Videoton minimax mods

[minimonitor]

I would like to ask if anyone has the details of the peter connaeu modification on these speakers which involved tweeter replacement etc. For a tiny speaker i think these have got lots of potential :eyebrows:.I have already replaced the capacitors and the difference was incredible any pointers would be appreciated ,thanks in advance:)

[spendorman]

I would also be interested, put a pair on the system last week for a few days, very musical, if not accurate sound. Mine have the paper cones tweeters. I have some old Richard Allen cone tweeter that look like they will fit. Probably better than the originals.

[minimonitor]

i have some richard allen minettes and i tried getting the tweeter to shoehorn in but it just wont quite fit without the aid of mr saw.May i ask what tweeter richard allan you are thinking of putting in. My mods so far have been cheap and simple a set of m4 tnuts and bolts for the bass/mid driver and replacement of capacitors (big russian pio ones). total cost so far 10 pounds for bits 10 pounds for speakers:lol: ,im thinking next mod will be addition of a scanspeak 25dt30 tweeter

[spendorman]

i have some richard allen minettes and i tried getting the tweeter to shoehorn in but it just wont quite fit without the aid of mr saw.May i ask what tweeter richard allan you are thinking of putting in. My mods so far have been cheap and simple a set of m4 tnuts and bolts for the bass/mid driver and replacement of capacitors (big russian pio ones). total cost so far 10 pounds for bits 10 pounds for speakers:lol: ,im thinking next mod will be addition of a scanspeak 25dt30 tweeter

Ah, sorry, my memory had failed me, what I thought were Richard Allen tweeters are in fact Elac TW4 / 14 tweeters. Look like they might fit though.

[shane]

That article was a joint effort by Peter and myself. We used the Richard Allen DT20 which, as it's name would suggest, is a 20mm dome tweeter. By happy chance, the DT20 had similar efficiency to the Videoton original and was happy to cross over at the same frequency, so could be dropped straight in with no crossover mods needed. We were pretty happy with the results, but hey, we were young and it was a very long time ago! I don't know how well the mod would stand up to modern scrutiny.

There was a second article the following month with details of a sub-woofer using Richard Allen RA8 bass units and a stand of rather unconventionnal design. I still have a copy of that one, but sadly don't have the original tweeter article. If anyone has it, a scan would be appreciated.

[smithy]

I still have my pair of RA 8HB bass units from the subwoofer , everything else has long gone unfortunately.

[shane]

Was it any good?

[minimonitor]

Just dropped some different tweeters into them unfortunately its not perfect but the results are great those cone tweeters are so shouty compared to what i have installed. Looks like im going to have to make a new mini baffle for the tweeter but i think its going to be worth the trouble:) .The new treble has added a bit of accuracy to the musicality of them all in all a very pleasing result . I am sort of interested in the RA 8 twin bass sub but i have a REL for these duties.

[shane]

If I can get my crap scanner to co-operate I'll scan the subwoofer article and post it here sometime this weekend.

[spendorman]

The Minimax has an incredible ability not to sound like a small speaker.

[shane]

Et voila!

http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/minimax%201.pdf

http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/minimax%202.pdf

Sorry the second one's upside-down. Couldn't find a way of saving the rotated view.

[smithy]

Takes me back to see those plans again,I only had a JVC JAS11 amplifier to drive my combination which probably wasn't up to the job.

[spendorman]

Et voila!

http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/minimax%201.pdf

http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/minimax%202.pdf

Sorry the second one's upside-down. Couldn't find a way of saving the rotated view.

Thanks, interesting, here is the upside down one turned through 180 degrees:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2oWzw3IqVhldTlkak1SNE1lQVk/edit

[JimG]

Well here is one who did that tweeter mod, way back in the late seventies.
i seem to remember having to make some small clamps to hold the tweeter in place for some reason. Also that the tweeter polarity had to be reversed.
It was a long time ago but the mod was well worth it as that original tweeter was a tad crude. I used to drive them with a Naim 120 and they did sound quite good in my small room. Eventually swapped them for LS3/5A,s.

[Covenant]

Did anyone ever make those gallows stands?:lol:

[shane]

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

[dollerakos]

Hi There!

Videoton Minimax is a Hungarian loudspeaker pair. In the last few years the popularity of Minimax increased at Hungarian retro sites... I have a lot of loudspeakers, including one pair of Minimax 2 but I wasn't satisfied with their sound quality so I tried to do a simple modification with the crossover, leaving the woofer and the tweeter without changes. First of all I found that high frequencies are forced, aren't nice and generally the sound balance is very thin (e.g. I hated how one of my favorite records, Bach Harpsichord Concerto-s sounded...). With the modified crossover, high frequencies have become much nicer, more realistic and the sound balance has also improved a lot. I realised that even big orchestra sounds became more full-bodied. You can see this on the attached picture: EREDETI means ORIGINAL, MODOSITOTT means: MODIFIED - the tweeter crossing frequencies are improved and the woofer is directly connected. I tried the modified Minimax-pair with Sönd Arts speaker stands and some amplifiers, also with most of classical CDs and LPs.

[walpurgis]

I had a couple of pairs of Minimax speakers and was never happy with that tweeter. It sounded rather like the old 4" Richard Allan cone tweeter. Unrefined and lacking real detail. There was a British market revision with a slightly bigger ported cabinet and a soft dome tweeter called the GB3 if I recall. That sounded rather better. Quite a nice little bass driver in the Minimax, better than the one used in the now monstrously overvalued Goodmans Maxim. Personally I'd rather have a pair of Celestion Ditton 10 speakers than either, if you are looking at vintage compact speakers.

[dollerakos]

Yes, certainly You can obtain better and newer tweeters to the Minimax but with this crossover MOD becamed really better the original ones (Videoton HD10/8K) because the filter with this high-pass setting releases only the high frequencies with which the tweeter can work properly. My woofers were made originally with AlNiCo magnets but there are no subtitles (maybe thanks to the socialist fabrication discipline) :)

Thanks for the Celestion Ditton 10, when I can see and listen, maybe I will be interested in them beacuse they are really old (1966) and nice! :)

[shane]

Lovely little bass unit, but very prone to foam rot! Most will have died by now I would think.

[dollerakos]

Yes, really, like almost all Videoton woofer... Luckily my AlNiCo-s and the tweeters are in good state.