Focals blown, just scored...

T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
I was just noticing my right speaker was sounding a little quieter than my left and I was wondering what the symptoms of an older receiver caps starting to fail. A couple hours later my left speakers driver suddenly started sounding blown. At a closer listen the voice coil is definitely toast and then checked the right speaker and the tweeter was partially blown out of its enclosure. I may have been pushing them a bit hard on the 4th. I called a couple local shops to see what they may have and while I was waiting for them to call back I saw them on eBay... Dynaudio Special 40’s, new in box for $2,000, being the car salesman that I am and a bit of haggling got them for a little less!!! Told my wife I’m going to sell them for a profit but I’ve got a secret plan to keep them. Now to see what it will cost to fix the Focal’s and see what I can get for them as a package deal including the matches center channel. Or maybe I can cannibalize the center and fix the bookshelf’s, hmmm.....

Anybody have any thoughts? Are the drivers in the center the same as the bookshelf’s?


Sent from my iPad using MySpace
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I was just noticing my right speaker was sounding a little quieter than my left and I was wondering what the symptoms of an older receiver caps starting to fail. A couple hours later my left speakers driver suddenly started sounding blown. At a closer listen the voice coil is definitely toast and then checked the right speaker and the tweeter was partially blown out of its enclosure. I may have been pushing them a bit hard on the 4th. I called a couple local shops to see what they may have and while I was waiting for them to call back I saw them on eBay... Dynaudio Special 40’s, new in box for $2,000, being the car salesman that I am and a bit of haggling got them for a little less!!! Told my wife I’m going to sell them for a profit but I’ve got a secret plan to keep them. Now to see what it will cost to fix the Focal’s and see what I can get for them as a package deal including the matches center channel. Or maybe I can cannibalize the center and fix the bookshelf’s, hmmm.....

Anybody have any thoughts? Are the drivers in the center the same as the bookshelf’s?


Sent from my iPad using MySpace
Well those speakers look at least as if they have the Dynaudio drivers of old. Dynaudio was sold to the Chinese a few years ago. The company did not move to China, but the Chinese bosses moved to Denmark. The Danish team agreed to stay on, but all eventually fell out with the new Chinese owners and left. All the original crew of any substance have now left. Recent offerings have not been of the quality of the past. However from the picture of those speakers, is seems they have gone back to putting their fine older drivers back in production. The drivers used to be available and I have used them extensively. One word of warning, those drivers are not the most sensitive and do require robust amplification. You won't get the best out of them from receiver amps.



30 years or more ago, there was a falling out among the owners of Dynaudio and half the team went off to Israel and formed Morel. In the split these individuals also had the right to the Dynaudio patents, and their drivers have remained available to DIYers and other manufacturers.

Here is a current Morel driver which shows its ancestry with the Dynaudio drivers like yours.



Morel CAW538 5" Woofer

They are robust drivers and need to be, as they take some driving.

As far as your Focals, see if Focal can rebuild or replace the drivers at reasonable cost. If not those speakers are now junk. No idea if the center drivers are the same, or if you have also damaged the crossovers. You did not give model numbers. No bookshelf speakers will produce very high spl. without blowing up. Having said that you may also have contributed to this by clipping the amp. What were you driving them with?
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
They just arrived and I unboxed one of them just to verify what I paid for is what I received. I set it on the shelf next to my Focal, I will say the finish is absolutely magnificent! The finish is so smooth that when I set it on the cabinet the speaker started to slide a little, going to stop by Walmart after work and get some rubber cabinet liner. I am going to list them for sale locally and “audition” them until they sell
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
30 years or more ago, there was a falling out among the owners of Dynaudio and half the team went off to Israel and formed Morel. In the split these individuals also had the right to the Dynaudio patents, and their drivers have remained available to DIYers and other manufacturers.

Here is a current Morel driver which shows its ancestry with the Dynaudio drivers like yours.



Morel CAW538 5" Woofer
I had 2 pairs of the CAW638 6" woofers with which I built 2 MTM enclosures which were amazing.

If you carefully look at my avatar, it shows both the amazing impedance curve with Zobel network compensation and the phase angle curve with an Airborne Air Motion Ribbon tweeter. Maybe you have but I've never seen anything as good on any commercial speaker or in any audio review.

Morel's assembling quality standard seems to be so-so as out of the four, I had to get the surrounds glued again on two.
 
Last edited:
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
They just arrived and I unboxed one of them just to verify what I paid for is what I received. I set it on the shelf next to my Focal, I will say the finish is absolutely magnificent! The finish is so smooth that when I set it on the cabinet the speaker started to slide a little, going to stop by Walmart after work and get some rubber cabinet liner. I am going to list them for sale locally and “audition” them until they sell
What on Earth do you want to sell them for? I bet you will be amazed by those speakers. Fix the Focals and sell those. I think you will like the Dynaudios a lot better.
You have already blown up your Focals. The Dynaudios have a far better and more robust motor system. Those drivers can take a lot of power. There are any number of 10", 12" and 15" drivers with smaller motor systems than those.
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
What on Earth do you want to sell them for? I bet you will be amazed by those speakers. Fix the Focals and sell those. I think you will like the Dynaudios a lot better.
You have already blown up your Focals. The Dynaudios have a far better and more robust motor system. Those drivers can take a lot of power. There are any number of 10", 12" and 15" drivers with smaller motor systems than those.
I already fixed the Focals, I sacrificed my center channel to do it. Used both drivers to match and the tweeter swapped out for the blown tweeter. I’m sure it’s my imagination but I think they sound better than before.

That said, my wife isn’t happy...

I paid $1,900 for them new in box, any suggestions on what I should ask for them?
 
B

Beave

Audioholic Chief
They come with a baffle for the port.
Don't you mean a port plug, not a baffle?

I guess that would take care of the resonance, but then you'd lose a fair amount of midbass output.
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
Don't you mean a port plug, not a baffle?

I guess that would take care of the resonance, but then you'd lose a fair amount of midbass output.
Yeah, you’re right
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
Just watching some random TV. Off axis is night and day but detail and clarity are also night and day. I haven’t tested mid bass yet, my sub isn’t blended well at the moment but it is much more than a subjective improvement.
 
Phase 2

Phase 2

Audioholic Chief
I was just noticing my right speaker was sounding a little quieter than my left and I was wondering what the symptoms of an older receiver caps starting to fail. A couple hours later my left speakers driver suddenly started sounding blown. At a closer listen the voice coil is definitely toast and then checked the right speaker and the tweeter was partially blown out of its enclosure. I may have been pushing them a bit hard on the 4th. I called a couple local shops to see what they may have and while I was waiting for them to call back I saw them on eBay... Dynaudio Special 40’s, new in box for $2,000, being the car salesman that I am and a bit of haggling got them for a little less!!! Told my wife I’m going to sell them for a profit but I’ve got a secret plan to keep them. Now to see what it will cost to fix the Focal’s and see what I can get for them as a package deal including the matches center channel. Or maybe I can cannibalize the center and fix the bookshelf’s, hmmm.....

Anybody have any thoughts? Are the drivers in the center the same as the bookshelf’s?


Sent from my iPad using MySpace
Lol...(a secret plan to keep them) nice very nice..lol. man I can't tell you how many times I myself have used (secret plans) to get gear and keep it.
 

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