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Which W70?

There used to be websites that had sections for vintage pio caps. Great selection, great prices. Do a seach for buy vintage paper in oil capacitors on Google. But that was back in 2012, not sure whats out there now. I did A/B comparisons with new poly and vintage pio. I chose new poly. The super 3 is already limited in its response, making it dull/muted didnt work for me. With the poly caps, i was able to get some sparkle, some air.

Biggles
 
So after a thorough examination of the speakers this morning I removed all the screws and the back panel won't budge, then to my surprise I notice that the PO has pin nailed the back panel in the corners for some crazy reason. Not sure how to go about getting the back off without buggering the back panel, my only thought is to use a couple over sized screws and thread in the panel and then either carefully lever or hammer it out. I am pretty sure that even though the speakers look and sound great a recap is in order, the switch in either position doesn't seem to change the sound. Usually switched the highs will be brighter, it seems to be soft in bot positions. Biggles, what brand of poly caps did you use? It looks like the pics that Drugolf posted yesterday shows only two caps.
 
Head to your local hardware store and ask to see their nail pullers. Itll bugger things a little, but not too bad. Be wary, hopefully the nails didnt pierce the sand filled back. The fact that youre changing the caps makes the most difference. After that, its just flavor. I use Dayton 5% whenever possible. I had only 1 cap for mine. You wont know until you get in there.

Biggles
 
No this is a pneumatic nailed brad, no head to speak of. Should be able to lever the panel out with brads in place, don't want to destroy anything. The nails are so small you can barely see the holes in the panel, should pull right through. Who in their right mind would nail the back when the screws hold perfectly. Shouldn't have pierced sand filled section.
 
If someone used a brad nailer they may well have added some glue also. Try using the rubber handle end of a hammer or like tool thru the port tube to put pressure on, or tap the back panel loose.
 
RMS 330 said:
If someone used a brad nailer they may well have added some glue also. Try using the rubber handle end of a hammer or like tool thru the port tube to put pressure on, or tap the back panel loose.
Click to expand...

No port tube on this set. Will have to try what I explained in earlier post.
 
Well I took the screws out of the other enclosure and sure enough the back came right out. It has the same little holes that look like it was pneumatic nailed. So I didn't notice any fastener penetrating through the other side so I think it is possibly something from when it was manufactured. Does anyone else notice any tiny little fastener marks on the back of their enclosures? The first enclosure I tried must have a swelled back, so should be able to work it out. Everything looks fine inside all stock. Has a date written on the drivers of 1/66. The woofer is a ferrite magnet with paper cone and cloth surround, the mid is an alnico magnet with paper cone and rubber surround and the tweeter is ???, not sure how to get at it. Do you remove the box over it? So it's wired the same as the first pic Drugolf posted with the two caps. Anyone know the best way to remove those? I assume you have to drill out the rivet on the clamp to release it, can't identify with clamps on. How did you mount the new ones? I'm sure these clamps are just about worthless unless you find something the same size. Well I feel better now knowing I was mistaken about the brad fasteners. So this model has no port so assume it is considered an acoustic suspension speaker. The damping material is not great. You would think that the whole back would be covered even the crossover. Why did they do away with the port on this model, seems to me there would be a benefit having one.
 
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As I understand it, Wharfedale had a fire in the 1980's and all documentation on their older speakers went up in the flames. I've been scrubbing the web for any info for days to no avail. There's just nothing out there to tell you what the configuration was supposed to be for model and serial number. When I'm done with this restoration, I plan on posting the crossover schematics and anything else I can find to add to the knowledge base.
 
KB,
Here are a few older photos of my W70s which also have the compensator switch and mystery “W”. I originally assumed that the cabinets were home-brew, as I had never seen seen that style before; however, I have seen (internet) others since. I am not sure of the driver dates, but the bottoms of the cabinets were marked January 1966 in pencil. Hope these are helpful.
DCDCA060-F55B-46CC-9A05-3A303C0CC495.jpeg 3E8085BE-DE6A-44E4-95B6-7510311BA92B.jpeg C62B93D5-BE4E-4E63-9ACE-6C7F573F3171.jpeg 4952C335-491F-4347-8803-D882A1916BBD.jpeg
 
I've got a very early set of W70's that are badly needing veneer work. From the front mine look like the OP's, but I believe I've got the pot on the back and only one cap (maybe 4uF?). I'll pull them out of my stack in the storage room and take some pics this weekend to post for the record.

Oh yeah, I remember mine being ported, so they are early models. I also remember ceramic magnets, so they aren't the earliest.... I'll be able to confirm these details when I get them out for pics.
 
So JFMG's speaks/crossover look the same as mine, enclosure and tweeter enclosure are different. Mine looks exactly like the first pics Drugolf posted. So I want to get a look at the tweet but not sure if you remove the enclosure from the inside or not. So I see now that the serial # on the plate is W70****. So reading a post yesterday, someone said that the A & B version W70's were ported. So would that make my style a C version?
 
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jmfg said:
KB,
Here are a few older photos of my W70s which also have the compensator switch and mystery “W”. I originally assumed that the cabinets were home-brew, as I had never seen seen that style before; however, I have seen (internet) others since. I am not sure of the driver dates, but the bottoms of the cabinets were marked January 1966 in [/QUOTE

I made a solid 4 hour round trip for an empty pair of those. I love the primitive styling. Gang-Twanger said they were a Utility Cabinet. Loaded them with all alnico drivers, dialed in like a @##$%. Sold them to an ak member, ill bet he still has them.

Biggles
Click to expand...
 
My reply is on the above comment. I repeatedly tried to remove /quote tag at the very end, no dice.
 
Used to be, when you hit reply, the original post was up top, in a box. Reply was underneath in the font and background youre seeing now. There wasn't ever a need to change anything ever to make it legible. Ill read up on the necessary tags and do it myself.

To keep things wharfedale, i still have my 1959 Super 12s!

Biggles
 
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