."
-- axiomaudio.com

 

[rocketrobo]

I pulled the backs off. The front grill panel is not removable in these models, I'm not sure what you would do if you had to replace the grill cloth. I didn't need to.
The back is VERY snug, I removed the screws, then hand screwed a larger screw into the screw hole and pulled the backs off.
The labels are reproductions.

 

[rocketrobo]

The port tube is a very strong cardboard. I thought about replacing it, but couldn't find a good commercial one and there was no PVC size match. I didn't want to mess with the sound, so I left it alone.

Both woofer surrounds were completely disintegrated.

The crossover was screwed and glued onto the front panel. It took a heat gun to soften it up enough for removal.

 

[rocketrobo]

Time to source the parts. The surrounds were easy to find:
Springfield Speaker 6.5" Foam Surround Edge Repair Kit - Compatible with Paradigm Titan, Titan v.2, Titan v.3, 9518
Many threads on how to re-foam, it's pretty easy, just follow the instructions and be patient.
The woofer was stamped 94-01, January 1994.
The tweeter is a Vifa D19TD.

 

[infullview]

NRC fidelity rating of 7.2

What is an NRC fidelity rating? Not familiar with that term. I have a pair of Paradigm Phantom Monitor V1 that are in rotation. They use Vifa woofer and tweeter and have rubber surrounds and still sound great. They were tested by audio magazines to be 60-20K +/-2db with bass extension down to 45Hz. BTW, nice job on the re-foam.

 

[PhotonDon]

I could have written your post! Bought mine new in '91. They were in and out of rotation for years, no, decades. They were my first refoam job, and it was easy, even with ten thumbs. I found some cheap 5way binding posts (Parts Connection?) that perfectly snugly fit into the original holes. No glue, no muss, no fuss. Yours look great. Have fun.

 

[rocketrobo]

The crossover is pretty basic - an iron-core inductor, one resistor, and two caps in parallel. No fancy circuit board, just components soldered together and glued in a bundle.
I wasn't able to figure out the inductance of L1, but thought there was an opportunity to install better quality caps and R1.

C1 & C2 - 1.33uf / 200V @ 10% ................ Panasonic 1.3uf/400V @ 3% Mouser 667-ECW-F4135HL
R1 - 1.8 ohm 7W wirewound ................ Xicom 1.8 ohm /15W @ 5% Mouser 280-CR15-1.8-RC

Total cost was about $12.00. I know it's possible to use much fancier, more expensive caps, but didn't see it necessary for this build. YMMV.

Paradigm Titan Crossover circuit diagram below. The two old 1.33uf caps in parallel = 2.66uf +/- 10%. The new 1.3uf Panasonics sum to 2.6uf +/- 3%. It's possible to buy a 2.6uf cap, but not being sure why the designer built it this way I left it unchanged.

 

[rocketrobo]

Found the right speaker wire (terminal cup) replacement.
BLUECELL 1 Pair 3-Inch Double Binding Round Gold Plate Push Spring Loaded Jacks Speaker Box Terminal Cup
The old one came out with some pressure, the new one popped right in. Printed off new label reproductions while I was at it.

 

[rocketrobo]

Bundled up the new crossovers similar to the old ones, and zip tied them together. Another couple of ties and adhesive base screwed into the board to secure them in place.
(before and after shown)

 

[rocketrobo]

What is an NRC fidelity rating? Not familiar with that term. I have a pair of Paradigm Phantom Monitor V1 that are in rotation. They use Vifa woofer and tweeter and have rubber surrounds and still sound great. They were tested by audio magazines to be 60-20K +/-2db with bass extension down to 45Hz. BTW, nice job on the re-foam.

The National Resource Council of Canada has a world class anechoic chamber that they make available to commercial companies for research.

[from Wikipedia] Since 1974 Paul Barton of PSB Speakers used the NRC's world-class measurement facilities, their anechoic chamber. By the 1980s more companies began to use this incredible resource and began to develop at the NRC. Even small companies had access to these facilities for loudspeaker measurements of high quality, offering them a competitive edge.[21] Eventually almost every major Canadian company including Energy Loudspeakers and Paradigm Electronics, tested their loudspeakers at the NRC. Electrical engineer, Floyd E. Toole, who worked at the NRC was at the centre of this research.[21] By the year 2000 most companies had their own sound chambers, but Paul Barton continued to use the NRC's facilities. In about 1990, PSB and other Canadian companies worked with the NRC on Athena to evaluate digital signal processing (DSP) for loudspeaker design.[21]

 

[rocketrobo]

I added a piece of closet rail across the cabinet to reinforce it. The volume of the brace should be small enough as to not affect the sound.

Volume (inside dimensions) – 12H x 6.75W x 8D = 648 cubic inches
Volume of cylindrical brace: 8.2 cubic inches (1.2% of total volume)

I added a bit more fill, then buttoned it up.

The outside had some scuff and scratches, so I figured I'd give them a coat of urethane satin stain. They came out nice, but not quite as nice as I'd hoped - a refinish might be a job for another day.

 

[rocketrobo]

I hooked them up to a vintage rebuilt Bogen tube amp for a listen. The measured impedance (before and after) is 4.2 ohms, so I used the 4 ohm tap on the amp.

Overall, they sound just great. No question they are tighter, and both the highs and lows have benefited from the rebuild. Female vocal sounds just wonderful when listening to Holly Cole's Temptation album of Tom Waits covers (this CD is one of my gold standards for both testing and just plain listening, it's an incredible recording). The voice and instruments sound like they are right there in the room.

Before when you knocked on the cabinets, they sounded hollow - with the brace, they have all the resonance of a solid block of wood.

This was a pretty quick, cheap, and easy rebuild of a classic speaker. The end result was outstanding. I'm a happy camper!

Paradigm Titan V1
Design: 2-driver, 2-way bass reflex; bookshelf / stand-mounted
Crossover: 2nd order electro/acoustic at 3.0kHz
Frequency Response: On-Axis - ±2dB from 75 Hz - 20kHz
Frequency Response: 30° Off-Axis - ±2dB from 75 Hz - 15 kHz
High Frequency Driver: 19mm polymide Vifa dome tweeter with ferro-fluid cooling
Mid/Bass Frequency Driver: 165mm, diecast chassis, polypropylene cone, Apical™ former
Low Frequency Extension: 55 Hz (DIN)
Sensitivity: Room / Anechoic: 90 dB / 87 dB
Impedance: Compatible with 8 ohms (4.2 ohms measured)
Suitable Amplifier Power Range: 15 - 100 watts
Weight: 25 lbs. (11 kg)
Dimensions HxWxD: 13" × 7.75" × 9.75" (33.0cm × 19.7cm × 24.8cm)
Volume (inside dimensions) – 12H x 6.75W x 8D = 648 cubic inches

 

[bcbud3]

My first pair of real speakers. Sitting in my closet unused in many years. Once you go big (12", 15" woofer) , hard to go back..

 

[Pete B]

Very nice work, but IMO you've added far too much damping, I've done it myself.
Box losses go way up and I wouldn't be surprised if you've attenuated the output
at port tuning by 6 dB or more. I'd line the bottom and perhaps the lower half of
the back panel and call it done. No stuffing near the port.

 

[orsen]

i have refoamed many many of these, in canada
they used to be so plentiful here that they were called firewood
i would agree with bracing but the rest should remain stock
paradigm knew what they were doing
btw the whole series sounds great from the atom all the way to the 7's
i found the 9's and 11's kinda dark sounding
the phantom is harder to find but sounds great.

the original psb alpha is supposed to be very close sound wise but much harder to find

 

[rocketrobo]

bcbud3, I'm from North Van originally ... so hi! I kind of agree, it's hard to beat the hit of a large driver. My regular speakers are Pioneer HPM-100, which can go from light classical to Wake The Neighbours in nothing flat. But in the office, it's nice to have something without the same room presence.
...and a tip of the hat to BC bud!

 

[rocketrobo]

Very nice work, but IMO you've added far too much damping, I've done it myself.
Box losses go way up and I wouldn't be surprised if you've attenuated the output
at port tuning by 6 dB or more. I'd line the bottom and perhaps the lower half of
the back panel and call it done. No stuffing near the port.

Thanks, Pete. The original stuffing was just a chunk of fiberglass right behind the woofer ... maybe I went to far the other direction. I'll try your direction.

 

[rocketrobo]

i have refoamed many many of these, in canada
they used to be so plentiful here that they were called firewood
i would agree with bracing but the rest should remain stock
paradigm knew what they were doing
btw the whole series sounds great from the atom all the way to the 7's
i found the 9's and 11's kinda dark sounding
the phantom is harder to find but sounds great.

the original psb alpha is supposed to be very close sound wise but much harder to find

Orsen, I'm from Vancouver originally. I had a pair of PSB alphas ... as well as the Paradigms. After years of listening, I decided I liked them both, but the Titans edged it out with slightly better imaging.

 

[bcbud3]

bcbud3, I'm from North Van originally ... so hi! I kind of agree, it's hard to beat the hit of a large driver. My regular speakers are Pioneer HPM-100, which can go from light classical to Wake The Neighbours in nothing flat. But in the office, it's nice to have something without the same room presence.
...and a tip of the hat to BC bud!

I have pioneer hpm-100, paradigm 11se mk2, vmps towers, lots of other stuff as well..right now the paradigm 11's and a custom pair of 70's philips 3 way (12" woofer) kit speakers are in service. I've got 2 different sets of cerwin vegas in the basement waiting for a try out..

 

[Riccardo77]

i have refoamed many many of these, in canada
they used to be so plentiful here that they were called firewood
i would agree with bracing but the rest should remain stock
paradigm knew what they were doing
btw the whole series sounds great from the atom all the way to the 7's
i found the 9's and 11's kinda dark sounding
the phantom is harder to find but sounds great.

the original psb alpha is supposed to be very close sound wise but much harder to find

Wow I got two pairs of Titans v1 and ,v2 for free needing refoam. They both sound amazing. The v2 sounds clearer on the highs than the v1 which makes it nice for movies with the v1 being nice for music.

This weekend just got a pair of Phantoms. Quite a bit larger! But wow! Really nice! The cabinets were beat up but managed to get them for 20. Cleaned them up and touched up the cabinet scratches and they sound really nice. They go low in bass and the highs are clear similar to the Titan v2. They are quite large but really nice. They don't sound like they need surrounds so it's it not broke I will not fix it.