My Tannoy Upgrade - as recommended by Paul @ Reference Fidelity Components

[mikeyb]

This has been really interesting to read as i'm thinking over deeply about getting some Berkleys ...thanks all for posting in this thread

Your welcome, good luck in your search

[Swann36]

Your welcome, good luck in your search

Hi there Mikey, I have a pair of 1 owner Berkleys ...refoamed about 20 years ago so thanks to you and others here i've emailed Paul to explore costs of sorting the drivers out plus following your lead on Crossovers ...so can i ask as we are now over a year on from you working on yours how are you feeling about

1)the work on the cabs ? as i feel that's doable by myself

2) Pauls external Xovers with the simple connecting cables ....and can you clarify for me when you said you made a mistake in how you had Paul arrange the plugs ? so that they needed to be hidden away

3) Is there anything else on reflection you'd like to share before i embark on the same project that you have so succesfully completed, i ask as like you i intend these once done to be a keeper for life ..

many many thanks in advance

[Swann36]

I'm usually cackhanded too, but I'll be honest I found this pretty easy, the only risky bit is removing and handling the drivers. Everything else is easy.

I'd do it again no problem.

I think even just adding the extra bracing and acoustic foam made a big difference, you could tell right away when you tapped your knuckles on the cabinets before and after. So I would say that a cheap and easy upgrade would be that on it's own. Obviously doing the crossovers can be done at different levels too, whether it be a recapping or full blown replacement I'm pretty sure each level would bring improvements, albeit incremental to whatever level you chose.

For the cabinets I bought 24 x 30cm square wedge shaped acoustic foam - £28 inc delivery. 20 Sheets of 2mm Silent Coat - £45 inc delivery and a 2.4m length of 50mm x 18mm softwood strapping - £3.30 from Homebase. So for around £80 I'm sure you would hear improvements

Can i ask how many straps you made ? i can see the one supplimenting the existing front to back support did you create more of them with your 2.4m ? ... many thanks

[mikeyb]

Hi there Mikey, I have a pair of 1 owner Berkleys ...refoamed about 20 years ago so thanks to you and others here i've emailed Paul to explore costs of sorting the drivers out plus following your lead on Crossovers ...so can i ask as we are now over a year on from you working on yours how are you feeling about

1)the work on the cabs ? as i feel that's doable by myself

2) Pauls external Xovers with the simple connecting cables ....and can you clarify for me when you said you made a mistake in how you had Paul arrange the plugs ? so that they needed to be hidden away

3) Is there anything else on reflection you'd like to share before i embark on the same project that you have so succesfully completed, i ask as like you i intend these once done to be a keeper for life ..

many many thanks in advance

1: definitely doable, easy.

2: I had the in fitted on one end and the out on the opposite end, in hindsight I should have had them both at the same end.

3: No not really, only thing I might have considered was building bigger cabinets, as that seems to be a big benefit to the 15” drivers, but I don’t have the room so it was never an option.

Actually thinking again, I would have had Frank (Cooky) do my refoam and saved some cash

[mikeyb]

Can i ask how many straps you made ? i can see the one supplimenting the existing front to back support did you create more of them with your 2.4m ? ... many thanks

I used almost all of the 2.4m with only a very short piece left.

I strapped around all 4 sides mirroring what was there already if I remember right.

[mikeyb]

You’ll see in this photo that the bracing goes along the back, the sides and what you can’t see it that it goes along the front too. So all 4 sides to be done.

[Edward]

Lloyd

In terms of crossovers you could try a cheaper solution and that is to restore the existing crossovers. That is what I did with my Berkeley crossovers - or rather Paul C did on mine. He helpfully also did a walk-through of the process (see his facebook page) which you could follow (with suitable care) if you are confident with a soldering iron. It made an enormous difference.

I also followed the same process of implementing new internal damping etc with help from Paul C and a huge amount from Mike (mikeyb). Thanks once again Mike! The hardest part I found was removing all the old cabinet damping. Takes time.

Edward

[mikeyb]

Lloyd

In terms of crossovers you could try a cheaper solution and that is to restore the existing crossovers. That is what I did with my Berkeley crossovers - or rather Paul C did on mine. He helpfully also did a walk-through of the process (see his facebook page) which you could follow (with suitable care) if you are confident with a soldering iron. It made an enormous difference.

I also followed the same process of implementing new internal damping etc with help from Paul C and a huge amount from Mike (mikeyb). Thanks once again Mike! The hardest part I found was removing all the old cabinet damping. Takes time.

Edward

Lol, yeah that was a pain removing the foam, one speaker it came off in tiny pieces, the other one it came off in much larger strips.

[Swann36]

I used almost all of the 2.4m with only a very short piece left.

I strapped around all 4 sides mirroring what was there already if I remember right.

Many thanks for the reply and the pic really helpfull ... would you suggest that i "strap" more than once if i get more wood than your 2.4m or even put braces up the sides in addition to the strap you did ?

[mikeyb]

Many thanks for the reply and the pic really helpfull ... would you suggest that i "strap" more than once if i get more wood than your 2.4m or even put braces up the sides in addition to the strap you did ?

Not sure about that, they already have bracing around the middle anyway and what I fitted on advice from Paul at RFC was just to add it there, I would think if it needed more he would have said so.