[WallyWest]

I was given a pair of IL30's that turned out to be damaged.  One tweeter is torn right down the middle, and the other has a large dent in it that I can't get out.  I could replace them, but then I'd have money into what appears to be some pretty basic two way speakers.  I don't want them that bad, lol. 

So then I thought I could pull everything out of them and put some drivers from GR Research in it.  If it works at all that is. 

This is what they look like. 



6.5" woofer mounted normally.  Tweeter unfortunately is mounted to the back of that silver faceplate.  Four mounting posts in a square, just a hair under 1.5" between posts.  There is a hole in the baffle behind it, the way the faceplate sinks inward the tweeter is sitting inside the cutout.  The hole is 3" across.  Could be problematic with anything but the original tweeter.  It's wired currently to allow for bi-amping, obviously the crossover would have to be replaced anyway.  It looks very basic with cheap components anyway. 

Box is roughly 1.18 ft^3 internal volume, ported in the rear.  Port is about 2.75" across. 

So at all workable?  Or should I just throw these in the trash? 

[Danny Richie]

What do you have left when you remove the face plate?

[WallyWest]

There's a slight cutout for the faceplate itself, so that it sits flush with the surface.

Second pic is the back side of the faceplate, with the stock tweeter sitting there too.

[Danny Richie]

If you made yourself a new wood face plate to replace the old one then you might be able to re purpose the box more easily.

[gregfisk]

Like Danny says, if you make a piece that fits right into that space that the face plate is in you would have an open slate to work with. Then figure out how much volume you need in the box for the speakers you use and go from there. I bet you could make a nice 2 way using those boxes, maybe even get some no-res in them.

I like the boxes alot and and you could use some nice wood in a different color to fit in the space you have.

Looks like a fun project to me.

Have Fun,

Greg

[WallyWest]

Thanks, that's a good idea.  Only reason I really considered it is the cabinets are pretty nice.  A nice light colored wood in place of that plastic piece would be a cool contrast against the black.  It's not flat black, I think it's supposed to be a zebra wood type pattern. 

With both drivers out I think I'll have enough access to put no-rez in there. 

I was thinking maybe the N2X kit would work.  I'd have to move one of the drivers a bit so they'd overlap like the design calls for.  If I'm making a new face for it anyway that's not a problem.

[timind]

That is a nice looking finish on them. It looks like a fun project, good luck.

[Oscillate]

I am not sure what internal volume the NX2s call for ...but after knowing that,
I would first brace the upper secton of the cabinets really well, take the volume
the braces occupy, subtact that from the required NX2 volume and then place a
transverse piece of wood in the cabinets ...effectively creating two seperate and
sealed off spaces within a cabinet. Because I get the feeling the NX2s use less
volume than those cabinets provide(?) ...not taking into account if the NX2s are
ported and how that could interplay with your existing port(?)

[jcotner]

I have some IL60s as mains in HT setup. I have through about having Danny
redo the crossover. Best I can remember with Infinity's and mine are very
similar to yours, is that there was something kind of weird about the box,
baffle or crossover. It just been too many years. I think the driver mounting
arrangement was likely to offset the tweeter and woofer, much like what is
still done today.
It's a shame about the tweeter though, that was supposed to be one of the
better parts of the speaker.

[WallyWest]

I am not sure what internal volume the NX2s call for ...but after knowing that,
I would first brace the upper secton of the cabinets really well, take the volume
the braces occupy, subtact that from the required NX2 volume and then place a
transverse piece of wood in the cabinets ...effectively creating two seperate and
sealed off spaces within a cabinet. Because I get the feeling the NX2s use less
volume than those cabinets provide(?) ...not taking into account if the NX2s are
ported and how that could interplay with your existing port(?)

Well, the 165X woofer that the N2X uses goes down to 37hz in a 1.2 ft^3 enclosure, which is pretty close to what these speakers are.  So based on that I don't think these are too big for the drivers the N2X uses. 

What I don't know is if I can just use the N2X kit as is, slap it into these cabinets and have it all work fine.  I *think* it should perform very similar, just with a bit more bass extension.  I got the idea from the X-LS Encore kit, which has a larger floorstanding version.  Same drivers, same crossover, only difference in the kit is more wire and floor spikes. 

But I'm more of a mad scientist than an expert speaker designer, hence why I'm asking here first. 

[mlundy57]

Just because the drivers fit and volume is the same doesn't mean the crossovers will work.

The surest route would be to install the drivers in one and send it to Danny for testing. That way he can get the crossover right for that cabinet.