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Studio Lab Speakers

madtech

madtech

Well-Known Member
Bought these for $20 to keep them out of the landfill. Studio Lab happens to be Canada's oldest speaker company but I think they're only selling parts now. Heavy magnet on the 10" woofer and a Philips tweeter so I took the plunge and bought a pair of foams from Simply Speakers. Replaced the 7uf electrolytic caps and performed the re-foam. Surprisingly good sound so I decided to keep going and finish up the cabs. Replaced the binding posts, painted the backs and hit the cabs with 150 grit to take off whatever they had the veneer protected with. Final step was the Howards restore-a-finish (Dark Walnut). They turned out damn good for what I started with and sound good enough to keep (maybe). No idea of the model number but I'm guessing they were made in the mid to late 80's. Hard to find any info on the web for their earlier speakers.















 
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My recipe for speaker repair always includes music playing through the deck doors and a few cold Heinekens (or reasonable facsimiles) to fuel the repair process.......
 
Nothing more fulfilling than restoring a well seasoned speaker. I think I have restored 10 pair, and it still is fun. Waiting for the next project...
 
Thanks guys. It certainly is satisfying to rescue something from the trash and bring it back to life. The tweeters are Philips AD 0162 T15 and according to the Philips spec sheets (1970 -1980) are made of polycarbonate. I've also found a link online that mentions this tweeter in other Studio Lab products in the late 70's, when they were known for their "rock" speakers so my guess of mid 80's was probably off.

The white rings were mostly removed with the 150 grit sand paper. When I hit the tops with the Howard's restore a finish, the remnants of them disappeared.

Bass is impressive for a relatively small cabinet (Polk Monitor 7 ish) mids are fine for male vocals but a bit harsh for female and the highs are definitely just average. I'm thinking good garage speakers for sure.
 
Decided to undo my laziness and finish the bottoms of these walnut cabs. They were pretty beat but some 150 grit sandpaper and the Howard's did a great job.
A few scratches left on the one on the right but they were pretty deep to start with.




 
That's some good Karma saving those speakers from a smelly grave. And you did a beautiful job of restoring them. Respect.

Cheers,
James
 
He sure did do a great job saving these, and I will soon be the proud new owner of them :) Refoamed, recapped, and refinished! what more can you ask for, and sound really good .. to me anyway!
Only downside is trying to find info on them, absolutely nothing on these!
 
I currently have these set up in my sons room with a Hitachi SR-804 receiver and Yamaha YP-700 TT. Sounds really good!:)
 

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