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Worth restoring these Speakerlab Thirtys?

sbcrockett

sbcrockett

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hey guys,

I was gifted these Speakerlab Thirtys over ten years ago, along with a nice Carver Magnetic Field integrated amplifier by a coworker I knew almost 30 years. I mention that just because there's a little sentimental value here. But I must be realistic and so I'm asking you all, are these Thirtys worth throwing some money at and getting them functional again? If so, what would you ballpark repair parts would be? I pulled them out of storage today and was surprised how badly they'd deteriorated. I'll likely be doing the work myself. Not sure if you can tell in the pictures but one of the speakers looks like it's had at least one of the large woofers replaced before and possibly the small midrange (below the tweeter) as well.

Grills are usable, cabinets show some wear but for the most part in tact and wouldn't look bad in the dry basement or garage. Thanks for your opinions!

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You're probably looking at about $75 for surrounds, plus the caps should be replaced as well. But that's assuming all the drivers are correct (when you said that some drivers were replaced, did you mean with correct replacements or with generic replacements?). If they're not, you'd want to replace those as well. Speakerlab is still in business and sells a modern version of the 30 for over $4000 per pair (well, $4000 assembled, but the kits start at $3300), so I'd say it's worth putting the money into them. They can probably help you find the correct drivers if yours aren't all original, and they may also have foam repair kits or can make recommendations on what to use.

A guy in this thread says he spent about $500 in 2008 to have Speakerlab renew his 30s and it was well worth it.
 
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I've never done surrounds before. Where are you all sourcing the parts? Any tutorials you recommend watching?

I don't know if the replacement woofers were generics or the right part. I'm just guessing they were replaced because of the non-factory looking RTV used to hold them in.

For the caps, should I just dive in and get a visual and replace like for like?

That other thread talked about eliminating the damping circuitry but unless that leads to significant sound improvement, I think I'd like to leave them as original as possible.

Thanks for your responses! Oh, and I've emailed Speakerlab to about parts and the woofer replacements. Thanks for the links, Frog Whisperer!
 
Speakerlab speakers were usually sold as kits, so I wouldn't make any assumptions about how they were put together. Remove the woofers and compare them. I suspect they're all original.

For surrounds, you can contact Rick Cobb (rcobb@tampabay.rr.com) and he should be able to hook you up. For caps, yes, just replace with same µF value; voltages can be higher. Do some searching here to find some recommended types. Remember that they need to be nonpolarized.
 
Yes! When I first got the speakers I emailed him to talk about fixing them up back then. Really nice guy. I'll send him a message again.

Thanks for reminding me
 
It's claimed that the woofer T/S parameters are critical to the correct functioning of a Nestorovic woofer system. Paul Johnston, mentioned above, has apparently done enough research with these that he can restore them to the original parameters but it costs somewhere around $60-75 each woofer for his service last time I checked. My pair still sits.
Good luck with your project,
John
 
Those 30’s look like they will be real nice sounding once they are refurbed! sbcrockett, if in the US, where roughly are you located?
 
I'm in the Seattle area, probably about 15 miles from Paul at Loudspeaker so I'm lucky in that respect if I decide to go that route. I'm usually into doing things the right way so I'll probably try and have him involved. At least I can handle the cap replacements.

I'll keep you all posted!
 
swechsler said:
...If they're not, you'd want to replace those as well. Speakerlab is still in business and sells a modern version of the 30 for over $4000 per pair (well, $4000 assembled, but the kits start at $3300)...A guy in this thread says he spent about $500 in 2008 to have Speakerlab renew his 30s and it was well worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for those links. Some great info. I always lusted after Nestorovic speakers, but never saw any dealers on the east coast. But, it's nice to see a Speaker Lab variant still available. And those Super Sevens look pretty sweet. BG Radia Neo drivers too, along with a Nestorovic bass alignment. Awesome.
 
Someone correct me if I am wrong but I have read here many times that the drivers were often silicone into place so that does not mean they are not correct.
 
Good news...

I spent some time pulling out the woofers and mid range from the first speaker and they're all original. I heard back from Paul at the Loudspeaker Store and his prices are quite reasonable I thought, roughly $50 per woofer for him to do the surrounds. I figure it's a good investment to have someone far more experienced do the work and check things out at the same time. While he's doing that, I'll start replacing the caps:

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Paul gave me some good tips while replacing them, specifically about the 10" woofer cap, installing a 0.1uF cap in parallel with it to improve the voltage handling. He also recommended replacing the tweeter with one that will give more extended and smoother highs. Apparently, Speakerlab had a ton of the tweeters they used (which were used out of convenience of them being plentiful) but then installed some notch filtering components to make it work. I'm going to drop off the woofers next Saturday and hopefully even get a chance to hear Paul's Thirtys which have the upgraded tweeter. That should help me get closer to deciding if I want to replace or not.

Any recommendations about the caps I should buy? Any tips about doing all that soldering down in the hole? I'd rather not remove the board material that everything is stuck to as there's a pretty significant bead of sealant holding it on to the cabinet back. Appreciate the comments and tips. Hopefully in a couple weeks I should have them back together and ready to play!

Thanks guys.

-SteveIMG_20191103_103624108.jpg
 
When rebuilding in the box, I always clip the old capacitor lead close to the body, and that leaves you a good spot to solder in the new capacitor. Plus, then, you're not unsoldering and resoldering. And use that crossover picture as a reference. It helps to ensure there are no wiring mistakes. :rolleyes:

It looks like Speakerlab used decent caps. That board matches the era and style of my AR90s. Some of the same brands of caps too. But, at least get rid of that black/red cap. They do not hold up well.

Good electrolytic brands are Bennic, MDL, and Mundorf E-Caps. And it also looks like you have 2 film caps. Dayton, ClarityCap, Audyn, Jantzen, and Mundorf all make good sounding film caps. Hopefully, Paul will offer suggestions too.
 
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Hey guys,

Just thought I'd close the loop on this little audio journey :)

I picked up the refoamed woofers and mids from Paul Johnston last Saturday. He did a fantastic job and they all look brand new from the front. I had finished replacing all the caps and performing the updates (tweeter mod and 10" bypass capacitor) so I was drooling to get the drivers back from Paul. I masked off the holes and cabinet and spray painted to fronts with some satin black enamel, screwed all the drivers in instead of using silicone. Did a test fire in the "workshop" before moving to the living room (thank you Mrs. Crockett!). One of the speakers wasn't getting anything out of the 8" and 10" inchers. A little exercising of the woofer damping switch on the back of the speaker worked off the oxidation after sitting for so long and then everything was rock solid.

After talking to Paul about power and my reservations of using the Scott LK72B with these 350 watt speakers, he suggested that I actually use the Scott. The Thirtys are rated at 91 dB sensitivity and since the listening space in my home isn't very large, he thought it would be a rather nice combination. He was right. I was completely thrilled with the sound, dynamic qualities and especially the bass performance! There was a clarity and ease of music reproduction that I haven't heard in years after resigning my listening life to bookshelf and subwoofer use. The mids were so open and present. The updated tweeter did exactly what Paul had described by giving a very smooth and detailed crispness. Combine this speaker performance with the lovely musical qualities coming from the 35 watts per channel of the recently recapped and adjusted tube amp and what followed was 4 hours of magic :) My wife even sat down for the last two hours before bedtime as I serenaded her with a lovely playlist of music from 60's jazz and vocals to 70's rock and some later ballads and modern vocals music.

I'm extremely satisfied at this moment with my setup and sound. To quote Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 'I hope it'll last'.

Thanks to all for your comments and input about this project. I can't recommend Paul Johnston enough for any speaker work that you may need. Great guy with a lot of knowledge and history in the audio world.

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-Steve
 
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Just curious, which caps did you go with? Also, what tweeter did Paul recommend?

Thanks for a great rebuild story! :)
 
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