Sickly Castle Conway II's

[Jac Hawk]

A bit of advice with regards to the afore mentioned speakers, which i've recently acquired for the princely sum of £10. They are over 30 years old and stuck in a loft for the last 10 to 15 years, the seller said in the add that they didn't work so i assumed that the cones would need re foaming , but after having a chat with him, it turns out that the cones are fine but when he tried them before advertising them he couldn't get any sound out of them, i'm thinking the caps could be dry and in need of replacement :scratch:

over to you:)

[Reid Malenfant]

You should still get some sound out of the bass/mid as that has an inductor/s feeding it & capacitor/s to ground...

Do the crossovers have fuses, it wouldn't surprise me if they did :)

[Jac Hawk]

Not actually got em yet, so have no idea, all the bloke said when he tried em he got no sound at all noffink:scratch:

[Reid Malenfant]

Feck, my mate had a pair of Conway II... If you can get them working be prepared to be pretty much blown away Mike :D

Seriously good loudspeakers imho, he payed £200 back in the day & they were more than worth every penny imho, I'd love a pair :)

PS, they aren't small....

[Jac Hawk]

they're a bit odd looking though
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190652216754?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[The Grand Wazoo]

They'll be fused internally like my old Pembrokes were.

[Reid Malenfant]

Certainly not what I remember my friend owning :scratch: Perhaps those are MK1, if you look on google you'll see more modern ones... Maybe the ones I saw & heard were MK3?

Whatever, the ones my friend had had an 8" bass driver, 4" mid & the classic Castle tweeter (odd thing) & were superb. Came with stands to, original stands built by Castle.

I reckon our mate Andr'e could sort this one out :)

[Jac Hawk]

They'll be fused internally like my old Pembrokes were.

so new drivers then?:scratch:

[Reid Malenfant]

so new drivers then?:scratch:
No, maybe just fuses :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, I'd be thinking about changing the fuses first.....

[Jac Hawk]

Hope it's only fuses, and to be honest it seems a bit odd that they make no sound at all, if there had been a problem with the drives it would had to effect all units in each speaker and as memory serves they have 1 bass 3 mids and 1 tweeter per enclosure, hmmmm:scratch:

[The Grand Wazoo]

My Pembrokes used to go dead as a nit when the fuses failed - all drivers.

[Jac Hawk]

My Pembrokes used to go dead as a nit when the fuses failed - all drivers.

Well here's hoping that's all it is, and i'll be counting myself very lucky if it's only fuses ;) just hope they sound better than they look

[Rare Bird]

There not Conway 'II' they are the Conway 'I' the same as mine but yours are the Queen Anne version with the period legs & grill, they did the same for the 'Howard 'I'..great speakers..

Re: Crossover 5 Caps/5 Inductors all hard wired (NO Fuses)..The midrange unit has it's own Enclosure in the form of a large diameter tube that spans the full depth of the cabinet..

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o534/ELPFAN1/Howards10002.jpg

[Jac Hawk]

Them's the boys Andre and you're right they are Conway I's, just got em home, fcuk they're heavy but there's nowt wrong with them, the bass cones will need re foaming but apart from that just cosmetic stuff really. Ive plugged em in and give em a whirl, i think the crossovers will need running in a bit, but they make noise and it sounds good so far:)

[Rare Bird]

Nice one Mike

I have the crossovers to recap yet..

[Reid Malenfant]

There not Conway 'II' they are the Conway 'I' the same as mine but yours are the Queen Anne version with the period legs & grill, they did the same for the 'Howard 'I'..great speakers..
Ah, so that explains it! Cheers Andr'e :)

Decent speakers in what looks like a georgian style enclosure... Ok so Anne was earlier but wtf, they still look baroque or rococo to me :D

[Jac Hawk]

not a look that impresses me, i don't own a rover p4 or a pipe, smoking jacket or slippers either so they kind of stick out a bit in my house, the good thing is i don't think any of the drives need replacing and only the bass drives need refoaming, i've give em a bit of a whirl before the foam completely disintegrated and from that brief listen, i think these are going to be worth keeping, that 15mm cone tweeter they use is just awesome, smooth and detailed, didn't really turn em up and didn't really want to push the bass cones anyway but it's lookin good so far.

So next job is to get the foam rings ordered, and refinish the cabs, i've already started to sand them back and the damage is only very light so i'll get them looking like new, BTW does anyone know if there's a place in the UK where i can get the replacement foam rings from, i've looked all over the net and all the places that sell them seem to be in America

[istari_knight]

Couldn't agree more about the tweeters, nicer than kef etc of the period. IIRC they are actually mylar which is the diaphragm material of ESL57 :eyebrows:

Not in the UK but always had good results using foams from these guys : http://www.goodhifi.com/

Delivered within a week of ordering & very helpful - They stock far more than is listed online, well worth sending them an email with the exact dimensions you need.

[Jailbreaker]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I recently acquired a pair of Conway Mk2 and I am stunned at how good they are. Great detail in the mid and high frequencies and plenty of bass for me. As said in an earlier post they are rather large but if you have the space and can find a pair in good condition I highly recommend them.

[Lawrence001]

I've always looked down on plastic tweeters vs doped silk but it didn't occur to me it's the same material as in a Quad ELS.

[Pigmy Pony]

My next door neighbour (who used to own the only hifi shop in Chorley) still has his Conways, and says he'll never change them. I've not heard them, but they are beautifully finished, real furniture grade.

[Macca]

Conway II and Conway III are totally different speakers. The II is a standmounted three way and the III is a floorstandiing two way.

Don't know about the original.