PSB Stratus Repair/Mod

[adwilk]

Fellow audionerds-

I found a pair of Stratus Silver i floorstanders on craigslist for a great price. Really great. I went to check them out- guy was throwing in the matching center and surrounds. They were set up in a horrible position in the room, run by a very cheap AVR. They did not sound good, but the guy had no idea what he was doing with them. I guess his boss gave them to him for a bonus or whatever. I decided to pull the trigger.

I got them home and set them up in a well treated room and could immediately tell something wasn't quite right- the midrange was very attenuated and upon further inspection I found that one of the 6.5" woofers in each tower was not working. They are a Vifa driver long discontinued from what I can tell. Each tower has ONE functioning woofer and the tweeters work just fine.

Normally, I'd be a little upset; but my assumption is that this guy had no idea. The center and alpha bookshelf speakers work just fine.

SO- now what do I do with them? I haven't been able to find direct replacements for the the vifa woofer so I assume that option is out. The cabinets are in mint condition, so if possible, I'd like to do something with them.

Open to other woofer suggestions with possible crossover mods. I realize a drop in replacement is highly unlikely for satisfactory results.
Open to an entirely different project all together using what might be left of them.

Mostly curious what you guys would do??? I'm game to spend more money to have a quality speaker I can use/sell/giveaway. Anything else you need to know? Appreciate the time and consideration as always.

 

[Swerd]

These speakers look like 2 way MTM speakers, but they are 2½ way speakers. One mid woofer rolls off above 500 Hz, and the other rolls off above 2100 Hz, where the dome tweeter takes over.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/content/110519133002-stratus_brochure.pdf

a couple of thoughts:

• Which mid woofer failed? Upper or lower?
• Have you contacted PSB and asked them if they know of replacements?
• What model Vifa driver is it? The cabinet is 2 ft³ (56.27 liters). Maybe there are some suitable replacements.
• Do the surround speakers have the same mid woofer? Maybe you can sacrifice them to repair the towers.

 

[adwilk]

Swerd

The upper in one and the lower in the other one- the drivers are marked identically, however. (pretty sure on this- will double check)

I have not contacted them- whats the preferred method to do so? Email? Phone? Its gotta be worth a shot.

Vifa PL18WO-09-08 is the marking. Thats the driver I can't find anywhere.

That was the first thing I checked. No such luck unfortunately. I also checked the MTM center, not the same.

Since its a 2.5way, perhaps its possible to just replace two of the drivers, but I'm open to replacing all four if that's what it takes. I don't, however, see any reason to throw money at it if its not going be a quality device in the end.

Appreciate the response.

 

[Swerd]

The Vifa PL18WO-09-08 used to be very common. Here is its data sheet: http://www.datasheets.pl/SPEAKERS/VIFA/PL18WO0908.pdf

In addition to asking PSB about a replacement, you could post this same question on The Parts Express Tech Talk Forum. http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forumdisplay.php?2-Tech-Talk-Forum. Lots of DIY speaker builders will see your question. Maybe one of them has two old PL18s gathering dust, or will know of a similar replacement.

Good luck.

 

[adwilk]

I did finally get these fixed and they sound pretty good.. thanks again for the help Swerd. The boys over at PE got me all squared away. Replacements were about 200 bucks from PSB but ScanSpeak has since remanufactured the driver and it was only 70 bucks. I'm happy.

 

[slipperybidness]

I did finally get these fixed and they sound pretty good.. thanks again for the help Swerd. The boys over at PE got me all squared away. Replacements were about 200 bucks from PSB but ScanSpeak has since remanufactured the driver and it was only 70 bucks. I'm happy.

Nice! Good old PE and PETT. There is a huge wealth of info over there!