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WHERE TO GET ADVENT GRILL CLOTH.....

boatdrinks77

boatdrinks77

Well-Known Member
Hi guys, picked up a really beat up pair of Original large Advents at the thrift store -- No grills and cabinets pretty hacked. I had to buy them because the woofers looked refoamed (nice job too) . They were $15. How could I walk away. lol

My intentions were to pull the drivers out and throw away the cabinets.

Fast forward 6 months later my brother who is a woodworker saw them in my garage and said "want me to refinish those for you ? I showed him one side that looked like it had been dragged up some concrete stairs (I WISH I had taken before pics of these speakers) and after taking a closer look he said what the Hell, I cant hurt 'em anymore....

LATER THE SAME DAY he brought me back NEW LOOKING speakers. I was blown away. He said he was surprised how thick the veneer was on these old things. He re-oiled them and said he would lacquer them next time he was gonna spray lacquer.

He took a couple pics when he was sanding them ........ I wish I had a pic of the sanded one in its "before" condition - It truly looked beyond repair......








Here is a pic I took when I got them back.....




Anyway, I acquired some grills that needs new cloth. Anyone know the best place to find ORIGINAL LOOKING ADVENT grill cloth ? Thanks in advance guys, and if you have a beat up looking pair of Advents with real wood veneer cabinets, sand 'em down and re-oil them. They CAN look new again ! Dan :music:
 
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Nice job. I have not been able to find anything very close to the original Advent fabric. I had two pairs of these same Advents as yours for over 40 years. My son now has one pair and I sold the other pair last summer. Fortunately, I never had to re-cover the grilles because I took good care of them.

A couple of years ago, I picked up some Boston Acoustic A150 speakers with beige grills that were close to the Advent fabric. They were worn through at the corners, but the rest of the grills were fine. I re-covered the speakers with a burlap fabric from Hobby Lobby. They have the same burlap at JoAnn's also, but it cost more there. The burlap was close, but not a perfect match. I think they look good and my wife agreed. The Bostons are in my living room.

I kept the stock fabric pieces from the Bostons, because they are large enough to cover a pair of Advents. PM me if interested. The Advents also used a very light black fabric under the beige. If you painted the frames black, maybe you wouldn't need the black fabric. The black fabric is available just about anywhere.

In the photos, the first one is the stock BA grille with the worn thru corners, the second is the new burlap I mentioned, but the color is off. The third image shows the actual color of the burlap better than the second photo.
 

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Dorr Mill foundation cloth.
It's the closest thing I have found to the original cloth used on the Smaller Advent loudspeaker and I can't imagine Henry Kloss would of had 2 separate grill cloths for the only 2 speaker models he produced at the time. So I would believe the same material was used for both the Smaller and Larger Advents.
Try here and look for "Primitive linen 60inch"
https://dorrmillstore.com/index.php/site/products/category/foundation_cloth/17
No affiliation.
 
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I believe that there is someone on the big auction site that sells grille cloth that is pretty close. vintageAR I believe is the user ID to look for.......
 
classic carl said:
Have you bought any of this fabric? It looks just like the fabric I bought, but at 4 times the price.
Click to expand...

Yes I have. Unlike some here I try to refrain from posting subjective opinion. I spent the better part of couple years and a couple shopping bags full of samples before I found this. It is as close to original as I could find in both weave texture and color. I've actually placed the material next to the original material to compare and it is so close the only difference I could see would be a dye lot difference. I did a restoration of a very special pair of Smaller Advents and the goal was to keep them as original as possible, the caps in the crossover had to be replaced with better however. I even used black sheer material as backing cloth and 1/8" depth staples just like the original was done. Just offering up my experience here. If the OP was looking for some inexpensive, looks almost like, grill cloth I wouldn't have wasted the time to post. However, the OP said they were looking for "Advent grill cloth". I can tell you from experience burlap does not match the original Advent material, got a bunch of it from JoAnn fabric and it doesn't match. Neither does grill cloth used on the Acoustic Research (AR) line of loudspeakers or vintage replica radio grill cloth.

Yep, I'm anal retentive and details matter to me.
 
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a_retent said:
Yes I have. Unlike some here I try to refrain from posting subjective opinion. I spent the better part of couple years and a couple shopping bags full of samples before I found this. It is as close to original as I could find in both weave texture and color. I've actually placed the material next to the original material to compare and it is so close the only difference I could see would be a dye lot difference. I did a restoration of a very special pair of Smaller Advents and the goal was to keep them as original as possible, the caps in the crossover had to be replaced with better however. I even used black sheer material as backing cloth and 1/8" depth staples just like the original was done. Just offering up my experience here. If the OP was looking for some inexpensive, looks almost like, grill cloth I wouldn't have wasted the time to post. However, the OP said they were looking for "Advent grill cloth". I can tell you from experience burlap does not match the original Advent material, got a bunch of it from JoAnn fabric and it doesn't match. Neither does grill cloth used on the Acoustic Research (AR) line of loudspeakers or vintage replica radio grill cloth.

Yep, I'm anal retentive and details matter to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. A simple yes would have sufficed. :)
It's impossible to tell from an internet photo what the fabric actually looks like, which is why I asked. Were you able to cover 2 speakers with the $30 piece? When redoing my Bostons, I found another supplier online that probably was a better match but they wanted about $60 for enough to do my speakers. I only paid $100 for them and after replicating the risers is solid oak, I wasn't about to spend that kind of coin for fabric
 
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a_retent said:
Yes I have. Unlike some here I try to refrain from posting subjective opinion. I spent the better part of couple years and a couple shopping bags full of samples before I found this. It is as close to original as I could find in both weave texture and color. I've actually placed the material next to the original material to compare and it is so close the only difference I could see would be a dye lot difference. I did a restoration of a very special pair of Smaller Advents and the goal was to keep them as original as possible, the caps in the crossover had to be replaced with better however. I even used black sheer material as backing cloth and 1/8" depth staples just like the original was done. Just offering up my experience here. If the OP was looking for some inexpensive, looks almost like, grill cloth I wouldn't have wasted the time to post. However, the OP said they were looking for "Advent grill cloth". I can tell you from experience burlap does not match the original Advent material, got a bunch of it from JoAnn fabric and it doesn't match. Neither does grill cloth used on the Acoustic Research (AR) line of loudspeakers or vintage replica radio grill cloth.

Yep, I'm anal retentive and details matter to me.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the reply. I love it that you are willing to share your vast knowledge and experience which saves me time looking for what I need. Dan :music:
 
Dan,

Can you ask your brother about his refinishing process? I have a couple of these and would love to make them look a little nicer. Curious as to what grit he may have used for the sanding and what kind of oil. Was it strictly that, too?

Thanks,
Bryan
 
Well if you haven’t figured it out on the covers I have a nice set just sitting in Tucson & with the price of shipping they can be yours once I get home in early January.
 
kydog said:
Well if you haven’t figured it out on the covers I have a nice set just sitting in Tucson & with the price of shipping they can be yours once I get home in early January.
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Do you still have these? If so - very interested!
 
I’ll check in my storage area and get back to you. I’m pretty sure they are tucked away on a shelf safe.
 
a_retent said:
Dorr Mill foundation cloth.
It's the closest thing I have found to the original cloth used on the Smaller Advent loudspeaker and I can't imagine Henry Kloss would of had 2 separate grill cloths for the only 2 speaker models he produced at the time. So I would believe the same material was used for both the Smaller and Larger Advents.
Try here and look for "Primitive linen 60inch"
https://dorrmillstore.com/index.php/site/products/category/foundation_cloth/17
No affiliation.
Click to expand...

I notice that is 12X12 TPI whereas several of us have measured 16 - 18 TPI for original Advent
cloth. Did you notice a difference?
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/2954-grill-cloth/

I discuss it here about half way down, Jan 6, 2007:
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/...advent-reverse-engineering-some-measurements/
 
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bigaltx24 said:
For extra Brownie points and an increase in WAF, I let the wife pick out the cloth, works wonders.
Click to expand...
drumbum said:
I would see this as an opportunity to find a more tasteful grill cloth than what was originally used.
Click to expand...

Hear-hear, gentlemen. A little bit of pragmatism never hurt anyone.
But then again, I've never appreciated the whole "restore to OEM" mindset - why set my sights so low as to duplicate 40+ year old manufacturing expediency? I don't have to make a profit with those poor investments in the living room - I do have to live with them, however.
 
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