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VL heaven VL Karma VL joy

Copa1934

Copa1934

My ears are bleeding
If you know, you know. What joy. I commented on a FB post and connected with a person who had a pair of Mach One's he was parting with. Got his location, roughly 2-hrs from me and made arrangements to pick up the speakers. I've been searching for these for years now. I've owned multiple pairs, those who know me, well you know. But this pair is particularly important to me. We, Mach One owners, have dealt with midrange issues for years, nay decades LOL. Eventually these buggers get burned out. There is no direct replacement, and used spares are drying up, plus used spares can be "working" but even that is questionable, and they may be on their last leg. I've since designed a adapter that permits using a readily available midrange compression driver. This is not only a massive upgrade, it permits keeping that "Mach One" look. Win win! I'll start a new post for that journey so that I may detail what I've done. I already have the adapter I just needed a pair of speakers to do a "fit check". The dimensions of the adapter were designed with "fit" in mind, which also had to include the dimensions of the replacement driver. Oh, one very important detail. VL had concluded that 600hz was the ideal cutover between the woofer and mid. This was another damning issue with the original design as the mid could not deliver (safely or effectively) down to 600hz. The aftermarket drivers can do this easily! Again, win win!

I'm sure you noticed another pair atop the Mach One's. Those who know, know. Yes those are indeed Optimus 5b's. YES! These are the same as the Nova 8b which VL did an extensive upgrade on, so these too will be restored and upgraded.

Best part? $50, for the whole lot! Whoohoo!

Nice to be back. Been a long time.
 

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Copa1934 said:
If you know, you know. What joy. I commented on a FB post and connected with a person who had a pair of Mach One's he was parting with. Got his location, roughly 2-hrs from me and made arrangements to pick up the speakers. I've been searching for these for years now. I've owned multiple pairs, those who know me, well you know. But this pair is particularly important to me. We, Mach One owners, have dealt with midrange issues for years, nay decades LOL. Eventually these buggers get burned out. There is no direct replacement, and used spares are drying up, plus used spares can be "working" but even that is questionable, and they may be on their last leg. I've since designed a adapter that permits using a readily available midrange compression driver. This is not only a massive upgrade, it permits keeping that "Mach One" look. Win win! I'll start a new post for that journey so that I may detail what I've done. I already have the adapter I just needed a pair of speakers to do a "fit check". The dimensions of the adapter were designed with "fit" in mind, which also had to include the dimensions of the replacement driver. Oh, one very important detail. VL had concluded that 600hz was the ideal cutover between the woofer and mid. This was another damning issue with the original design as the mid could not deliver (safely or effectively) down to 600hz. The aftermarket drivers can do this easily! Again, win win!

I'm sure you noticed another pair atop the Mach One's. Those who know, know. Yes those are indeed Optimus 5b's. YES! These are the same as the Nova 8b which VL did an extensive upgrade on, so these too will be restored and upgraded.

Best part? $50, for the whole lot! Whoohoo!

Nice to be back. Been a long time.
Click to expand...

That was a great find. Please do share your horn replacement and adapter design when you have a chance. I just grabbed my first pair of 4024 Mach Ones, but have had 4029s for a while. I know these are divisive speakers, but I really like them, especially after the VL mods.
 
Wowser, I've been trying to duplicate the "Genuine Walnut Veneer" sticker, was working on it just weeks ago. LOL. I can't get it correct due to being color blind. Would love a copy if you don't mind.

I've got a project tying me up at the moment, but plan to start a new thread for just the Mach One's, and definitely detailing the horn adapter. Thanks!
 
I'm surprised that, as far as I know, there's been no talk of an econowave upgrade, seems like a natural.
 
There's a fairly short sectoral horn on ebay that takes a standard CD driver, I wonder
if it is bolt in. @EarlK has tested it and IIRC modified it for better performance.

Nice find, I'd really like to hear a pair with the VL mod.
 
Pete B said:
There's a fairly short sectoral horn on ebay that takes a standard CD driver, I wonder
if it is bolt in. @EarlK has tested it and IIRC modified it for better performance.
Click to expand...
@Pete B

Wasn't I, Pete.

I don't have any small sectoral horns here, ( just a 24" wide studio horn that has 3 vanes in the throat >though not exactly what I believe is the classic sectoral layout with the vanes at the front of the bell ).

:)
 
Right, I searched and what I was thinking of was the plastic Bi-Radial ( from ZXPC ) that I said looks from
the front like an 811B with the vanes removed - forgot that part. And you commented that it wasn't
a very good horn. I'll check the dimensions when I have a minute to see if it will fit.

The standard 6X12 JBL really makes the most sense here if it will fit.
 
Edit: This is a larger one from the same brand, not the one discussed here, my mistake:
Here are @EarlK measurements, but his conclusion is not worth the effort to modify them:
E

Post in thread 'Altec Model 19 Technical Info? Similar Econowave?'

Pete B said:
I've been interested to find a low cost version of the 811b and there's a horn in ABS plastic that looks from the
front like an 811b (with the vanes removed), sold on ebay. Search for 17 x 6" ABS Plastic Bi-radial horn. Looking
at pics of the back side one sees that it is only about half the depth, the sides are strongly curved whereas the
811b is straight conical in shape. I'd PASS on these. They might be fine if the taper is what you need but NOT
as a copy of the 811b, sold by ZXPC, #333338419879.

Still keeping an eye out for a low cost copy.
Click to expand...

I bought a pair of those...
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