stevenlevel

Both drivers have destroyed voice coils. One is not even intact anymore. I did a Ohm test on the driver that still has the voice coil connected properly to each + and - wire and it comes up as 3.5 Ohms.

Just got a free pair of CerwinVega RT25's that have both the original 10" woofers completely blown out. These are bass reflex speakers with a large rear port. These are cheap, very average speakers to begin with so I'm looking for 2 10" replacement woofers at a low price point. I found the original 10" drivers on Ebay but the seller wants $130 for the pair. The hard part about just replacing them is that these are 6 Ohm speakers and I don't know if I can use 4 Ohm or 8 Ohm drivers in place of the original drivers that are rated at 5.3 Ohms. The seller that has the original drivers told me that CV used 5 Ohm woofers since they had several speaker designs that used these woofers. I did find a different CV 10" that's rated at 6.3 Ohms but I can't buy them this month and they will be sold within a few days. Can I simply buy some 4 Ohm 10" woofers from Parts Express called Titans and get away with using them? After all they are priced at only $35 for a pair as they are on clearance. I have a older Sony receiver that I wanted to use to power these floor standing 3 way speakers in a second room but don't want to risk the receivers amp. My Yamaha receiver used for home theater has a 6 Ohm setting for 6 Ohm speakers and the Sony does not. Can I still use this older Sony receiver to drive these speakers from 1992 safely with the new 4 Ohm 10" woofers added into the cross-over or do I need to get the original 10" drivers sometime in the future? Thanks everyone in advance for advice and feedback. I realize these are very average 3 way speakers but at a low cost they are worth repairing for use in my workout room.

I'm looking into buying a new pair of floor standing speakers as I have never owned any before. I have always used bookshelf speakers and been happy with that. Now that I live in a apartment that allows me to play my music or subs very loud without complaints I'm looking for a good pair of floor standing speakers for $1,100 max a pair. The Polk Rti A7's or A9's look like a good buy and I need front ported or sealed enclosures as I will not have the speakers right in front of a wall. The Rti A7's can be had for $700 a pair when on sale and the A9's are $1,100 not on sale but only $100 more than the A7's when they are not on sale. I'm looking for a speaker that is not too bright which is a issue with my current Definitive Studio Monitor 450's. I bought the 450's at a great price as they were being discoed. So I grabbed 2 pair for $600 which is the normal price of a single pair. I found out right away that although they sound good they are not great! The excessive brightness needed to be toned down with L-Pads added between the tweeters and cross-overs. So I'm looking for good even sounding speakers that will not require a powered sub and don't have the excessively bright sound of the 1" aluminum dome tweeters my 450's have. I have read a lot of reviews and I'm not a huge Polk fan, as far as that go's. However, great reviews are great reviews and they do look like very well built and well designed speakers. Some say they lack mid-range and can sound dull. Others say they are great but need to be driven with lots of clean power. My hafler DH-500 will take care of any power issues and I'm buying this new pair of floor standing speakers with music playback as the main concern. Unlike the 450's that were designed for home theater and lack the fine music playback I'm really looking for. I'm 50 this Oct and want some quality floor standing speakers that will last the rest of my life and give me the wonderful musical experience I have always wanted with my C-1 preamp and halfer amp. Suggestions and comments are welcomed. I understand that when it comes to speakers everyone has different opinions but thats fine with me if anyone else has other brands or model speakers that might be better. I don't have a Car and that makes buying used a difficult option as all floor standing speakers are so heavy. I understand that you can find some used speakers at various online places but the lack of transportation is a big issue and I would rather have a new pair that come with a decent warranty as well. Thanks everyone in advance and please let me hear your thoughts and suggestions................... Steven Level

Maroon 5 "Songs About Jane" In colorful vinyl

How about Maroon 5 "Songs About Jane" with the really cool clear with black and white drip colored vinyl

How about some

Some Billy Joel

Some really great vinyl

Just got this in double 180 gram weight vinyl and it sounds fantastic..........

How about some Steely Dan

Are they supposed to be placed with the 9 main drivers facing you or the rear single driver facing you? Pardon my ignorance but I'm just not familiar with 901's as they are way out of my price range in 1980 and in 2016.

Wow Bose my be over priced and slightly over rated but that's more with the lower end speakers and head phones. I would never buy Bose 901s since I don't think they hold their own when compared to modern speakers, but were very good when they first came out on the market. Needing a G.E. to use them just bothers me. That said I would definitely take a pair at a cheap price or if I were given a pair of defective units, take the time to repair them just to have a project to do. I don't hate Bose, I dislike their genius advertising campaign that gets a lot of uneducated speaker buyers to spend way too much on Bose's plastic speakers or surround sound systems that have 2- 3" full range drivers X 5 and a 6" powered sub for $2,000. Bose's 301's are still good bookshelf speakers at a fair price. What bothers me most is they never release any of their speakers SPL ratings or frequency response numbers and that's trickery of sorts. That said, people that like Bose have the right to like them as everyone has a very wide opinion when it comes to speakers. I hope you enjoy your repairs and get them working well. I want to here your thoughts on them? I'm sure if a powered sub is added the 901's that are sold today would be really nice sounding speakers with a really great openness to them that only array speakers can offer. So I may hate their advertising practices but they still make some good speakers. Steve

RUSH "Tom Sawyer"

Hopefully, later today Yeah sorry about the book I wrote

Already placed four 2" x 2" double sided rubber pads that I doubled up for a total of 8 in the same 4 places on the bottom plate. These are actually from a back stimulator I used a few years ago. With them being super sticky and placing the 2 on top of each other gave them enough height to actually isolate the entire bottom plate from actually touching the speakers bottom. I had 4 of these doubled up rubber pads perfectly spaced out with two on each rear back corner area and two more on the front plate near the corners. So with the screws tightened up (Used a some shorter 3/4" screws instead of the 1 1/4" wood screws) they put all the pressure on the rubber 2" X 2" square shaped pads that have that gel like sticky coating on both sides, as they were designed to be placed on human skin repeatedly. So I have perfect isolation with these double sided 2"x2" real rubber pads. I had to double them up for this stand as they have the bottom speaker bumps actually placed right in the 4 outer pre-drilled holes that end up with the 4 screws getting everything nice and tight. I then predrilled the holes into the bottom of the speakers round raised bumps and then added the 3/4" wood screws up from the bottom plate into the speakers bottom raised bumps. The are really tightly screwed in giving a 1 or 2mm gap between the bottom plate and the actual bottom of the speakers. So they are perfectly isolated just as they were with my old Sanus NF-24" wooden stands. As far as using carpet spikes I can't use them with my old carpeting in my apartment. I just have the stands sitting on the threaded four bottom points that the carpet spikes or soft rubber ended feet(For hard wood floor use) So they are rock stable and even as well with no movement on the bottom plate at all. I hear you about the spikes but the bottoms would be super wobbily with the spikes or the rubber feet. As they sit right now they are very stable and with my super think carpeting they just don't move at all. I'll play with the spikes since they are adjustable and maybe I can get them down to the wood flooring under the thin carpet. I tried that with the Sanus NF-24" that cost me $75 without any success. But these are a bit more flexible with setting up the actual spike distance so I may get them to actually go thru the carpet and still adjust them as even as they are right now. I'll post some photo's when my buddie comes over as my Phone has a lousy camera in it. My Buddie has a brand new phone with a excellent camera built in. So hopefully on Friday sometime I can post a few pics. They also so a good job of hiding the speaker wire as well. Required me to drill out the bottom hole on the bottom base a few sizes larger for the wire to fit under and up through the new drilled out hole and up the back of the stands. So great stands with that small speaker wire hole being the only flaw. A simply fix to just enlarge it so that 10 gauge speaker can be used without any trouble at all. I'm so happy with the sound and what a difference good steel stands can make. I feel that the 42" total height also added to changing the sound by allowing the tweeters to not be quite so bright as they were when they sat so much lower Happy-Happy-Happy.........

Bought a pair of Def Tech studio monitor 350/450 steel stands on Ebay about a year ago. The box had everything except it was missing a main support post. I went ahead and received a partial refund and ended up paying $26 for the single stand and all the parts. I was able to get one of the post from Def Tech support sent to me free, and wow was I excited. Now they are assembled and it was the simplest assembly of two steel stands and took all of about 10 min to get the bottom and top (450) plate centered perfectly. WOW! What a difference in the overall sound. I'm in awe at the difference these really full sized bottom plates and 42" height makes to the imaging, sound stage, and channel balance as some have seen my posts about the right channel not playing as loud as the left was. Well they sound the same or so close to it now I can't hear a difference anymore. The highs are not as bright as they were before allowing me to cut less out with the L-Pads I added to both front speakers. I am just in shock that a pair of steel stands at a 42" height, including the speaker can make such a huge impact. I'm in vinyl Heaven again and my speakers sound better than they ever have before. Now I have to drill some tiny starter holes in all four corners and get things nice a tight with the 1 1/4" wood screws that tighten up the speaker to the top plate. A little nervous about putting these really long wood screws into the speakers bottom but I asked a few other people about it and they said as long as you use a small drill bit to get them started they work perfectly. So once again my post was way too long but this is a once in a lifetime type of thing actually getting a support post for the second stand for free giving me 2 steel stands that sell at $150 everywhere that I picked up for the grand total of $26. But more important than anything is the fantastic sound I have gotten from these stands that never expected or even thought was possible. Must be something to do with the height and the solid construction of the stands and the top plate being so close to the actual speaker bottoms size. YEAH............................

Thanks for the advice as the Polk's do get some reviews about a lack of midrange which bothers me some what. I can't buy any towers that have a rear port or a rear passive that needs to be near a wall. My right speaker is in a open spot too close to my Kitchen doorway and thus need a speaker with a sealed enclosure or a front port. I like my Definitive 450's after putting the L-Pads on the main fronts and fixing the air leak from the right front 6 1/2" driver (Had 3 stripped screws I forgot to get repaired) and that was the output or lack there of that I was hearing before and brought up here. Anyhow plenty of time to listen to some speakers and get plenty of feedback as well. It will be at least 2 years before I buy them so keep it up with the suggestions please. For now I'm really enjoying my 450's with the SPL being nice and even now that I fixed the stripped screws that really messed with it's S.P.L. output that is now mice and even with the bass being exactly like the left speaker. Pretty stupid of me to forget that I had 3 stripped screws in the right speaker that caused so much trouble. Anyway thanks and keep the suggestions coming, as I'll be writing down the speaker models that everyone gives and try my best to check them out. Please keep in mind they can't have rear ports as I can't use rear bass reflex speakers in this apartment since I'll just lose the bass.

I have been thinking about up-grading my speakers to a pair of Polk RTI A7 floor standing speakers. They have 2- 7 " woofers and 6 1/2" midrange driver and a 1" soft dome tweeter. Supposed to be the best you can get for under $600 each. AT $500 each they are a lot of speaker for the money. No need for watching the gain setting on my preamp with those Polks as they can handle a ton of power, I'm just sick of bookshelf speakers and have never had a truly good floor standing speaker with fantastic bass response and a 1" soft dome tweeter that won't need a L-Pad and simply will not be harsh at all. Anyone own a pair of those here ? If so your thoughts please? They look like the best front ported full sized speakers I can afford at $500 each. I will keep the 450's as the side and rear surround sound speakers on good stands. Anyone heat these at sometime? If so please let me know what you think of them? This a long way off but within 2 years I would like to have them and possibly sell my SVS 12" subs or keep one and sell one if I can get what it's worth to put toward the Polks. Maybe even both SVS as I should not need a really good sub with those twin 7" woofers driving the bass.

I was also able to get some re-mastered versions of that recording in two different times in .flac files burned to CD-Rs One was from 1985 and the other from 1992 and they are two different re-mastered versions from two different sets of people that re-master music. Couldn't tell the difference between the original and the .flac at all. I don't buy CDs anymore. I simply download the loss-less .flac versions that are the same as a real CD. The key is finding a CD player that does not cost over $1,000 to play back your .flac recordings. The Onkyo C-7030 does playback .flac and the Denon 910 does as well. I'm still dumbfounded that Onkyo does not advertise that ability anywhere I have looked. The manual says nothing about .flac support and even the web site says nothing about it. Odd to say the least..........

The CD will play fine on the Denon so this is another issue with my Onkyo CD player and nothing more. The pin holes have been there a very long time and I just never noticed them. Since I was having issues with drop outs I was inspecting everything The CD was released in 1985 Kev. It was the first completely digital recording that I had bought on a CD. It even says "Full Digital Recording" right on the CD cover. The newer disks say "Digitally Re-mastered" which in this case might be the same thing. I recall paying like $30 for that CD and at the time a CD was about $18 to $20 in 1986 The records I have been buying a re-mastered from the original master tapes and then pressed out. Saying Re-mastered from the original master tapes.

O.K. my C-1 will not support SA CDs that's for sure. I can playback the disk in my Denon and it plays over the pin hole dot's without the music dropping out. Kevin and I decided it has to be the laser in my player. We have a fix in mind so hopefully it will be up and working before too long. I guess the Onkyo was simply dropping out on the Dire Straits CD as it's laser is so sensitive. So that's why I never noticed the pin holes on the CD before. But thanks for the feed back everyone.

Can you play SACDs on a regular CD player? If so it's just the standard playback without any benefit from the SACD as the player does not support SACDs, correct? Do SACDs playback in surround sound Neo6 or 5.1 or can you select stereo or PCM playback and still get some extra Dynamic range? With my C-1 at 96 DB S.T.N.R. until I have it up-graded there is no going above 96 DB no matter what type of CD it is.

I hear you but this was a very old CD from 1985. It has two very tiny pin tipped size missing data that's causing a single song to drop out for about 1/2 a second. I can burn it to a CD-R in .flac that should equal the sound of the original Fully Digital Recording that sound mind blowing good I just think it got old and developed these tiny pin hole sized dots on the top surface that only effects one song and used to play thu anyway with the built in error correction that all CDs have. My Onkyo CD players laser is dying and I'm buying a new one from Kevin or a online store that sells them for $30 but I'll be waiting for about 30 days to get it. I'll probably just pay Kevin for his and if it costs a bit more it's worth not having to wait and knowing it came from Kevin means it works for sure as well.

I have had the Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" CD since way back in 1985 or 86. It was the very first "Full Digital Recorded" CD that I ever bought or was even released for classic rock back then to the best of my knowledge. The disk actually has 2 tiny pin size dots that actually are caused from the back coating of the CD somehow getting damaged or factory issues with the CDs back paint or what ever they do to create CDs. I noticed this when I had it up against the light and I noticed I could see right thu these 2 pin size spots. One is in located at the 4th track and the second is far enough on he outer part of the disk it's not messing with music at all. However, the small pin sized dot does effect playback on the 4th track with a very slight drop out. I'm fairly certain that CDs have error correction that's supposed to account for this type of pin sized data missing or maybe that's only with bad scratches? Anyway should I take a black marker and put a dot on the back of the CD to see if that will help it and fool the laser into thinking its a pit as opposed to a mirror? Of course to understand this question you need to understand how CDs work with the series of reflective mirror like spots and the non reflective pits that don't shine the laser back up in a series that end up becoming 1's and 0's in a string that the player understands and thus you have digital music that needs a DAC to change the 1's and 0's into actual music. Anyone that's a CD expert please HELP........... I don't know if this black mark placed over the pin sized break thru dot will help or hurt the disks playback and this is one of my all time favorite CDs. I'll buy the vinyl version of this CD in May as it's supposed to be excellent. Thanks everyone. Sincerely, Steve