Even if you get your old speakers repaired, I would still do the shelf mods to get the speakers upright. They will sound much better.
Hello GUYS!
Comin' on for the evening!
Your responses have been overwhelming to my request for advice - thanks!
Well, first, I've exchanged e-mails w/ the speaker repair guy (Thore - on post #14) concerning the 'crossover' upgrade - he said as long as the drivers are working, there is no need to replace them, which makes the whole process simpler for me - this person seems quite experienced and the business has been in existence for about a half century - feel that I should trust his advice, and a cheaper option?
Now, as to the placement of the speakers - many years ago when I purchased these EV speakers, I sought advice (no web back then), and even called EV in Michigan - they advised me to put them upright but suggested giving the 'on side' position a try; to be honest, I never did a comparison, but these have sounded great 'as is' for many years - will they sound better upright - don't know (and I'm not one to need the BEST reproduction of sound since I've obviously been pretty happy for 3 decades). But, if I re-build the shelves (which would be quite easy), I would then have to re-make a bunch of those CD storage boxes that are already on the shelves, so kind of a one-two punch and much more effort. I wish that I just had a GIGANTIC room to place all comfortably and ideally!
Now, just to show that I can make some optical storage units, below are a few examples: Left - a rotating carousel of cherry for DVD storage (unit in the back are for jazz/blues CDs - these were bought but arranged in an oak enclosure by me); Middle - mahogany CD storage unit w/ doors off to the side of the original pic shown; and Left - an oak CD storage unit w/ box joints (had to put this one in another room! I own over 4000 CDs, so what is seem on the wall unit is probably less than a third of the CDs that I have in the house, so making storage change issues is a MAJOR consideration -
)
But, thanks again for all of your comments - I'm really enjoying this response and forum!