Weekend Goodies - Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble

[David_NC]

I picked up a couple pair of Ensembles yesterday - two originals with twin woofers and two series II's with combined woofers. All the satellites need foam, and I think I've found the ones I need. I don't want kits for $25 per pair for all these; I've got bottles of glue from previous refoams. www.speakerworks.com has the proper foam for these drives without buying a kit, according to their site. I'm not familiar with them... have others used them?
The twin woofers have some loose laminate panels, as is expected, but that's an easy fix. The woofers in them seem fine, oddly enough, but one of the woofers in the dual box needs refoamed.
I know CSW used that Nextel finish on these, which looked really good when new... not so much after 30 years. I'll remove it and get them ready to refinish, but I'm curious as to what these were made of. I assume it's MDF. Is there something similar to the 'soft' Nextel finish that's available currently, or is it better to just paint them? I have a pair of these from back in '89, and I still use them with a third for the fronts in a 5.1 setup. I haven't used that system in a while, but I assume the foam is still good in those. These are one of my favorite really small speakers - ADS L300's are my fave not-so-small speakers.
The seller also gave me a Harman Kardon AVR-144 receiver. It's old, has no HDMI, looks nice, and is great condition. Oddly, this model has only 30 watts to each of its 5 channels. I've never seen a 5.1 receiver with such low power, and, sadly, there are no preamp outputs - a huge oversight on HK's part, to me. Sad, as this unit does seem to sound decent as a 2-channel unit. I think it'll be going on Craigslist.

 

[David_NC]

After reading up on removing the Nextel, I thought I'd give it a hand. The finish on these isn't sticky like I've seen it before, though it does not look good. It appears that it was sticky and then dried out, if that's possible. At any rate, I use denatured alcohol and went to work on a cabinet. It comes off really easily, though only the clean surface of the paper towel or whatever will remove it, so I go though a lot of paper. I found that toilet paper works just as well and is certainly less wasteful... especially since somebody bought a bunch that feels like tissue packing paper! After doing some reading, it appears that Rustoleum truck bed liner makes a good finish for these, so I'll go with that. I'm missing a couple of the smaller pieces of laminate on the woofers, so I'll either paint the exposed wood or use the bed liner on them. If the liner looks good enough, I may just help the rest of the laminate come off and use it on the entire enclosures.

Here are some pics of a cabinet like I got them, the drivers, and the cabinet after cleaning off the Nextel.

 

[swechsler]

Hmm, I have a set of the original Ensembles I got many years ago at a yard sale, and while I haven't done much with them lately, after the Nextel started wearing off, it looked to me as if the satellite cabinets were made with some sort of composite. The color is certainly not what you'd normally see with MDF, and in fact when the Nextel wore off on mine (only in spots) it appeared almost white. But the baffles, at least on yours, are obviously MDF as you can see by the screw holes.

 

[David_NC]

Hmm, I have a set of the original Ensembles I got many years ago at a yard sale, and while I haven't done much with them lately, after the Nextel started wearing off, it looked to me as if the satellite cabinets were made with some sort of composite. The color is certainly not what you'd normally see with MDF, and in fact when the Nextel wore off on mine (only in spots) it appeared almost white. But the baffles, at least on yours, are obviously MDF as you can see by the screw holes.

After examining them post-Nextel removal, they appear to be MDF that's had grey primer applied. Are yours sticky, or has the Nextel mostly just dried up? It's easy enough to remove; I guess it took maybe 45 minutes, including pulling drivers, getting cleaning materials together, etc. The remaining ones will go even quicker, I'm sure.

 

[swechsler]

They're in storage right now, but I think it's just dried up IIRC. I've had Nextel on other speakers (like a pair of Dahquists) where it got really nasty.

 

[David_NC]

They're in storage right now, but I think it's just dried up IIRC. I've had Nextel on other speakers (like a pair of Dahquists) where it got really nasty.

Luckily, my Dahlquist DQM-9's have a 'wood' veneer (aka Formica) on them. I can't say they look better than the ones in Nextel when new, but I bet they do this long after the fact! Still, I do have to use contact cement every so often when a piece of laminate pops off. They do sound really good, though.

 

[David_NC]

I'm curious about the crossovers in these. Have others replaced any caps in them and noticed an improvement? I'm tempted to not worry about them, but on the other hand, I have them apart...

 

[klamsoss]

I would say that it is worth replacing the caps in them. You already have them apart, and it is an easy, and inexpensive job if you own a soldering iron. Datyon Audio/Parts Express has quality capacitors for reasonable prices. I also have generally been able to get the values I need, which can be tricky at times. I go with their poly film caps, generally. BTW, I'm not affiliated with DA/PE, but am a happy customer, both online and in-person. Their customer service is excellent in my experience.
I'm not sure you will improve over the original sound, but you may. What you WILL do is set these great little speakers up for another 30+ years of trouble-free service.

I love these CSW ensemble setups. My dad got a set of these back in about 1990 and they provided the soundtrack to much of my middle- and high-school years. Glad to see someone bringing them back to their former glory!

 

[BDylanThomas]

About a year ago I bought a pair of the CSW original ensembles for $20. The cabs were in mediocre condition, and I tried touching them up with my normal black crayons, sharpies, and furniture touch up sticks. After many attempts, they looked awful. So covered up the metal screens and spray painted them with $1 black flat from Lowes. They are now my primary front speakers in a four-speaker, nearfield surround CPU arrangement. To me they are superior to the minimus-7 by quite a bit.

 

[David_NC]

I just checked my Ensemble sats here in NC, and two of the three have completely missing surrounds, and all three are a slight bit sticky. Looks like I'll be stripping, painting, and re-foaming them too!