Fabrokoner 21 Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 I just picked up a pair of Infinty RSa's for $25 on Craig's List. The woofers need to be refoamed, a few holes in the screen and there are some light scratches on the cabinets. Other than that they are in pretty good shape. I know these aren't a very high value speaker but I'm going to rebuild them mainly for the experience. I have never really done any speaker work before. More pics beyond what is here can be viewed at my IMGUR gallery. Here are some shots of them once I got 'em home. (Nice surround repair, huh? Guy used some tub caulk to reseal the foam. Luckily there isn't any on the cone itself.) The plan is to refoam the woofers. Change out the spring terminals for binding posts. New electrolytics in the crossovers. New fabric for the screens. Possibly a sanding and refinishing. I ordered a foam kit and some binding posts off of ebay. I didn't want to use the same Hong Kong binding posts ive been using on my amps because they were taller than the recess that the panel is set in. I found what looks like a decent quality post that doesnt look quite as tall. Still from China. First things first, I figure refoaming the woofer should be the first step. Why do anything else before you know the actual speakers are good. To that end I pulled the woofer with the caulk on it out, stripped the old foam surround off and cleaned the glue off of the woofer with some Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. Scraped it off of the basket with a wood chisel. It came out pretty good. Now I need to go shovel all that snow that I didn't do yesterday. First a few questions. Has anyone sanded any Infinity cabinets of this era? How thick is the veneer? Do you think I can give it a light sanding with out going through the veneer?
zumbini 6,147 Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Has anyone sanded any Infinity cabinets of this era? How thick is the veneer? Do you think I can give it a light sanding with out going through the veneer? The veneer on my RS2001 is 1/8" but that's way thicker than normal and may be due to the rounded corners. As long your veneer is real wood (not sceen-printed plastic) you can sand it without concern. Nice score! Good luck with the refurb. 1
Guest RodH Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Extra-fine steel wool and Minwax - so long as you do the entire surface! Saved many old cabinets this way. And $25!!! Those EMIT tweeters are worth way more than that - nice score!
Fabrokoner 21 Posted January 22, 2012 Author Posted January 22, 2012 Extra-fine steel wool and Minwax - so long as you do the entire surface! Saved many old cabinets this way. Thanks! And $25!!! Those EMIT tweeters are worth way more than that - nice score! I know that's why I actually went and got em. I actually have enough projects right now (the TFM-35 is laughing at me over there), but I need some better speakers and these were worth twice the asking price in parts alone. So now I have a new project.
madmike46 398 Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Nice grab, and what Rod says for re-efinishing those cabinets.
peck555 366 Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 Congrats on the new project, keep us posted.
Fabrokoner 21 Posted January 24, 2012 Author Posted January 24, 2012 Alright folks, I'm putting together an order for the caps to rebuild the crossovers. I've spent most of the evening researching crossovers and capacitors. I've never done any work on crossovers before. I'm looking for some recommendations for the caps I should buy. I'm having trouble finding the exact values at mouser etc. Parts express has a pretty good selection of "crossover" caps which are the correct value, most of which are over $20. They do have some Dayton Audio caps that are more affordable but dont match value exactly. 12.5uf 250v <---this is a 12uf cap 6uf 250v<---this is a 6.2uf cap Is it ok to deviate from the schematic this much? I also found these and these at TEDSS for $2.50 and $.75 respectively. Do the "crossover" grade caps really make that much of a difference? Here is the schematic: Any thoughts, opinions, rants and/or advice would be appreciated.
Fabrokoner 21 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Posted January 30, 2012 So I've been busy all week working on the RSa's. I figured it was time for an update. I've added more pics to the gallery if you want to check them out. I finally got to hear them today for a good hour or so. I must say I really like them. Those EMIT's are crisp! The woofer surrounds came in on Tuesday so I got these re-foamed right away. The first time I've ever done it. It was pretty easy to feel where the voice coil was centered. I'm pretty happy with my first job. In between glueing the woofers I started to sand one of the cabinets. Taking Rod & MadMike's advice I stripped it using steel wool. I used just a little 120 grit to take some of the deeper scratches out. I'm really happy with how the tops and sides sanded out. Thanks for the steel wool tip guys!! I didn't sand the front and back to bare wood, just gave it a once over (I regretted this later). (First coat of finish paint) I painted the front and back of the cabinet with out taking it down to bare wood. Just a quick coat of primer and then three coats of Rusto Hammered Black. The edge grain of the side panels really drank the paint and I'm not happy with how the edges of the panels came out. While I was waiting for the faces to dry I stretched some new fabric on the screens. I put some black knit type fabric on them. I painted the the Infinity symbols silver. After the faces dried I painted the tops and sides with thee coats of clear poly. It took until this morning to get to this point. So after the clearcoat had dried I put the drivers back into both cabinets and put them side by side for the comparison shots. Then it was time to hook up the TFM-55 and let her rip. Spent about an hour listening to them before I just had to rip the drivers out of the other one and start sanding it down.
dennismiller55 4,809 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Alright folks, I'm putting together an order for the caps to rebuild the crossovers. I've spent most of the evening researching crossovers and capacitors. I've never done any work on crossovers before. I'm looking for some recommendations for the caps I should buy. I'm having trouble finding the exact values at mouser etc. Parts express has a pretty good selection of "crossover" caps which are the correct value, most of which are over $20. They do have some Dayton Audio caps that are more affordable but dont match value exactly. 12.5uf 250v <---this is a 12uf cap 6uf 250v<---this is a 6.2uf cap Is it ok to deviate from the schematic this much? I also found these and these at TEDSS for $2.50 and $.75 respectively. Do the "crossover" grade caps really make that much of a difference? Here is the schematic: Any thoughts, opinions, rants and/or advice would be appreciated. Sorry, I did not see this post until tonight. I can help you with this. The most important thing to remember is crossover caps have to be "non-polarized". I like the "Dayton Metallized Polypropylene Capacitors" from Parts Express. And price is fair on these. If you want exact value match then you will have to add caps in series or parallel. Parallel is easy. (C1 + C2 + C3) = C total. Series is (1 / (1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3)) = C total. Stick with parallel. For the 6uF, use two 3uF in parallel. PExpress part# 027-418 For the 12uF, use one 12uF and one .47uF in parallel. PE part# 027-430 and 027-406. In my opinion: 12uF is good enough for the woofer or low end. Besides these caps will be large compared to the ones you are replacing. Paralleling these will just make them that much larger on the small foot print of the crossover. When installing them on the crossover use "amazing goop" instead of hot melt glue. 1
dennismiller55 4,809 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 I also forgot to mention. They look great.
mbskeam 1,975 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 http://www.erseaudio.com/Products/PulseX you might also look here..... 2
angelod307 63 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 very nice indeed. i bought a set of boston a70's with rotten surrounds for the same reason, experience. when we finally get some surrounds for the amazing woofers, i will be set i hope with an idea of what to do. i also have a pioneer 16" woofer for the car, tsw400, that needs the same. it used to sound awesome. i might have to send it off to a better person than i as i want it mint or at the very least better than what i could do with it. parts express, or even the place jesse point to. congrats on a job well done.
dennismiller55 4,809 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 http://www.erseaudio.com/Products/PulseX you might also look here..... These site looks like a great source. I will add this to my favorites for the future. Thanks for sharing. Fabrokoner: This site has the combinations to make the 12.5uF cap you need. And very reasonable price.
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