Can someone tell me what I'm looking at?

[Pigmy Pony]

Earlier this week one of the speakers in my second system (Celestion 5's) went quiet. Had a look behind panel on the rear, and without wanting to baffle anyone with technical jargon, a wire connected to a cylindrical shaped object that looked like wound copper wire wrapped in masking tape, had separated. Time to try out a soldering iron my girls bought me two Christmases ago. Watched a You Tube 'how to' video on how to "soder" (he was American), I gave it a go...and it worked!

I'm so pleased with myself, and it got me thinking about the other bits behind that panel. Trouble is, I don't know what I'm looking at. Apart from aforementioned item (about the size of a thumb), there are two cylindrical shaped object, similar in size to an AA battery but a bit shorter, which are bright blue and have numbers printed on them, also a white thingy similar in size to a lego brick.

Would changing any of these things bring about an improvement in 30 year old speakers, or should I leave well alone?

[Macca]

The thing you fixed sounds like an inductor, the 'AA batteries' are capacitors. The lego brick probably a resistor. You might get a benefit from replacing the capacitors with new ones.

[Pepperamip]

Mainly capacitors, if theres a disc shaped one that'll be a polyswitch.

You should see if theres capacitor upgrade kit available for your exact model and then just switch out the same value caps one at a time. I did this with my klipsch speakers and the improvement took me by surprise.

You could also solder in some better quality internal wires too if you get brave :)

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[Discopants]

A picture paints a thousand words......

Im no expert either but crossovers usually have capacitors, inductors and resistors. The inductors have windings, the caps are the batteries, the lego might be a resistor. The ratings printed on them will have units which are the give away.




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[Pigmy Pony]

A picture paints a thousand words......

Im no expert either but crossovers usually have capacitors, inductors and resistors. The inductors have windings, the caps are the batteries, the lego might be a resistor. The ratings printed on them will have units which are the give away.




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Yeah sorry about that Martin, I don't know how to post pictures. Thanks guys, I'm going to see what I can find out about the Celestion's capacitors - these little speakers, nice though they are, owe me nothing so I'm not afraid to have a play :)

[Discopants]

I cant do pictures yet either [emoji1782]


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[walpurgis]

I cant do pictures yet either [emoji1782]


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If you want to practise uploading images, try tinypic: http://tinypic.com/

I wrote a guidance note ages ago:

http://i68.tinypic.com/zwykc1.png

Which I just uploaded using tinypic! :)

[Pigmy Pony]

Yes, I tried it months ago, and just ended up with a laptop-shaped hole in the living room window...

I think the problem with me started at the camera stage - my iphone's pictures ended up huge and rotated through 90 degrees, and I couldn't do anything about it. Maybe I should buy a super-cheap digital camera.

[walpurgis]

You could try free image editing software for photos on your computer. Faststone Image Viewer is easy enough to use. You can resize, crop, reorientate and adjust quality etc.

Just download it and have a play with what it can do: https://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

[Firebottle]

Yes, I tried it months ago, and just ended up with a laptop-shaped hole in the living room window...

I think the problem with me started at the camera stage - my iphone's pictures ended up huge and rotated through 90 degrees, and I couldn't do anything about it. Maybe I should buy a super-cheap digital camera.

Steve, the best thing to do when taking pictures for forum use is to set the camera on the lowest picture size, usually 0.3 Mb.
This gives images which are a perfect size for forum use and takes shorter times to upload and download as they are small files.

It's what i do all the time.

[Macca]

Is that why my pictures always come out massive?

[fatmarley]

I usually resize (Quick resize/resample) my pics in Faststone image viewer to 800x600.

[Edward]

I'm so old school, for a quick and clean job I use Microsoft Paint for resizing.

[alphaGT]

Mainly capacitors, if theres a disc shaped one that'll be a polyswitch.

You should see if theres capacitor upgrade kit available for your exact model and then just switch out the same value caps one at a time. I did this with my klipsch speakers and the improvement took me by surprise.

You could also solder in some better quality internal wires too if you get brave :)

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I’ll second that on the wires. If you go in to replace the capacitors you may as well replace the internal wires while you’re at it. Some nice oxygen free copper wire made for running inside the walls, 12g or 14g, depending on the size and rating, will make a real difference. I’ve restored a few pairs of old speakers and the wire in them was substandard. Stick it to the side with a hot glue gun, so it doesn’t rattle, with enough slack to remove the speakers.

Russell

[Pigmy Pony]

Thanks everyone, this is all very helpful. Now can anyone recommend a good place to buy these bits?

[YNWaN]

Falcon Acoustics do a few good choices at good prices and it’s Hi-Fi Collective for a broader and more exotic range.

[Firebottle]

+1 Falcon Acoustics

[Pigmy Pony]

Smashing, tomorrow I'll have a look at the numbers printed on those capacitors, then have a poke around Falcon's website.

[walpurgis]

You might want to check out what Cricklewood Electronics have to offer on ebay. They tend to be cheaper than Falcon.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bipolar-Capacitor-Alcap-50v-150v-1uf-470uf-Sold-In-Pairs-Speaker-Crossover-Caps/261803815766?hash=item3cf4b93356:m:mxgNKPtsdBbyjrf SbH0-1Tg

[alphaGT]

I shop at “www. Partsexpress.com”, I’m not sure if they sell internationally? But I think they do. They’ve got everything you need to build speakers from scratch, or restore one in most any condition. All manner of Capacitors, at different price levels. And good wire too. I can spend all kinds of time just looking at all the speakers they sell, for DIY projects.

Russell

[Pharos]

Parts Express does sell internationally, at least to me in the UK, I bought some rubber refurbisher from them.

[Edward]

As I'm near Cricklewood Electronics I typically get caps from them. I just take the crossovers to them and they match things up. Couple of times they did not have the correct values so I got them from Wilmslow Audio who also do a range of good speaker components (e.g. grill cloth). If your speakers are not extremely high end I'd suggest cheaper/standard caps (e.g Cricklewood do Alcaps) but if your speakers are high end then consider caps such as Claritycap or Mundorf. Things can get quite expensive (have a look at HiFi collective for examples).

[fatmarley]

I buy stuff from partsexpress when I can't get it over here. Brilliant company imo.

[fatmarley]

I like Ansar polypropylene caps (Wilmslow audio sell a rebadged version). I actually prefer them to the much more expensive Jantzen z superior.

[spendorman]

You might want to check out what Cricklewood Electronics have to offer on ebay. They tend to be cheaper than Falcon.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bipolar-Capacitor-Alcap-50v-150v-1uf-470uf-Sold-In-Pairs-Speaker-Crossover-Caps/261803815766?hash=item3cf4b93356:m:mxgNKPtsdBbyjrf SbH0-1Tg

Before they were Cricklewood (decades ago) they were called Marshalls. I think I still have a catalogue.

[walpurgis]

Before they were Cricklewood (decades ago) they were called Marshalls. I think I still have a catalogue.

Anything do do with the Marshall PA company?

[spendorman]

Anything do do with the Marshall PA company?

I don't thinks so, but could be wrong. I had a look for the old catalogue, but couldn't find it. Might be a scan of the cover on my PC, will do a search.

Marshalls did stock a good range of valves back then.

[spendorman]

I remember now, scanned the front cover and threw the catalogue

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7888/47506633651_5f6fedc65a_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2fnZV5x)Marshalls (https://flic.kr/p/2fnZV5x) by A60man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41679262@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7817/47453870752_29437ae4ab_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2fikuvo)Marshalls 0001 (https://flic.kr/p/2fikuvo) by A60man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41679262@N02/), on Flickr

[alphaGT]

Parts Express has loads of Capacitors and Inductors and Resisters, variable resisters to make adjustable crossovers, they even sell complete crossovers!

But their house brand is Dayton. And they’ve got 1% film caps from Dayton for very reasonable prices, that’s what I’m planning to use in my upcoming speaker project.

They also sell some basic equipment and software for designing and measuring loudspeakers.

Russell