Rexton's Valve System - Upgrade Blog

[Filterlab]

Nice.

[Wakefield Turntables]

ERM.... I managed to screw up one of the Monacor drop in drivers for the Super Compacts II, that's the bad news. The good news is that I decided to give myself the green light on going to town on these. I ordered some Cardas solid copper binding posts, a new Monacor mid-range driver, and a re-cap kit from Falcon. Replacing the binding the posts should be very easy indeed, just a matter of removing 4 screws, a bit of soldering and then bolting the new binding posts into place. I've decided I like the "tone" of these speakers and will be keeping the tinned copper wiring. I'll be initially re-capping with a re-cap supplied by Falcon and then probably move onto something a lot more exotic. Overall I'm VERY happy with these speakers and they make a welcome addition to my stable of classic UK speakers which join Tannoys 15" MG's, Quad 57 ESL's, Celestion Ditton 15's, JR 149's and a pair of Heybrook HB2. Pics to follow.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pt IX - IMF's continued.

As you know I'm very taken by the IMF's so I thought I'd do an update. I'm stumped now until new parts arrive and I can't even listen to them due to me buggering up one of the drivers I received earlier in the week. So, with a little time on my hands I decided to clean the drivers. Before the deep clean.


And after..



And a quick shot of the two units together. They look very smart boys... They do look better in real life I think the camera did them a dis-justice.




And a quick photo of one the speaker with the new midrange unit installed and my Super tweeters installed in parallel.



The binding posts are pretty naff on the IMF's so I ordered some of these from Cardas.

cardas_ccbpl_350.jpg

They should solve the problem of not being able to properly use my WBT spades (they are too big) . So the project is moving slowly forward. Hopefully over the next week I should have the XO's recapped, new drivers and binding posts installed. I can then sit back, relax and enjoy them.

[Edward]

Looks good. How did you clean the drivers?

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[Wakefield Turntables]

Looks good. How did you clean the drivers?

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Labour 10-15 minutes.

[Edward]

Labour 10-15 minutes.

At times I've found that very light brushing (using a fine artist paint brush) gets rid of most stuff. But other times the dirt is embedded so need to do more. For example a very mild (ie very slight) damp q tip or microfibre cloth is needed.

I've heard of some people using a light oil on surrounds, but I've not tried that.

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[Wakefield Turntables]

Finally finished the IMF's. New Cardas solid copper binding posts, these are lovely works of art. Recapped XO's and fresh installed mid range drivers. Just set them up and now listening. No opinion as yet. I'll probably give them 30-50 hours to bed in. Happy days. Pictures before the weekend.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pt X - IMF's complete and making nice sounds, playing groovy tunes!

I finally managed to get a bit of time organised to finish these brilliant speakers, so now a few pics.

Here's a picture of the new components




Keeping things as original as possible. The caps came as a direct replacement from Falcon Accoustics and they were a decent price as well. Pure copper Cardas binding posts. These binding posts are excellent and some of the best I've ever seen, now follows a close up.




Open heart surgery! The bass unit and the XO exposed.




XO close up, ELCAP'S they do make a great sound but they are very prone to wandering!



And now fresh caps, ready for another 35 years of service.



Finally Cardas meets WBT!



Until next time Amigos...

[Wakefield Turntables]

Pt XI - More IMF tweaking.

Just a wee, teeny-weeny update. My IMF's are now sounding bloody fantastic! The resistors on the XO's have wandered a little and they have a 5% tolerance which is now more like 10% so I've had a quick look over on HiFi Collective and have ordered a couple of these Jantzen 1% 10W resistors to replace them.

jantzen-superes-resistors-10w-350.jpg

Here's a picture of the XO and the resistor they will replace.



Next update should show some improvements to the speaker cabinets with some scratches to be removed....

[walpurgis]

Coming along well Andy!