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Suggestions for Lambswool Linen Replacement

1980s Teen

1980s Teen

New Member
Hello all,

Been lurking and reading threads on this site for many months - it has been a great help to me while restoring my stacked Advents (NLA), and a set of Acoustic Research AR4x's. Very happy with how all those turned out. I recently got ahold of a pair of AR2x's that need attention. These are the two-ways that look like a bigger AR4x but have the 2.5 inch tweeter behind the screen that looks like the one in the AR2xa. I'll put new caps in them after I open them up (assuming it's the 6.0 cap, but I'm not ordering new ones until I confirm that). The grill frames have been broken by the previous owner when they removed them. (Stapled and glued!) So I'll have to make new grill frames for them.

I now have a question on the grill fabric that I'm hoping to get suggestions from the restoration experts. For my AR4x's I bought some material that I found on eBay that is supposed to be identical to the real thing - at least that's what it looks like in the pictures when the new and "aged" fabrics are compared side-by-side. That worked OK for me (I think it looks pretty good anyway), but many posts on here say you need to get the 18-count Wichelt Linen in Lambswool, which is identical to the original. Well, it looks like that has been discontinued. It appears 16-count may be the lowest that you can get that fabric in now. Is that sufficient? It's very pricey. Has anyone found anything better? Or, should I just stick with the fabric on eBay so that the two speakers match? I'll probably be displaying and playing the two sets side-by-side in my music room.

Thanks!
 
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Spandex, Lycra.

Comes an many colors, Durable, Very stretchy, Acoustically transparent.

Found at any fabric store.
 
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Thanks Buck. I'll have to remember that in the event I need to add some more stuffing material to the boxes. I was referring to the grill fabric for my AR's, though. Any suggestions for that?
 
Grills come up for sale occasionally, but that was the best modern option. Midwest speaker has some nice stuff, I've been thinking of redoing a pair.
 
loudnoises said:
Grills come up for sale occasionally, but that was the best modern option. Midwest speaker has some nice stuff, I've been thinking of redoing a pair.
Click to expand...
Thanks - just looked at the site - that stuff looks nice. $25 or $45 depending upon the size. Yowch!
 
1980s Teen said:
Thank you - that seems to be the leading option at this point...although pricey.
Click to expand...
Ya, it is more expensive for sure. I couldn't find this one sight that had so many choises. Even burnt orange and blue for those JBL speakers.
It could just be the browser I use? I use duck duck go.
Maybe someone will know the site and chime in.
 
Also, does anyone know why the grill opening for the tweeter is so huge? Seems like an enormously big opening for a 2 1/2" tweeter...is it something to do with dispersion?

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Do you have a TPI that you're looking for?
I actually bought some of this to redo a pair that got stained, still haven't gotten around to do it, now I have to
see if I can find it. My comments on CSP are that I liked the look for Advents which are very coarse:

Fabric IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs Premier Finish

Pierre Bonnard’s intimiste paintings invite us into his own private world, a magical place where color and light roam free. Though he is perhaps best celebrated for his scorching color palette that heightened reality into a kaleidoscopic dream, he also… IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs...
fabrics-store.com fabrics-store.com

Price is good. I've been so busy with so many things that I don't remember the look so well.

I have used the Irish linen from 123stitch and it is the best looking that I've seen.
 
I wrote this at CSP a few years ago and I just found the Ulster Linen Y0400NT036
and it is far too fine at about 25 TPI but I called them, see the second quote below.

Here's what I wrote in 2022 at CSP:
"Ulster Linen Y0400NT036 arrived and I count the TPI at 25 which is far too high for Advent grills.
(I think that it is too high for anything, pretty sure AR is 20-22 and Advent 16-18)
It is fairly open weave but not as good as the 18 TPI Irish Linen from 123Stitch,
or the 19 TPI (IL041 Oatmeal) from Fabric Store.com.
I did two grills many years ago with the Irish linen from 123Stitch and have them
here to compare. The other fabrics are not mounted but the Irish linen looks best
then, the 19 TPI, and lastly the 25 TPI from Ulster.
Ulster does not provide TPI for many of their fabrics so it is difficult to determine
which material is best.
One more note on the IL041 19TPI is that the threads are very fine making it a very
open weave."

And then this after calling Ulster Linen in 2022:
"I called Ulster yesterday to ask about thread count at about 5:30 PM, a lady answered and
very abruptly said what's your name I'll call you back. Gave it a 50/50 that she'd call back.
She called this morning and I asked her about thread count, she finally said that the
Y0400NT036 36" wide material was in fact closer to 25 TPI, and that
Y0400NT060 60" wide material was around 20 TPI
She also said that the 36" wide material was slightly lighter in color than the 60" wide.
So you can get 20 or 25 TPI depending on what you need, of course call to confirm that
the thread counts have not changed."

If anyone tries these please provide feedback here.
 
Pete B said:
Do you have a TPI that you're looking for?
I actually bought some of this to redo a pair that got stained, still haven't gotten around to do it, now I have to
see if I can find it. My comments on CSP are that I liked the look for Advents which are very coarse:

Fabric IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs Premier Finish

Pierre Bonnard’s intimiste paintings invite us into his own private world, a magical place where color and light roam free. Though he is perhaps best celebrated for his scorching color palette that heightened reality into a kaleidoscopic dream, he also… IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs...
fabrics-store.com fabrics-store.com

Price is good. I've been so busy with so many things that I don't remember the look so well.

I have used the Irish linen from 123stitch and it is the best looking that I've seen.
Click to expand...
Thanks Pete - that looks a lot like the fabric I got on eBay and it's a lot less! I don't have a specific TPI - I'm just looking for recommendations and I read either on here or CSP that the consensus was 18. If that Ulster linen comes in 20 that would be pretty close. I'll have a look at that.
 
Pete B said:
Do you have a TPI that you're looking for?
I actually bought some of this to redo a pair that got stained, still haven't gotten around to do it, now I have to
see if I can find it. My comments on CSP are that I liked the look for Advents which are very coarse:

Fabric IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs Premier Finish

Pierre Bonnard’s intimiste paintings invite us into his own private world, a magical place where color and light roam free. Though he is perhaps best celebrated for his scorching color palette that heightened reality into a kaleidoscopic dream, he also… IL041 Open Weave 100% Linen Fabric Mist Fs...
fabrics-store.com fabrics-store.com

Price is good. I've been so busy with so many things that I don't remember the look so well.

I have used the Irish linen from 123stitch and it is the best looking that I've seen.
Click to expand...
123 stitch only appears to have the 28-count Irish Linen from Charles Craft, but you're right that's the best I've seen. Your link to the 20-count linen looks to be the front runner for me, for looks and price. Thanks again for that link. By the way, I bought Guilford of Maine Wheat color for my stacked Advents, and I really like the look of that.
 
Lavane said:
Ya, it is more expensive for sure. I couldn't find this one sight that had so many choises. Even burnt orange and blue for those JBL speakers.
It could just be the browser I use? I use duck duck go.
Maybe someone will know the site and chime in.
Click to expand...
I just noticed that Midwest Speaker shows their fabric on an AR grill in the picture...looks pretty good
www.midwestspeakerrepair.com

GC-144 Off White Speaker Fabric | Midwest Speaker Repair

www.midwestspeakerrepair.com www.midwestspeakerrepair.com
 
1980s Teen said:
123 stitch only appears to have the 28-count Irish Linen from Charles Craft, but you're right that's the best I've seen. Your link to the 20-count linen looks to be the front runner for me, for looks and price. Thanks again for that link. By the way, I bought Guilford of Maine Wheat color for my stacked Advents, and I really like the look of that.
Click to expand...
That's NOT what I used and I wasn't able to find anything close to the Irish Linen that we
used to get from them.
 
I just looked up the Y0400NT060 and it is far too brown/tan in color for my taste. Found this and
from the picture I like the color and openness.
ulsterlinen.com

Open Weave Medium Weight Oyster Linen - Y0400OY060

This Open Weave Medium Weight Oyster Linen weighs 5.3 ounces per yard and is 60" wide. Woven with an open weave for casement fabric, sheers and drapes
ulsterlinen.com ulsterlinen.com
BUT I don't trust that it will look like the picture call and ask about the TPI, I would not go over 21,
25 is far too tight.

I've tried Charlescraft type, you can get it locally at Michaels stores and I was very sorry that I used
it. It looks like a white/tan disk towel, it just doesn't look right.

I just came across a new box of DMC (Charles Craft) 14 count 5.5pts/cm cloth and consider that it is
intended for cross stitch needle point where consistency is a plus. It doesn't look like linen, it is not
open enough and I'm not going to use it. It looks much finer than 14 ct but that might be because
the thread is thick making it look tight.
 
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Pete B said:
I just looked up the Y0400NT060 and it is far too brown/tan in color for my taste. Found this and
from the picture I like the color and openness.
ulsterlinen.com

Open Weave Medium Weight Oyster Linen - Y0400OY060

This Open Weave Medium Weight Oyster Linen weighs 5.3 ounces per yard and is 60" wide. Woven with an open weave for casement fabric, sheers and drapes
ulsterlinen.com ulsterlinen.com
BUT I don't trust that it will look like the picture call and ask about the TPI, I would not go over 21,
25 is far too tight.

I've tried Charlescraft type, you can get it locally at Michaels stores and I was very sorry that I used
it. It looks like a white/tan disk towel, it just doesn't look right.

I just came across a new box of DMC (Charles Craft) 14 count 5.5pts/cm cloth and consider that it is
intended for cross stitch needle point where consistency is a plus. It doesn't look like linen, it is not
open enough and I'm not going to use it. It looks much finer than 14 ct but that might be because
the thread is thick making it look tight.
Click to expand...
Oooh, that's very nice - thanks Pete. I really like the look of that. Maybe I'm just being too cheap and need to just ante up the $30-40 it's going to be to get something that I'll be happy with. But I also wanted to get the opinions of others that have been through this before and learn from their experiences. As long as I'm putting in the time to restore the AR's, it would most definitely be worth it in the long run.
 
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