Help with restoration of some old floor standers

[kyle!]

Admittedly my topic title is a little bit misleading, as this "restoration" will be more of a complete over haul.

My father has a pair of old floor standing speakers he claims he bought in 1989 as top of the line. After years of abuse, a flood, storage, another flood...etc...the drivers, crossover network, and wiring are done. I have decided to go away to college next year and promised him I would retain the "spirit" inside his speakers and give the enclosures a second life of parties.

I need help with driver and crossover selection. I would like to keep this project as low cost as possible, and would like to purchase completed crossovers from someplace such as parts-express as opposed to making them myself.

The enclosures are 12in X 13in X 31in each, so about 2cf a piece. They currently contain 2 8in drivers, and 2 2in tweeters. I was thinking of turning it into a more traditional 3-way set up, something like 1 8in, 1 4in, 1 1in. I have looked at drivers on sites such as parts-express and madisound, but I'm not really sure what works well in that kind of airspace.

These speakers need to be well rounded enough to handle the explosions of PS3 games, movies, and music. I WILL be pairing them with a dedicated subwoofer (which is why I think a traditional 3-way will work well).

Thank you everyone for helping me start a project I am very excited for!

 

[KEW]

The first question that has to be answered is what is the make and model of the speakers?

Since you are talking about entirely changing the driver configuration and keeping the costs as low as possible (which means buying lower quality components), you may be better off to buy a pair of speakers off of Craigs list. I'm not sure what sense it makes to retain a cabinet when the drivers won't even fit the cut-outs!

 

[kyle!]

The first question that has to be answered is what is the make and model of the speakers?

Since you are talking about entirely changing the driver configuration and keeping the costs as low as possible (which means buying lower quality components), you may be better off to buy a pair of speakers off of Craigs list. I'm not sure what sense it makes to retain a cabinet when the drivers won't even fit the cut-outs!

I'm not sure what drivers to use, thats part of what I'm asking.

The only reason I was thinking of changing driver configuration is because I have more experience in the car audio side of things, and using 8's in a 2-way is really difficult to make sound acceptable. I guess with proper placement it would be achievable, so maybe I should stick with the 2 8's and 2 2's in each speaker.

What 8's would work well in a 2cf box, and same with tweeters, and a cross over?

 

[KEW]

You said these were top of the line speakers in 1989.

using 8's in a 2-way is really difficult to make sound acceptable

Depending on which company they were "top of the line" for, their designers have already solved that problem. You are not going to just be able to throw drivers in a box and expect to get a good result.

The design of the speaker is important. If these were truly good speakers, it would be a mistake to throw away that design and try to "SWAG" a decent speaker.

I am not asking what make and model the drivers are (though that would be useful). I am asking what make and model the speaker system is.

 

[digicidal]

Agree with KEW on this - with the possible exception of the crossover network and then only with a great deal of experience in network design - your best bet for the cheapest and best result with those cabinets will be to source replacements for the original components. If they are a big-name speaker then it is very possible that they are still available as replacements.

As an example, back when I was putting my Klipsch system together I had to buy the surrounds and center off ebay since the towers were already 8 years old at the time. When I got the surrounds the frames on the woofers were cracked and no longer able to support the drivers. I was able to replace them with brand new drivers I purchased online for the cost of the postal damage claim and the result was fantastic (OK - it was at least as good as they ever sounded... I personally didn't find that 'fantastic' in the least, but it got me through a few years with low income).

 

[kyle!]

After some snooping I've got a little more information. The speaker brand is Synergistics, couldn't find a model number or much information on this company. I did however find this, which is very similar to the speakers I have. I did manage to snap some admittedly low quality pictures so you could get an idea of what I'm working with. Speakers have 4 tweeters each..interesting! Tell me what you guys suggest I do with this project. REALLY would like to do some sort of restoration (cones are torn on tweeters and mids, as well as crossovers trashed as I said).

 

[TLS Guy]

After some snooping I've got a little more information. The speaker brand is Synergistics, couldn't find a model number or much information on this company. I did however find this, which is very similar to the speakers I have. I did manage to snap some admittedly low quality pictures so you could get an idea of what I'm working with. Speakers have 4 tweeters each..interesting! Tell me what you guys suggest I do with this project. REALLY would like to do some sort of restoration (cones are torn on tweeters and mids, as well as crossovers trashed as I said).

Don't waste your time. They were bottom of the line.

 

[dapack69]

I was wondering if they were top of the line then why would they be put in storage and not being used?

 

[kyle!]

Don't waste your time. They were bottom of the line.

Alrighty thanks

I was wondering if they were top of the line then why would they be put in storage and not being used?

They were an initial casualty of mom redoing the living room, and moved into the (finished) basement. Before they could be hooked up in the basement, it flooded, and have been stored ever since.

 

[KEW]

Top (or bottom) of the line is relative.

When your father claimed these as "top of the line" he was most likely being sincere (from his perspective).

If I read things correctly, Synergistics was apparently a house brand for Stereo Discounters and Hi-Fi Buys. It seems like they were (at least some of the time) made by RtR. This thread lists two models of these speakers as selling for $500 and $760 back in the late '70's (which was pretty decent coin):

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56183

(You'll have to register, if you want to view the pictures)

In any case, the net result is the same. It simply is not worth your time to attempt to cobble a Frankenstein speaker out of these.
Unfortunately, these are not classics which have a following of people who have obsessed over how to rebuild and maintain them using currently available parts.

If the crossovers weren't destroyed, you could use clear fingernail polish on the torn drivers just to get something out of them with nothing to lose.