Ratamahatta

I have seen some on e-bay that were dry rotted and broken all the way around, I for one will do noting to mine, Foam seems to last a long time here in Colorado. When it finally goes bad I will replace it or the driver.

I hate to speculate on the fate of a feline that marked its territory on a speaker belonging to an audiophile... A surround made from taxidermy cat hide, lol. with that center piston I would hate to try and change out the surround as it looks like its glued over the surround. There is a speaker re cone repair shop in Denver I would probably visit.

That is a good question, I have heard the same thing as well. What I don't get is the surround on mine is foam, surely you don't want to do it on a foam surround. And I am sure he was talking about pure mink oil, not stuff with silicone or other additives that might attack the adhesives. I have wondered where I would get a new surround for that sub if I had to. Any Guru advise?

Well its official, These Altec Lansing 301's are the best 42 dollar speakers I have ever owned, lol. Actually they are some of the best I have ever owned. I am going to tell you right now IMO they sound better than the Infinity Kappa 6.1's I just sold. Just more detailed and have made me jump a few times, nice wide, deep sound stage, everything is well placed, female vocals sound right and accurate. I got the surrounds on yesterday and they fit right on, the rear mount surrounds are actually way easier. Funny two pieces of foam cost more than the speakers. I put some old English on the veneer and they shined right up. On a weird note the woofers magnets are different, one has a bumped back magnet and the other one is flat. The serial numbers are kind of far apart so I think they just probably went through a different supplier. also the leads were zip tied to the basket so I believe they are both original and the same specs except one is 7.2 ohms and the other is 7.4, go figure. Anyway a great find at any rate.

Thanks. I forgot I also got a Klipsch KV-3 http://www.klipsch.com/kv-3/details also to better match the Forte II's, they're so sensitive I needed a better match.

Like I need anymore speakers well I did get rid of two sets and two subwoofers, lol. I was bored and went to a local pawn shop and they had these for 14 bucks Really clean condition, well after I got the grime off them. I thought I would get them to flip but after I hooked them up they sound really good, I mean shockingly good, I was really surprised. Now I dont really want to get rid of them, hell I'm only out 14 bucks. OK let me get to the good stuff, I got on CL just for the hell of it and found these right off the bat. I did not know which ones they were and neither did the seller but figured it was worth a look, and driving 40 miles round trip in a snowstorm. I got them and the stands for 20 bucks. Altec Lansing 301 Pics I had the smaller version of these with a 8" woofer but had a carbon fiber mid range as well. They sounded excellent but reluctantly got rid of them. I was surprised to see these were the 10" versions with the dome mid range. Of course the foam surrounds are bad and one tweeter dome was pushed in, Luckily they can be dismantled and pushed it back out. I did get a chance to listen to them at low volumes and was blown away. These are after the sparkomatic buy out that ruined the company but these still got good reviews. http://www.stereophile.com/content/altec-lansing-301-loudspeaker. Anyway these have the surrounds under the cone and I have never done one of those, well I have but just glued it to the top, These cones are really to good looking to do that, I found some surrounds on e-bay and will attempt it. wish me luck. Does anyone else have any experience with either of these? Thanks

There are two subs on E-bay I was considering A Definitive Technology supercube 1, the add says its new but damaged in shipping, Looks like it can be repaired fairly simple. I have heard them before and was fairly impressed but it has been a while. It was 450 with shipping included http://www.ebay.com/itm/261654981261?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT 2nd is an earthquake, I have never heard one of these but hear good things. http://www.ebay.com/itm/111477391951?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and last is a Dayton 12" Ultimax with the pre cut enclosure from parts express http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-12-ultimax-subwoofer-and-cabinet-package--300-7096 I am going to use the Yung 500 watt amp but cannot decide on the one with or without boost. Right now this is the direction I am heading. Thanks in advance.

Um, lets see counting bookshelf I have 9 pairs I have all these mains These A pair if Infinity reference 2000.3 (garage) Realistic Minimus 7, Bose 201 (wifes) Bose acoustamass (wifes also, lol) some def tec by directional surrounds. Sony es center, yamaha center, JBL center, NHT sub 10, Paradigm PW2100 v2, and of course the sunfire sub. I lost count of all the other ones I have had and let go over the years.

Best I ever heard were Avalon Acoustics Sentinel, they are local and I tried to get a job there, they had some set up and they blew my mind but 85,000 price tag is hard to swallow. http://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=page&PID=550&store=acousticsounds&keywords=NL041312 The Vandersteen model 7 was a close second but 52,000 http://vandersteen.com/products/model-seven The best I personally have ever owned are these still, Sony ES SS M7's They do just about everything right with the right amp cables etc. Huge, deep sound stage, fast, accurate, pinpoint imaging, only shy on the bass side a little bit but that's what subs are for.

Thanks guys, If I could make $50 on the unused tweeter then I would be out of pocket about $120 on these. I will keep the extra tweeter as long as I own them though for a spare and just switch out the face-plate if need be. That guy in Chicago is crazy, maybe different market up there but I bet he could only get 2-300 at the most here after a re-foam job. There is a guy selling some 8.1 for 680 in Denver. The ones I got I paid 320 for! arg, the only upside is I sold them for way more. I don't know how much better they would sound then these, better bass I imagine but that's what a sub is for and my NHT sub ten blends perfectly with these. Thanks again for everyone's help on this project, especially the yellow glue hot iron technique, it worked great. And steering me in the right tweeter direction.

Finally done! pics.

Thanks! Got the other veneer in today, got it glued sanded and stained, will put some red wax on in the morning after the stain dries and post some pix tomorrow.

That's right, if you are going to be doing anything mechanical then you might as well cut or bang your finger right from the get go to satisfy the mechanical gods, lol.

I cleaned up some vintage Infinity Emit ribbon tweeters and you had to make a jig for them to come apart with or you could damage the ribbon, I cant imagine taking apart some of these.

If you really want to spend a bunch of money you can get these http://www.parts-express.com/bohlender-graebener-rd48-planar-transducer--264-704 They developed the original ribbons for the Carver speakers. There is a guy who re-builds them as well, I am sure someone has his contact info. here is one, http://www.carveraudio.com/?page_id=97

Thanks considering what they looked like before I could not be happier with the results, the other veneer should be in today. Now just to do the other one. This thread should be a warning for everyone that lets the wife put plants and stuff on their speakers, its sacrilege, lol

Well it seems the red wax did the trick.

Yeah few speakers have done that The AL III plus did that( scared me) a few times, so did some of the SDA's I had. The Sony's do it too, I already experienced it a few times with these, so my hopes are up for these.

Mine were worse than that you will do fine. I got my foam from these guys, they have always taken care of me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Speaker-Tek-Speaker-Foam-Woofer-Repair-Kit-for-Infinity-RS-6B-/150686600939?pt=US_Speaker_Parts_Components&hash=item23159f0eeb There are some real junk surrounds out there, they are the cheapest ones on e-bay, and they use Elmer's glue. I got the veneers here http://www.ebay.com/itm/ONE-RED-OAK-Veneer-Sheet-12-x-12-1-20-OR-050-inch-40-years-old-NOS-/390948831526? just in case you cant salvage yours. Another thought I had was just to cut this http://www.ebay.com/itm/360835410670?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT to the same shape of the top if I could not get the veneer to work. With a little work I am sure they will turn out great.

Thanks! I have worked on them more than listened to them but so far really impressed, fast, accurate, I hear lots of little details like with my Sony ES SS M7's sound stage is fairly deep. crappy recording really show on these. I will have to bring them out to the living room and do some more critical listening. Vocals come through natural not harsh, No ordinary love by Sade gave me goosebumps, it sounded like she was right there in the room. So far really impressed.

Thanks, I have a bunch of wax at work that works great on sealing and protecting wood. I sanded a piece of scrap veneer and will experiment next week. But if this as good as it gets then I am OK with that too. My goal was to make them look better than when I got them. My living room is always dark and I bet most people would never even notice. For now these are going to be keepers and might even be in the top three. These might even sound better than the 8.1's did, well at least in my living room, those things needed a bunch of space. I am sure they had better bass but that;s what subs are for. I also had some Infinity QLS but got rid of those too just because don't have the space for their full potential and I got tired of speakers you need a hand truck to move around, lol. I am finding out that I just don't need speakers that big to achieve the sound I want anymore. If I want loud then the Klipsch it is. I hear you, so many speakers to few rooms. If I ever won the lottery I would buy a 27 room house. but I guess I would actually need to play for that to happen.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking, I brought home the neutral wax but might wait and bring home the wax with the red tint to it instead. Speaker hoarder, lol, 6 pairs right now, getting better though, at one time, when I was a bachelor, I had 17 pairs. I am sure I will spend a weekend comparing them and let the losers go, but then again....... As far as the grills go I washed them in the tub, good thing about plastic grills, and with the exception of a few small holes they're actually in pretty good shape, maybe sometime in the future I will re-cloth them, but not now.

Everything else I have

OK got one done except for putting the clear protective wax on the top when the stain dries. The Veneer I got was thicker to the point where you could trim it with an X-acto knife. Nice veneer but I had to trim it with a sander, then sand the veneer with the orbital sander after I glued it on. I already had some wood glue so I tried the clothes Iron technique and it worked out great. I was skeptical at first but it worked like a charm. cutting the fingers out on the sides was kind of tricky, I used a Dremel and a small sharp bit. The guy I got the veneer from accidentally shipped one instead of two so I will do the next one when it gets in. Its a shade off but all in all I am happy with the results. At the least I saved them from certain death. And so far still really impressing me, we will have to wait and see how they compare to everything else I have.

here is the 8.1 I had, still kicking myself in the @$$ over that one.