Qs about replacment drivers for some 90's speakers?

[stevenlevel 146]

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.

[dennismiller55 4,824]

What is blown?  Are the foam surrounds rotted?  Or are the coils blown?

[RodH 4,866]

Those CV's have a sensitivity of  ~95 db/W.

 

If you chose to replace the woofers the replacements will need to have similar sensitivity or the speakers will sound quite tinny. 

[fill35U 1,848]

FWIW, conventional wisdom is to always keep your receiver switched to the highest speaker impedance setting. A page explaining the whole mess is HERE .

 

There are *lots* of reasons why a replacement driver might behave and sound differently from the originals. Rod mentioned sensitivity, a huge factor. But on the basis of nominal impedance alone, a 4 or 8 ohm driver will interact with the speaker's passive crossover differently than the factory 6 ohm did. You might end up with a huge dip or peak around the crossover frequency, or the crossover point shifted so far down that the woofer's resonant impedance peaks affect response. 

 

I'd suggest waiting to either find direct replacements, or to research what would be acceptable substitutes. Not much point in putting in the effort to fix them if they're not going to sound their best, right? 

 

Good luck! 

[stevenlevel 146]

 

 

What is blown? Are the foam surrounds rotted? Or are the coils blown?

 

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.

 

[stevenlevel 146]

After some research and review readings on Parts Express, it seems these Titan 10" 4 Ohm drives are closest I'll get to the original 10" woofers. Cost is $35 including shipping.

 

I get what everyone is saying about getting a good match and the difference in the Ohm rating and that ohm rating changes during use and might not match up well with the cross-overs.

 

It's not worth it for me to spend $130 to get the exact same drivers as these speakers are far from being worth that type of investment.

 

I was also hoping I could simply re-foam the woofers but they are both trashed beyond repair.

 

I'll keep them and maybe in the future I'll find someone selling the same drivers at a cheaper price? I can maybe find some that just need to be re-foamed and do that myself to get the exact same woofers.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.