[Robby L.]

I "believe" they are STR III's?  They are my father-in-laws speakers.  He has loved them like his 3rd child ever since I was introduced to him 13yrs ago.  He has recently purchased VMPS replacements for the 12 and 15" drivers / passive radiator.  However, anything we may be able to upgrade on the Mids?  I don't know the rest of the specs on these box's, but I hope this crappy iPhone picture helps.  They do also have the ambiance tweeters flush mounted to the top.

Sorry for the picture quality, low light lvl's as we were listening to some Live Clapton Video DVD Concert from 2001.

I'm guessing if there are some upgrades to be had, and he unboxed some VMPS products this Xmas, he would be over joyed.

[Brian Cheney]

The old Audax paper cone mids should be upgraded.  New ones are $48 ea, or $192 for the set of 4 plus shipping.

Everything else should be fine provided the tweeters and ribbon still work.

[Robby L.]

Well, guess I might as well get this thread to fruition.  (and again, sorry for the iPhone picture quality)

20yr old cabinet, upgradeable drivers, 20yrs (and counting) of phenomenal sound out of an original design. Invest in VMPS!!


A "slightly" better picture of the original, roughly 20yr old VMPS Super Towers and their original Midrange drivers:
And I must note that they still were amazing!

Old Vs. New:


With the new 5.25's installed:


Closeup:



Thanks Brian, it was a very VMPS Christmas!

[Robby L.]

Father-in-Law provided some much better shots:

[Rocket]

Hi,

Shows what happens when you look after your gear.  Still performing well after all these years.

Regards

Rod

[Brian Cheney]

We have modern equivalents for the drivers in just about every speaker we ever made, back to 1977.   

The few exceptions: fiberglass Focal T120 tweeters.  The manufacturer simply stopped importing drivers or supplying replacement diaphragms.

JVC ribbon tweeters.  See above.  We have modern EMIT-R ribbons mounted on adapters to fit the JVC cutout.

No need to discard "classic" VMPS speakers, just contact the factory for available upgrades and replacements.

[davidc1]

Sorry to bring this 12 yr old thread up..but, I have the same midranges and was wondering what I could upgrade to as well.

Mine are Supertowers from 1980, upgraded in 1989 due to the surrounds disintegrating on virtually every driver.

But the mids I have are the same as the older mids in these pics. The ones with the larger center caps. Audax it appears according to Brians's reply.

But, unfortunately, he didn't mention what the "new" ones are. Any idea what I should replace with that doesn't require a change in the crossover?

Also, it seems he says a change from the JVC leaf tweeter to an EMIT-R would work with an adaptor. This is less important though since I probably can't hear anything above 12kHz anyway. lol

[Stimpy]

It's hard to tell now what the replacement drivers are?  More modern though, since they have bucking magnets.  But, if I had to guess, they look like Goldwood drivers.  Brian used guite a few different Goldwood models, so maybe these are too?  Parts Express sells 5 1/4" pin cushion mids.  They have both 4 and 8 Ohm version's.  Measure the impedance of your mids to see what they read, and buy accordingly.

https://www.parts-express.com/goldwood-gw-205-8s-5-1-4-shielded-poly-woofer-8-ohm--290-376

https://www.parts-express.com/goldwood-gw-205-4s-5-1-4-shielded-poly-woofer-4-ohm--290-374

As to the JVC ribbons, if they work, I'd leave them alone.  They're nice ribbons and I wouldn't replace them.

[ST86]

When I upgraded the mids on my Supertowers Brian referred to them as "Classic Mids".  I don't know where he got them or who made them but they look very similar to these:

https://www.parts-express.com/open-box-dayton-audio-dc130b-4-5-1-4-classic-woofer-speaker--86-295-307

The mids are wired in series, mine are 4 ohm drivers.

Unfortunately it looks like Dayton has these on clearance, so if these really are Supertower mids there is limited supply.

Just another (maybe?) data point.

Regards,

Ed