Just installed new woofers in my old bookshelf speakers...

[Happy Joe]

Like many seniors I have a problem letting go of vintage stuff.
For some time I have been really disappointed in the sound radiated by more modern speakers; It seems lacking in low base/bottom end and the tweeters sound excessively/annoyingly bright, to try to regain the missing sound I resorted to purchasing a 12 inch "speed woofer" from RSL (it's great and more than I really wanted/needed).

During a recent review of worn out stuff in long term storage one of my old EPI 100 bookshelf speakers surfaced and got pitched.
To prevent a re-occurrence I ordered some new, replacement extra long throw woofers from HUMAN Speakers.

They arrived and I installed them yesterday;
I noted, ridiculously tiny wiring inside the cabinets (it will get replaced with much heavier gauge wiring when I update those nasty 1960's/70's spring loaded connecting posts to 5 way banana plug capable posts)... (later).

Upon firing these $100 (ea) bookshelf speakers (1970's/80's prices) up I found out why I have been so disappointed in modern speaker tech;
I immediately reached for the "speedwoofer" remote control , only to find the subwoofer had, already, been turned off.
a quick, manual, reduction of the existing (Audessey) equalization brought out the smooth bass rich mid-range and bottom end (note; no boom is evident) that I remembered ('though the highs seem much reduced)... my ears rapidly readjusted...

After a listening session I turned on the subwoofer at a very low level (there is some low end content on one of the Zac Brown albums)... I have decided that I really should send the, inverted dome, air spring, tweeters to Hun at HUMAN Speakers for a rebuild/restoration.
I currently have these bookshelf speakers connected to the center channel; to utilize their enhanced mid-range (I like 8 inch woofers). The center channel is monophonic, yet seems to contain a lot of television/movie audio information.

Later today I will let audessey reset the equalization, independently from my ears. (in an effort to flatten out the lower mid-range response; I also might have too many 8" woofers on line).

I have longer fiber optic cables coming today? and need to put them in; so i need to access the equipment, in any case.

Enjoy!

EDIT; these polk R700 mains/towers should hang their heads in shame at the sound coming from some, obsolete, partially renovated $100 (ea.) EPI, BOOKSHELF, speakers.

 

[jinjuku]

Some times it's worth giving it a whirl. njoy.

 

[TLS Guy]

Like many seniors I have a problem letting go of vintage stuff.
For some time I have been really disappointed in the sound radiated by more modern speakers; It seems lacking in low base/bottom end and the tweeters sound excessively/annoyingly bright, to try to regain the missing sound I resorted to purchasing a 12 inch "speed woofer" from RSL (it's great and more than I really wanted/needed).

During a recent review of worn out stuff in long term storage one of my old EPI 100 bookshelf speakers surfaced and got pitched.
To prevent a re-occurrence I ordered some new, replacement extra long throw woofers from HUMAN Speakers.

They arrived and I installed them yesterday;
I noted, ridiculously tiny wiring inside the cabinets (it will get replaced with much heavier gauge wiring when I update those nasty 1960's/70's spring loaded connecting posts to 5 way banana plug capable posts)... (later).

Upon firing these $100 bookshelf speakers (1970's/80's prices) up I found out why I have been so disappointed in modern speaker tech;
I immediately reached for the "speedwoofer" remote control , only to find the subwoofer had, already, been turned off.
a quick, manual, reduction of the existing (Audessey) equalization brought out the smooth bass rich mid-range and bottom end (note; no boom is evident) that I remembered ('though the highs seem much reduced)... my ears rapidly readjusted...

After a listening session I turned on the subwoofer at a very low level (there is some low end content on one of the Zac Brown albums)... I have decided that I really should send the, inverted dome, air spring, tweeters to Hun at HUMAN Speakers for a rebuild/restoration.
I currently have these bookshelf speakers connected to the center channel; to utilize their enhanced mid-range (I like 8 inch woofers). The center channel is monophonic, yet seems to contain a lot of television/movie audio information.

Later today I will let audessey reset the equalization, independently from my ears. (in an effort to flatten out the lower mid-range response; I also might have too many 8" woofers on line).

I have longer fiber optic cables coming today? and need to put them in; so i need to access the equipment, in any case.

Enjoy!

EDIT; these polk R700 mains/towers should hang their heads in shame at the sound coming from some, obsolete, partially renovated $100 EPI, BOOKSHELF, speakers.

What did you replace the woofers with. Any old woofer that would fit, so called exact replacements, or original drivers?

 

[Mark of Cenla]

Today I replaced the woofer in my Boston Acoustics A40's with a speaker with a whizzer cone. I also removed the crossover. Peace and goodwill.

 

[TLS Guy]

Today I replaced the woofer in my Boston Acoustics A40's with a speaker with a whizzer cone. I also removed the crossover. Peace and goodwill.

I take it we are now competing with Reddit.

 

[Happy Joe]

What did you replace the woofers with. Any old woofer that would fit, so called exact replacements, or original drivers?

I have been watching the effort of Hun Powell at HUMAN Speakers for quite some time; he makes and renews the old EPI designs, including some improvements.

The original EPI drivers were/are definitely not standard drivers the tweeters were/are inverted domes with an "air spring" design.
(I see that focal has been playing with superficially similar inverted dome designs).

The Woofer is a long throw design wound to work with the tweeter so as to nearly eliminate the crossover (using only a single non polarized capacitor to limit the DC and the frequencies that the tweeter sees.

I perused the Human site literature (HUMAN Speakers); and, after speaking with Hun selected an "improved" extra long throw woofer made by them (their Pro 005 model) It works well and has a bit extra on the bottom end.

So its not an exact original woofer, its an "enhanced" original design woofer. Folks who use a standard woofer to replace the EPI design are very often disappointed in their results.

Enjoy!

 

[TLS Guy]

I have been watching the effort of Hun Powell at HUMAN Speakers for quite some time; he makes and renews the old EPI designs, including some improvements.

The original EPI drivers were/are definitely not standard drivers the tweeters were/are inverted domes with an "air spring" design.
(I see that focal has been playing with superficially similar inverted dome designs).

The Woofer is a long throw design wound to work with the tweeter so as to nearly eliminate the crossover (using only a single non polarized capacitor to limit the DC and the frequencies that the tweeter sees.

I perused the Human site literature (HUMAN Speakers); and, after speaking with Hun selected an "improved" extra long throw woofer made by them (their Pro 005 model) It works well and has a bit extra on the bottom end.

So its not an exact original woofer, its an "enhanced" original design woofer. Folks who use a standard woofer to replace the EPI design are very often disappointed in their results.

Enjoy!

Well at least you did not bung in any old driver.

Those speakers are from the minimal phase shift era. So the low pass crossover is totally acoustic. The problem is that usually results in break up modes from the woofer at crossover. I can not find any acoustic measurements from those speakers. It would be interesting if reliable measurements could be taken.