One of the 2-inch Peerless super tweeters went out on a Rectilinear III Highboy speaker I have. I could not find any 2-inch peerless replacement speakers. I did some research and found that the Visaton TW6NG 2-inch tweeter would be a very good replacement. I ordered 4 of these to cover 2 Highboy speakers. There are 2 2-inch and 2 2.5-inch tweeters in each Highboy speaker. Well, now I have to figure out how to actually replace the Peerless speaker with the Visaton speaker. The Peerless have some kind of adhesive that keeps them attached to the front baffle. There are no screws as with most drivers in a speaker cabinet. Has anyone here done this type of speaker replacement in a Highboy? I don't want to mess up anything. Also, should the Visaton be attached with adhesive 'glue' or just screwed in? Thanks. I hope to receive some educational replies. Photos would also be a big help.
Rectilinear Highboy Tweeter Replacement
- Thread starter joe_tex
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Thanks. I read through the thread. I will need to buy an x-acto knife set. Are the positive and negative wires to the tweeter connected with a slide-on pin attachment, or are they soldered onto the tweeter? I really like my Rec III Highboys, but basic maintenance and repair seem to be a real hassle/problem.
clayfordsez
New Member
How did the Visatons work out for you? I came across those exact ones just today when considering replacements for my III low boy tweeters. 7 are fried, and one is reading 7 ohms.
hi
Joe, I’m also considering swapping these in. How do they sound though? Don’t keep us in suspense (haha)
Well, I have not done anything yet. I have 2 pair of Highboys hooked up and only one Peerless tweeter and one super tweeter are out. I can barely notice it. I recently got lucky and scored 4 new old stock Peerless tweeters and 2 used Peerless super tweeters from a seller on Ebay. I am not brave enough to do my own work on the speakers. I really wanted to have the Visaton tweeters installed by someone who has experience doing this. This might also require altering the crossovers. I have no confidence in my abilities for this. I think the Visaton tweeters would probably work out very well. It is better than trying to find original replacements.
I have a feeling that the Visatons are close to drop in, if you match the nominal impedance.
Be cautious that if you bring it to someone telling them it needs XO mods they might just do
it because you asked for it.
Have you done any soldering?
Do you have any idea about the relative sensitivity of the Visatons vs the originals, Pete? I’m thinking that the presence and brilliance controls might provide some latitude in integrating any minor differences if they are basically fit for purpose
The Peerless replacements I purchased are all 8 ohms. I did not mention that the 2 problem tweeters are from the same cabinet/speaker. The major problem I have is that the speakers are attached to the front baffle from behind. I would have to remove the back of the speaker and draw a diagram of the wiring connections. The next step is to disconnect the problem speakers and warm them up with a hair dryer/heat gun. Then I would have to gently pry the speaker off of the front baffle with an X-acto knife. That is just too much work for me. It would be much better for me to actually watch an experienced Highboy repair person do the work. I know - this is not brain surgery. If I used the Visaton tweeter (not super tweeter), then I would have to do work on 2 Highboy speakers so that they will sonically match each other. Personally, I think that the Rectilinear III Highboy sounds as good or better than many speakers costing 3,4,5 times as much. They usually sell between $300 - $500 a pair. Acoustics, percussion, bells/chimes and voices are outstanding along with the deep tight bass. You have to actually hear them to understand. They get too much bad press in audio forums.
I removed one of my original super tweeters, which was dead. It wasn’t hard. I used a hairdryer as I don’t have a heat gun and then, once warmed, a narrowish slim profiled paint scraper gently tapped with a hammer to insert it in sections beneath the lip where the silicon attached to the baffle. Took about 5 mins. I found out a previous owner had soldered the series wiring to the same terminal to take the driver (which is dead) out of the circuit but without having put a resister in place. I’m still considering next steps…
@joe_tex , unless you have versions of Rectilinear III Highboys that are drastically different from any that I've seen (I do own a pair) the front baffle is removeable and just held in with a bunch of screws. You do NOT have to take the back off. You'll have to pull the grilles but that's no big deal. They're actually very conveniently put together for maintenance and much better than most. Probably the biggest problem is coming up with a large enough clean, flat surface to CAREFULLY plop the baffle face down on. You might want to screw in a few spacers to keep the front of the drivers elevated so they don't get poked or sucked out when moving. Mine had spade lug terminal strips that let me easily disconnect the baffle board from the cab. Take the time to clean these terminals and mating connectors and give them the DeOxit bath they so richly deserve!
Martin, this is sage advice. In your experience were all the drivers connected by lugs? The one driver (super tweeter) I have removed from the baffle so far was blown, and had both positive and negative wires had been soldered to one super tweeter terminal. What made me nervous of removing the whole baffle is that the wiring was really tight with very little slack so I was worried about how practical actually removing the baffle from the cabs would be without desoldering all the tweets and the mid range. My units have the CTS alnico woofers and Philips ferrite mid *without* the whizzer cone inset (seems like there were a lot of variations of this bad boy). The tweets and supers are also alnico, like the woofer, judging by their big heavy U shaped assembly at the back
Here's a pic of what I found in mine:
This has the Phillips w/ whizzer Mid and the CTS Woof with accordion pleated cloth surround (just like the Jensen). Just 6 wires that I carefully ID'd with labels on wires and Magic Marker notes on the baffle. In spite of what appears on the surface to be a potential nightmare with silicone adhesive and myriad drivers it turns out to be a pretty practical approach.
Get To It!
This has the Phillips w/ whizzer Mid and the CTS Woof with accordion pleated cloth surround (just like the Jensen). Just 6 wires that I carefully ID'd with labels on wires and Magic Marker notes on the baffle. In spite of what appears on the surface to be a potential nightmare with silicone adhesive and myriad drivers it turns out to be a pretty practical approach.
Get To It!
Great thanks that’s helpful Martin
Yes, the front baffle has 18 screws that hold it in place. Here are some photos of the replacement speakers and my Highboys. I have 2 different versions. Notice the size of the port and the position of the woofer relative to the front baffle.
Attachments
Wow I bet stacking a pair of these bad boys generates some stonking bass and wall of sound more generally. The low boys I have have the larger port too. Mine has the CTS alnico magnet assembly. I’ve seen some claim the Jensen units are more desirable but I’m not sure why a Jensen ferrite unit would automatically be better than a CTS alnico one…