Pioneer HPM-40s

[kydog]

Recently running my HPM 40’s through a Pioneer SA-8500 & SG-9500 EQ placed on the floor actually, The EQ helps with dialing the speakers in sound wise perfectly for my listening area. Had them on stands but there’s something special about them sitting on the floor ( Ceramic tile) With rear pots set @ “0”For my taste. With the tweeters sitting lower than ear level, I get more overall dispersed sound in the room & less direct semblance, Better over soundstage for my personal taste.

 

[deng62]

So for right now, I ended up buying this Midwest Electronics tweeter to test it. All of the other tweeters 45-711A/B/C had dented cones for $35-70 so i opted for a new one. I will test this and see if it works as well as measure the impedance across it. If it works, I might as well buy a second from them as well. I don't see why there should be much of a difference, but I'd prefer not to have a dented cone for aesthetics.

If I can get them both working, i'd love to discuss improvements that could possibly be made to these speakers! Thank you guys for helping me thus far, this has been an awesome experience researching into these pioneers.

Hi Donald. Reviving your old thread and I hope to hear from you. Do you still have your HPM 40's and use the Midwest tweeter in both finally? I am thinking about it as well. I recently acquired the second generation HPM40's and the first gen HPM 60's. I'm refurbishing them both. The 60's need the woofers refoamed and the 40's need new tweeters. I am testing the tweeters from the 60's in the 40's and they sound great! Like you were thinking in 2020, I'm debating whether to purchase on Ebay, the second gen tweeters for the 40's, go with Midwest or now, listening to the first gen tweeters from the 60's, to put in a pair of those!? I'm thinking about originality, collectability. Soundwise, I'm guessing they're all pretty close.

 

[allanmatters]

I own a pair of HPM 700's

The mid range range stopped working one day on the left speaker and the tweeter on the right side was overdriven and got burned apparently.

I gave it to the speaker repair shop and strictly told them not do remove or damage the cone. And to change just the voice coil.

They did the opposite and put an ordinary cone for both.

Disappointed with the folks at the shop, I still haven't got an original replacement as for buying things on ebay from India, the shipping charges to India add up on the price like crazy. So it makes no sense buying it if I'm living in India.

My question is. How bad will it be just to use them as they are. Obviously now there is no polymer cone for that one midrange driver and that one tweeter. How bad could the sound quality be? Are they also made of pure polymer or is it just the big driver?

My ears are not able to pick up the difference or maybe I'm restless about it inside.

Also, I think that the polymer is more important for the main big driver since it contributes to clean punchy bass.

Anyone willing to share their opinion?

I'd be grateful

 

[deng62]

I own a pair of HPM 700's

The mid range range stopped working one day on the left speaker and the tweeter on the right side was overdriven and got burned apparently.

I gave it to the speaker repair shop and strictly told them not do remove or damage the cone. And to change just the voice coil.

They did the opposite and put an ordinary cone for both.

Disappointed with the folks at the shop, I still haven't got an original replacement as for buying things on ebay from India, the shipping charges to India add up on the price like crazy. So it makes no sense buying it if I'm living in India.

My question is. How bad will it be just to use them as they are. Obviously now there is no polymer cone for that one midrange driver and that one tweeter. How bad could the sound quality be? Are they also made of pure polymer or is it just the big driver?

My ears are not able to pick up the difference or maybe I'm restless about it inside.

Also, I think that the polymer is more important for the main big driver since it contributes to clean punchy bass.

Anyone willing to share their opinion?

I'd be grateful

Hi Allanmatters. Sorry to hear you don't have more resources in India. Since you had an overdriven tweeter, the voice coil burned and you can't change a voice coil without having to remove the cone and spider. The fused wires need to be removed from the magnet so a new cone kit can be used. But, if there isn't a repair kit, then it must be replaced and that's what the shop did for you. I have a friend that owns a speaker repair shop and he couldn't source any repair kits for the HPM tweeters. Even my stereo tech called his long time Pioneer repair source in Oregon and he said the parts are unobtainable these days. So, you just may become appreciative of the repair folks you have! Hopefully the repair shop spec'd out a close fit for your crossover network and close to what was originally there. You're only other source is yourself to purchase online.

It looks like the HPM700's used graphite material cones making them very fragile, probably why this series has metal grills over the mid and tweeter. It's an interesting updated version of the HPM100 - had to keep up sales somehow. I read another query of yours asking about the ribbon tweeter. You're repair is similar that I did for the super tweeter on my HPM40. I used a strip of folded tinfoil instead of a thin wire like you did. Works perfectly and I like you, I can hear those higher frequencies. Hence, I turn down the L pads to about -2db.

If your ears like them, there you go! It's hard when you have nothing to compare. You may hear a difference, you may not. Will it sound better or worse? Probably not. Just different and you may like one sound over the other. I could be standing next to you and I may like the sound you don't like. It's all subjective. Plus, depending on the music, you may like one speaker over another! This hobby gets nutty! I'll say you're just restless inside.

Hard to say about construction methods if poly, carbon, paper, graphite will be a cleaner, punchier bass. Now quit cranking up your power source past clipping mode so you don't burn out anymore voice coils. LOL.

 

[allanmatters]

Thanks Deng62. I'm actually quite happy with the over all sound of the drivers put together.

There's a slight difference between the replaced cone and the original one since I did compare them side by side. But if I sit back on the chair, and listen to some good old Dire straits, the speakers never fail to impress me.

I've lived with the replacement though completely a duplicate (in terms of the cone) for quite a while now, still enjoy my listening sessions thoroughly.

That's a nice little trick you did there for the ribbon/super tweeter on your speaker. I think I'll do the same.

Your probably right, I think I'm just restless knowing about it.