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TimeFrame 2000's Unlikely 2500 Mile Journey from CA to GA

-reverb-

-reverb-

Buying, selling... mainly buying
Ah, the almost mythical DCM TimeFrame 2000. Always heard about it - never actually laid eyes on one.

Rumors abound about them; limited run prototypes, testing the waters to see if they would sell, less than 250 pairs produced, and on and on. Whatever the truth may be, one thing is fact; they were the brain-child of DCM genius Steve Eberbach and I knew one thing for sure - I wanted a pair!

But so rare... never even seen TimeFrame 1000's for sale on eBay - much less 2000's! Odds are I would never land this fish. Then I thought, I did manage to score a pair of TimeWindow^2 - they must be equally as rare!

Maybe, just maybe there is hope.

Rewind to spring of last year. Our own AK member Royzilla posted TF2000's for sale in BT. His asking price was fair I thought but Roy is in San Francisco and I am 2500 miles away in middle Georgia. Curse you, geography! Can I even get them shipped FedEx or UPS??? They are awfully big. Turns out, "yes" FedEx will ship them.... at a price of $378 EACH! OK, that's not going to happen :(

Months go by and for some reason, no one wants to take on the task of getting these from Roy and giving them the love they need to bring them back. They are a bit tattered and could use some attention. They would look totally appropriate to have "SRV" letters attached to them - you know what I'm saying.

Roy really needs these gone so he starts whittling the price. Down and down it goes until they become free with a couple of reasonable stipulations - don't flip them, don't part them out, when you sell, give a little of the profit to AK. As it turns out, Roy and I are kindred spirits in these respects.

Free? FREE! I gotta figure SOMETHING out here.

Roy does not want to ship (given the size, who would) but jeeze FREE! I get on uShip and test the waters of having something that size, shipped that distance. Looks doable. Not cheap, but doable.

Now..... This is the moment that the planets aligned, the sun came out and all in the world was good.

My friend and fellow AK member, Dr Biggles, agreed to drive across the Bay, go into San Francisco, pickup the 2000's from Roy, take them back to his house, pack them for shipping (no small feat) and make sure they got on the uShip truck!

Just Damn!

In hind-sight, it was WAY to much of an imposition. I would never again ask someone to do something that took up so much of their time and efforts.... oh yeah, did I mention that he would not take a DIME for any of it!

"Just cover the packing materials and the uShip bill, Pally. I'll handle the rest" was what he told me. And handle it he did.

The journey starts in the City By The Bay and will end with a total Restoration in Middle Georgia. Stay Tuned!

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Reverb, I was watching that thread in BT in total SHOCK!

SOOOOOO Glad they are going to someone who will bring them back to tier GLORY!! Not even envious just HAPPY FOR YOU!!!

KUDO'S TO DOC!! Where would this forum be without his AWESOME BUILD THREADS!? He is knee deep in a xxover expedition currently I believe?

Pumped to watch the step by step of the refurb!!

Another GR8 example of AK KARMA!!:):)
 
For those of you who need to ship something bulky, I do recommend uShip. I have used them twice now and have had nothing but success. A bit north of 300 bones got them from Sunny CA to GA. Here are the pictures to prove it.

These are the TimeFrame 2000's sitting in middle Georgia - exactly as they looked in Cali. Of course, you could have drug them behind a semi all they way and they would have looked the same. Biggles packing is bomb-proof!

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Yeah, one's a little more Nude than when it left Cali... that sorta thing happens a lot in Middle GA :rolleyes:

Did I mention they are large? Quite large in fact. I would go as far as to call them Damn-Large!

Once I extracted them from their coffin's, I tested of course. The first one tested...crackly, sporadic noise, BAD. The 2nd one - nada, nothing, zilch, I take a look at the binding posts. Hum, these are prototype speakers that are supposed to "Wow!" people and persuade them to purchase other items in your product line, right? Why on earth would you use the cheapest, crappiest binding post money (not much, I would suspect) could buy?

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Replaced both sets with these I had laying around

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Problem Solved. They SING!

:beerchug::beerchug::beerchug: :banana::banana::banana: WOW! Sonic Nirvana! These things sound great

Even with my limited placement choices in a small garage, the sound-stage is phenomenal. Deep, tight bass, smooth mids and crystal highs - and I haven't even TOUCHED the crossover yet!

Are there issues? Sure. The sides are a bit crusty in some areas. The headliner material has decomposed and needs replacing. As mentioned, the crossovers need to be rebuilt, but the bones are there. Solid cabs, transmission line, all drivers firing. Winner, Winner - Chicken Dinner!

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It's gonna be a fun ride. I hope you can all find the time to follow along.
 
Guy and Roy hooked you up!!!

I know they both wanted to get these in the right hands and know how Karma works. Hats off to these two fine members.
 
Hats off indeed 4-2-7. Two fine Gentlemen is a very appropriate description.

For my part, I intend on doing those two fine Gentlemen proud that they placed these in my care.
 
Awesome awesome - What a great deal, what a great story - what a great find - kudos to you, sir!
I gotta tell you, I owned a number of pairs of the various model Timeframes and most ALL of them came with unbelievably crappy banana jacks!
Worse than the twist lock connectors on many JBLs - such a crime - but you have a superb starting point on a legendary pair!

TF 2000s - woah!
 
Thanks Heather. I have leaned on your TimeFrame threads through much of my DCM journey. Your information has been invaluable to me!

In a way I feel like the caretaker of these and I have a responsibility to bring them back to what they once were. And I do enjoy the rebuild! It's almost like therapy to me.
 
Wow, just...wow! Being a Timeframe TF-1000 owner, I also watched that thread in complete disbelief that no one in that area took him up on those speakers.

I too checked with uship and didn't make economic sense. Very glad these found their way to someone, and very cool of the help you got. It's what makes AK great.
 
Hey man!

And this is exactly what I was looking forward to the entire time I was wrapping them up. Yeah! HIGH NINETEEN !!! Very nice write-up Reverb, thank you.

I realize it must sound crazy, but I enjoyed the adventure. If they'd been anything less, I wouldn't have offered. It was cold here, it was rainy and this was a perfect audio fun time project for indoors.

If I remember correctly, Roy has some issues with his back. So, I picked these suckers up myself and meandered out of the garage, out to my truck by myself. They were heavy, but not awkward. When I got them home I jacked them into my system, I too noticed the janky binding posts. I got the same result as Reverb did. He was a little saddened, but we carried on. I was about to get into them, see what the matter was. But I knew if I got into them, I was going to get INTO them. And I didn't want to do that, I've got enough audio projects of my own. I also figured that if I got them to work, they may not make it onto the truck for delivery. I didn't want to be that person.

Again, reading about the project here on AK, written by Reverb is what I've been dreaming about the entire time. Crack on Reverb, time to get to gettin'.

Biggles
 
Donkey Karma said:
SOOOOOO Glad they are going to someone who will bring them back to tier GLORY!! Not even envious just HAPPY FOR YOU!!!

KUDO'S TO DOC!! Where would this forum be without his AWESOME BUILD THREADS!? He is knee deep in a xxover expedition currently I believe?
Click to expand...

Hey DK. This place is awesome, huh?

Biggles knocked it out of the park for me. I could just never thank the guy enough. And yeah, his threads are some of the best "How To's" out there.
 
It is so awesome to see folks helping out other folks.
This thread has me standing and at attention with a full salute to you drB and to you Roy.
Top Notch!
 
drbiggles said:
And this is exactly what I was looking forward to the entire time I was wrapping them up. Yeah! HIGH NINETEEN !!! Very nice write-up Reverb, thank you.
Click to expand...

Hey Mang.

You are not just some guy, you are THE Guy - and a Prince ;)

I hate that when I was out your way last April I didn't get a chance to share a beer with you. Nothing like food poising to toss a Monkey-Wrench in your plans! I should have just manned-up and got on BART anyways.

Without a doubt, if I am ever out that way again, a big, honkin' steak dinner is on me!

Always grateful for getting these to me - and more importantly, to call you a friend.

Jay
 
Tcomisky said:
Wow, just...wow! Being a Timeframe TF-1000 owner, I also watched that thread in complete disbelief that no one in that area took him up on those speakers.

I too checked with uship and didn't make economic sense. Very glad these found their way to someone, and very cool of the help you got. It's what makes AK great.
Click to expand...

I hate to admit it Tcomisky but the side of my brain that handles "Economic Sense" was Pimp-Slapped by the side of my brain that said "You have that much in PayPal - GET THEM!"

The folks that made it happen; Biggles and Royzilla... well, what can I say, the best representation of the AK spirit I can think of.

Bucky Badger said:
It is so awesome to see folks helping out other folks.
This thread has me standing and at attention with a full salute to you drB and to you Roy.
Top Notch!
Click to expand...

I agree Bucky. Top-Notch indeed.
 
-reverb- said:
Hey Mang.

You are not just some guy, you are THE Guy - and a Prince ;)

I hate that when I was out your way last April I didn't get a chance to share a beer with you. Nothing like food poising to toss a Monkey-Wrench in your plans! I should have just manned-up and got on BART anyways.

Without a doubt, if I am ever out that way again, a big, honkin' steak dinner is on me!

Always grateful for getting these to me - and more importantly, to call you a friend.

Jay
Click to expand...

Right back at ya man! We'll meet up at The House of Prime Rib in SF next time, count on it.

Biggles
 
What an awesome story! This is what makes AK great. Can't wait to see those rare TF-2000s restored to original condition. Once you get them up and running, please share your impressions of how these compare to some of the smaller (but still large) TFs like the 600s and 700s. Cheers to all involved from another proud member of the DCM cult!
 
May the Force be with you all ... Great story. I had a chance at some TF-1000's in Hilton Head Is. a couple of years back and didn't bite. I already had the TF-600's and Timewindows (and now some TF-250's) and couldn't quite justify them. I've been curious ever since.

I'll be watchin'!
 
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