Rogers LS3/5A restoration

[ianlenco]

These are the LS3/5a speakers I bought from Adrian via this forum a few weeks back. They took a while to get here from Spain but Adrian had described them in his sale fairly accurately.

http://i.imgur.com/JYBMHODh.jpg#gWPQG

The cabinets are a bit scruffy but not beyond recovery............

http://i.imgur.com/aW95qM6h.jpg#gWPQG

.....and the crossovers look good.

http://i.imgur.com/hOFkGUlh.jpg#gWPQG

Found a tip on the web for scratch repairs involving a 50/50 mixture of olive oil and vinegar - in other words salad dressing :mental:

before.........

http://i.imgur.com/RJ9XUq5h.jpg#gWPQG

and after

http://i.imgur.com/Xzf02mwh.jpg#gWPQG

It works pretty well and the cabinets now look presentable but of course examine closely and you can still see the deeper scratches.

http://i.imgur.com/4jTOUE8h.jpg#gWPQG

The cabinets were built within a couple of days of each other.

http://i.imgur.com/8PluKkHh.jpg#gWPQG

The mid bass drivers are April 1980 but they are totally blown as Adrian described. So I bought some new B110 drivers from Falcon. These are a close tolerance matched pair which Falcon states are built to BBC standards.

Old and new side by side.

http://i.imgur.com/RhFQnU6h.jpg#gWPQG

Fitted new seals to drivers and baffles and connected them up with some trepidation. Do the tweeters still work? Are the crossovers OK?

http://i.imgur.com/qpSEszZh.jpg#gWPQG

Whoopee! They work and sound great. The new mid-bass units opened up fairly quickly and they sound as expected - excellent!

Still to do, chop out the badly fitted spring terminals and do some woodwork to seal the cabinets and fit new speaker sockets then repaint the backs. Fortunately the grilles are in good condition so that will be it. :)

[Bigman80]

Very nice.

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[Martyn Miles]

I was very tempted by these.
You did well...
Would it be possible to post a pic. of the cabinets' rear panels showing the spring terminals.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for the LS3/5as ?

[farflungstar]

Great work! And fantastic to see them coming back to life. Will keep watching...

Adey

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[spendorman]

Brilliant repair, great idea the olive oil and vinegar, not heard of that one before, I have sometimes used Teak Oil to good effect.

The T27's look like early ones, having the blue wire visible from the front.

[ianlenco]

Thanks everyone :) Martyn, I paid the asking price. I'll post a pic of the spring clips next time they are out - should be soon. Forgot, I've also got to clean up the little tweeter grilles and reattach them.

[ianlenco]

Back to work after Christmas and there's a couple of jobs to do.

First the loose tweeter covers.

http://i.imgur.com/3KpXt9Vh.jpg#gWPQG

At first I thought they were slightly rusty but now I can see it is simply the old glue. These need reattaching.

Now to the spring clips.

http://i.imgur.com/7I5PMUPh.jpg#gWPQG

I'm trying to work out why someone should do this to these lovely speakers. Maybe they had bare wire speaker cable but rather than buy some banana plugs they thought it would be easier to bodge some holes and fit the spring clip :scratch:

Ah well, whoever it was was clearly a craftsman

http://i.imgur.com/OYIZE7Hh.jpg#gWPQG

:eek: :(

Probably the best way would be to totally remove the back of the cabinets but I'm worried that knocking them out might just cause the whole cabinet to collapse plus I can't see an easy way to take off the Rogers labels to transfer them :undecided:

Any opinions?

[ianlenco]

I decided against knocking the back panel off although I did get the labels off using the old hair dryer technique so when I get to painting the backs it will be a lot easier.

Cut the hole to a more or less rectangular shape and inserted some 12mm ply then glued in place with Titebond which is pretty good at filling gaps although the inserts were a decent fit.

http://i.imgur.com/LoTRKEHh.jpg#gWPQG

Tomorrow I'll get the filler out then lots of rubbing down and hopefully painting. The internal foam is a bit chewed, more so since I pulled it around to get the repair in so I think I'll order a complete set from Falcon.

[Martyn Miles]

What a mess was made with those spring clip collectors.
Your solution of the inset wooden plate looks a good solution.

When I'm building up LS3/5as, I try to obtain reasonable cabinets.
Trouble is, they're getting:
(a) rare and
(b) expensive.
Stirling Broacast sells genuine used LS3/5a cabinets at up to £400 !

I have used new Falcon Acoustics cabinets for some builds, as people
like new cabinets.
Fully understandable.

As you can see I really like LS3/5as...

[ianlenco]

Hi Martyn,
Maybe I could bring mine round to yours when they're finished so you can cast your expert ears over them - or you can come here of course.

[Martyn Miles]

Where do you live ?
I am Nr. Oxford.

Martyn.

[ianlenco]

I'll pm you

[ianlenco]

After a couple of days filling/rubbing down/painting/rubbing down/painting etc I've got the backs repaired. It wasn't just the removal of the spring clips, there were a lot of bad scratches on the backs.

http://i.imgur.com/vafGDOJh.jpg#gWPQG

From certain angles and light conditions you can just about see the repair but generally I'm happy with the result and at least it's now airtight!

[Martyn Miles]

After a couple of days filling/rubbing down/painting/rubbing down/painting etc I've got the backs repaired. It wasn't just the removal of the spring clips, there were a lot of bad scratches on the backs.

http://i.imgur.com/vafGDOJh.jpg#gWPQG

From certain angles and light conditions you can just about see the repair but generally I'm happy with the result and at least it's now airtight!

Superb repair.
Well done !

By the way, those terminals look just right

[ianlenco]

You're very kind Martyn. Have to try and reattach the Rogers labels next then replace the internal foam - kit is on its way from Falcon. So should be finished the restoration in a couple of days.

[farflungstar]

Wow. This is why I sold them - I could never have done such a good job. If the old guy who gave them to me could see the work going into them he'd be amazed. I doff my cap...

Adey

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[ianlenco]

Foam arrived today. All cut to size so an easy fit - loose fitting below.

http://i.imgur.com/Mc7fV1jh.jpg#gWPQG

So, solder the crossovers to the speaker sockets, attach the tweeter grilles and wash and fit the speaker grilles.

http://i.imgur.com/JItFhqth.jpg#gWPQG

http://i.imgur.com/vwVlvpVh.jpg#gWPQG

That apparent blob on the grille is just a light anomaly.

Finished! They're playing and sound even better. Odd thing is they go louder without distress. I assume now the cabinets are properly sealed there's more back pressure on the mid-bass units so they work better :undecided: Voices are so lovely :)

[British high fidelity]

Well done they look brand new and i bet they sound fantastic, good job mate!

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[ianlenco]

Thanks Deano but close up there are still a few marks that show they are definitely not brand new! Adds a bit of character :) You're right about the sound though.

[Frazeur1]

Really nice work on the repair. It totally boggles the mind why someone would do such a botch job on a great pair of speakers, wow. Nice to see them being taken care of properly and bringing them back to such a nice condition. Well done!

[farflungstar]

I know a little about their history... they belonged to an old gent (English) here in Alicante for many years until one stopped working (about 8 years ago). He got a Spanish electrician to fix them - without success. They were then left in storage until he gave them to me in the hope I could fix them. Nope - I wouldn't have tried - hence the sale.
Adey

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[Sovereign]

Well done Ian, great thread by the way.

[farflungstar]

Knowing the awful state they were in Ian's nothing short of a genius!

Adey

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[ianlenco]

Thank you Gents. I've really enjoyed this project and was keen to do justice to these lovely speakers, they've probably come out better than expected. I spent quite a long time listening today and apart from the lack of real low end I've been mightily impressed. I've chucked a variety of music from vinyl and digital (they love vinyl :) ) including male and female vocalists, rock, folk and even a little classical and jazz. They easily project sounds wide and deep, the footsteps on Floyd's Granchester Meadows come from way behind and wide of the left speaker before they march with no jumps across the soundstage - excellent imaging. Stevie Ray Vaughan's Tin Pan Alley sounded beautifully clear although the bass was a bit lighter than I'm used to.

I do have a problem though. I told my wife I bought them with the knowledge that they would be for sale in the near future, there are four other sets of speakers in the house and a few drivers including Coral Flat 8s so I'm already pushing my luck. Now I'm trying to convince her that they are a better investment than money in an ISA etc.
I'm not sure she's convinced but is also very tolerant of my hobby so they'll probably stay for a while longer. :) I'll put my Neat Motive SX2s back in the system tomorrow and see if I will miss the Rogers - if I do then maybe I have to build some AB1 subs next :scratch:

[Martyn Miles]

Thank you Gents. I've really enjoyed this project and was keen to do justice to these lovely speakers, they've probably come out better than expected. I spent quite a long time listening today and apart from the lack of real low end I've been mightily impressed. I've chucked a variety of music from vinyl and digital (they love vinyl :) ) including male and female vocalists, rock, folk and even a little classical and jazz. They easily project sounds wide and deep, the footsteps on Floyd's Granchester Meadows come from way behind and wide of the left speaker before they march with no jumps across the soundstage - excellent imaging. Stevie Ray Vaughan's Tin Pan Alley sounded beautifully clear although the bass was a bit lighter than I'm used to.

I do have a problem though. I told my wife I bought them with the knowledge that they would be for sale in the near future, there are four other sets of speakers in the house and a few drivers including Coral Flat 8s so I'm already pushing my luck. Now I'm trying to convince her that they are a better investment than money in an ISA etc.
I'm not sure she's convinced but is also very tolerant of my hobby so they'll probably stay for a while longer. :) I'll put my Neat Motive SX2s back in the system tomorrow and see if I will miss the Rogers - if I do then maybe I have to build some AB1 subs next :scratch:

Ah, wives and speakers. Fortunately my wife is fairly good about mine.
I have three pairs indoors and a pair in the garage. They are JBLs for my PA system.

One pair is off to Spain soon, but I'm in the process of building another pair up.
There are a pair of Radfords which I've bought and haven't collected yet.

Yes, I do love speakers...