SD Acoustics SD1 With Quad 303?

[walpurgis]

http://www.wembleyloudspeaker.com/

[Roy S]

the 303 was actually a piss poor amp.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Actually, I know someone who has a pair of SD1's that need re-foaming...any speaker repairer recommendations? and rough price?
Cheers..

Use rubber surrounds, foam rots, hence the silliness of re-foaming because in 12-15 months
you are likely just to have to do it all again. Rubber surrounds, last a lot longer.

Cheers / Chris

[donmarrese]

Use rubber surrounds, foam rots, hence the silliness of re-foaming because in 12-15 months
you are likely just to have to do it all again. Rubber surrounds, last a lot longer.

Cheers / Chris

Thanks Chris...those inconescenti (in the know) might raise an eyebrow when leaning towards a non-original repair...rubber or foam? What would you do for your SD1's?

Vote now before the lines close.....

[Beobloke]

Rubber changes the characteristic of the drive unit and will alter its sound. The SD1s are lovely speakers so why compromise them?

Surrounds are available from Good Hi-Fi in the Netherlands for around £20 and re-foaming is not a difficult job if you have patience and a steady hand

[Light Dependant Resistor]

The original material used was ??? very likely not silly foam.

Jerry at post #3 from the wam site " I was a bit concerned about possible foam rot on the drivers, but when I arrived to pick them up the surrounds looked pristine. Yup, the seller confirmed, newly done - should be good for another 15-20 years! I was mighty pleased with that."

Foam would not last 15-20 years, so likely rubber was used. Perhaps Jerry can confirm
With rubber the speaker compliance if it is an acoustic suspension lowers slightly
typically with even better bass response. That is what I found with my AR7's

The image attached shows an AR7 with rubber, and the other image foam rot.
The evidence should be pretty obvious as to the foolishness of using foam.

Cheers / Chris

[narabdela]

Sadly.. when All is said and Done.. the 303 was actually a piss poor amp.
Only redeeming feature/attraction of the thing was it's unique (for the time) packaging.

Wash your mouth out with soap Sir!



(or buy some Q-tips).

[Beobloke]

The original material used was ??? very likely not silly foam.

Jerry at post #3 from the wam site " I was a bit concerned about possible foam rot on the drivers, but when I arrived to pick them up the surrounds looked pristine. Yup, the seller confirmed, newly done - should be good for another 15-20 years! I was mighty pleased with that."

Foam would not last 15-20 years, so likely rubber was used. Perhaps Jerry can confirm
With rubber the speaker compliance if it is an acoustic suspension lowers slightly
typically with even better bass response. That is what I found with my AR7's

The image attached shows an AR7 with rubber, and the other image foam rot.
The evidence should be pretty obvious as to the foolishness of using foam.

Cheers / Chris

Firstly, I consider that there is nothing 'foolish' about refurbishing a loudspeaker in a way that maintains its original performance as near as possible. If the original driver had worked best with a rubber surround then it would have been fitted with one.

As a second point, the foam used in modern surrounds has a different chemical makeup to those used thirty or so years ago, making future rot much less likely. Equally, it's not unheard of for rubber to perish or harden with age!

[walpurgis]

A change of cone surround material is not necessarily a recipe for disaster. I've done it and had good results.

Tannoy did it with the HPD 295 unit. The early 295 Chevening version using rather short lived foam and the later 295A Eaton variant having synthetic rubber. The only other real difference between the drivers was the back doping on the 295A cone, which would have added a little mass, so lowering the unit resonance slightly. The 12" driver in the Tannoy Balmoral is a low resonance foam surround version of the driver in the SRM 12X which has hard corrugated fabric surrounds on the same cone instead.

[cargar]

Use rubber surrounds, foam rots, hence the silliness of re-foaming because in 12-15 months
you are likely just to have to do it all again. Rubber surrounds, last a lot longer.

Cheers / Chris

That is not the case at all. I refoamed my AR's 9 year's ago - still look as good as the day they were done.It was the first refoam on them and they were built in the mid 70's. !2 months .....i do not think so.
If the speaker's were originally foam, re-foam. Rubber , re- rubber