[davidc1]

Well, I finally got them home. The price was a steal...but the shipping ($1600), balanced that out. Oh well, but finally got my dream speakers. Sort of like when you were a kid and you had that picture of the Lamborghini Countach on the wall, and then you got it as a salvage...

Anyway, I bought insurance so  the shipper will cover the cost of repairs/replace.

Damage is to

1. Surround on the Focal T120 tweeter (the yellowish fiberglass one is what Brian used I think)
2. One Focal T120 tweeter is discolored (what does this mean?) It's next to the one with the tear in the surrround
3. Three of the carbon fiber (crosshatch type)  midranges with cones smooshed in.
4.One 12" cone smooshed in
5. One 10" cone smooshed in
6. One 10" cone surround cut (the upper with foam surround)

I'm looking to repair or better yet replace.

Looking for anybody who has (A) spare drivers, or (B) if the equivalent is available from Parts-Express (I seem to remember the equivalent woofers are available for some), or (C) repair of the speakers.

Looking at all options if you guys can help me with the info. See the pics below. Can't wait to get these baby's running.

[ZAKski288]

Looks like the woofer will be a easy fix.

Link to fix center cap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15ISAHOSkQ

[owlsalum1]

Best advice I can offer is remove the damaged drivers, should be as simple as removing the mount screws, and verify the make/model of the driver. Assuming they're standard off the shelf units, check madisound.com for replacements. IMHO forget partsexpress. NOT my go to for drivers or DIY speaker parts in general. If you can't find it at madisound, which stocks pretty much every brand of driver of any interest, it may not be available.

[davidc1]

Best advice I can offer is remove the damaged drivers, should be as simple as removing the mount screws, and verify the make/model of the driver. Assuming they're standard off the shelf units, check madisound.com for replacements. IMHO forget partsexpress. NOT my go to for drivers or DIY speaker parts in general. If you can't find it at madisound, which stocks pretty much every brand of driver of any interest, it may not be available.

Thanks for the advise. I haven't been to madisound...I'll check them out. But, the thing about Brians designs is that many, not all, but many of his drivers were either custom ordered or modified. And if they were off the shelf, probably not made anymore. But, I heard that even though the drivers may not have a name on the back, many times the experts at repair shops can ID the manufacture.

[GeorgeAb]

Dave,

How do they sound?  Fire those bad boys up and let them sing! You can deal with the little stuff as you go. Also as you go about working on individual drivers consider taking one driver out and doing the repair (discussed below) and then going on to the next. This way you can enjoy your towers rather then making it a bigger project of attempting to do everything at once. Now this doesn't apply if you send all the drivers out to get the surrounds replaced, but I suggest you do it yourself.     

WRT to "drivers were either custom ordered or modified", yes some drivers had dust cap removed and custom phase plugs glued in, but that is about it. Those dust caps being pushed in are not going to effect sound and cosmetic fix as Ken (ZAKski288) pointed out is straightforward. If they are too far gone you can cut them out and replace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uOvO0yiF3s . If the voice coil is good as determined by measures 8 or 4 ohms, hear sound, etc. you're golden. 

The surround can be repaired as follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxC7oDIP0wE Or have done by someone who repairs speakers. They are all going to be fairly dried out from age, so you may consider replacing all of them. Once you get one under your belt you'll be a pro. Nice if you had some other speakers drivers around to practice on first. Some junkers you have around or purchase some to gain expertise on performing. Point being practice on something expendable before you do your tower drivers. 

If you want to check each individual driver you could remove driver and use a UMIK-1 measurement microphone and (like $100) and Room EQ Wizard (free, but you should donate). The REW you can either sweep (frequency range you would expect it to work in) or send fixed frequency sine waves directly to the driver and measure near field (to minimize room reflections) and compare the SPL at frequency between drivers. Don't drive too hard as you are driving the speaker directly from amp. Also if you do have to replace then do your research to find frequency range they were designed to work in and SPL at 1Watt and find similar spec'd driver so they work well with XO design and other drivers. You can simplify initially by playing sine wave from test CD in range you expect driver to work and listening to that driver. The generator in REW is so nice though, hard to go back to the way we used to do these sort of things.   

You may consider just replacing the L pads. They are cheap, like $15 each. Brian did not use electrolytic capacitors so none of the caps or inductors in XO should have any issues. 

FIRE'EM up!!

Congrats.   

[ST86]

I have had good results fixing dented dust caps (and dome tweeters) using masking tape.  Take about a 6 to 8 inch strip, ball it up so it is flat (more or less) on one end with sticky side out.  Hold the tape and gently push it onto the dust cap or dome tweeter.  Pull up. You should be able to "undent" the dust cap or dome tweeter.  If masking tape isn't strong enough use duct tape.  Don't push too hard or you make the dent bigger or, in the case of the tweeter, could stick the tape onto it really good. 

Best,

Ed

[JakeJ]

FYI - When you remove drivers remember to mark the wires + & - to match the driver markings.  Ask me how I know. 

[Rocket]

Hi,

For the driver repair you may wish to consider Millersound and you might be able to find new/old stock focal td120 tweeters.  If you like the speakers it may be worthwhile throwing some money at them.

http://www.millersound.net

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/194509348868?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=705-53470-19255-0&campid=5338381868&toolid=10001&customid=f6e2539a-6eef-11ec-82f7-396266626232


Cheers Rod

[davidc1]

FYI - When you remove drivers remember to mark the wires + & - to match the driver markings.  Ask me how I know. 

I know this as well from when I built my ST kits back around 1980!

[davidc1]

Hi,

For the driver repair you may wish to consider Millersound and you might be able to find new/old stock focal td120 tweeters.  If you like the speakers it may be worthwhile throwing some money at them.

http://www.millersound.net

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/194509348868?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=705-53470-19255-0&campid=5338381868&toolid=10001&customid=f6e2539a-6eef-11ec-82f7-396266626232


Cheers Rod

I contacted them already. They suggested replacing the surround on all the Focal's as they said their surrounds will always disintegrate even if they look OK. Told me kits are available on eBay.

He suggested the same for the foam surround woofers. But I'll probably do those only when needed. I'll probably do the top 10in on each speaker. One is torn anyway.

Interestingly he told me to not send the woofers to him. He said the baskets are made out of soft metal and they are easy to damage in shipping. He suggested a local shop around Southern California as we have a lot to them.

He also mentioned the woofers may be made by Buhler. I don't think I've heard that name anywhere on this forum. Has anybody?

He also mentioned that the slightly darker T120 tweeter may be the Kevlar model, perhaps replaced at some point from the normal fiberglass models. Any commnents?

[davidc1]

Hi,

For the driver repair you may wish to consider Millersound and you might be able to find new/old stock focal td120 tweeters.  If you like the speakers it may be worthwhile throwing some money at them.

http://www.millersound.net

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/194509348868?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=705-53470-19255-0&campid=5338381868&toolid=10001&customid=f6e2539a-6eef-11ec-82f7-396266626232


Cheers Rod

Unless I'm not looking at this correctly, the eBay link appears to be a knock-off or something. It's sort of confusing what he's trying to describe? What do you think?

[JakeJ]

It's a paper cone tweeter not a dome so drop-in or no I think it is going to sound dramatically different than what Brian chose.

Just my .02.

[davidc1]

Update on how things are going.

With John Guzzi's advise (Millersound) about not shipping woofers because of the soft metal baskets, I contacted Speaker Repair Pro's in Garden Grove, CA whom he recommended.  Fortunately in driving distance. I brought both upper 10's in for surrounds (about $40ea) and 6 of the 8 Focal T120 tweeters as well ($65 ea.)

They've been around for almost 30 yrs. Really nice guy runs them now.

http://www.speakerrepairpros.com

So, how many of you knew that one of the model numbers on the back of the woofers indicated the manufacturer?

And, how many of you knew that one of the number codes on the back of the woofer indicate the week and year of manufacture?

1056 designates Gefco as the woofer manufacturer. All mine are 1056. Apparently, Gefco was eventually purchased by Fisher (whom I guess way back was considered a quality company) , and then eventually they went out of business.

I will ask him if he knows codes for other manufacturers as well. I guess this was primarily for woofers and usually only for American companies.

I don't know if these were kits, but I do know they have been worked on. The bottom 12 and 15 woofers on the left speaker have polystyrene glued to the baskets presumably to reduce vibration. Also, the left speaker has different wiring for the T120 Focal tweeters. I don't know if the actual crossovers are different, but on some tweeters there are two wires going to a terminal, but on the right speaker only one. They may be joined together further down the wire though...haven't looked. Also, where wires are joined together the splicing is different on one speaker vs. the other for the woofers.

On my 15" woofers, the left looks like 1989, and the right is 1990. It also looks like the left may have had the surround replaced as it looks different from the right.

Also, some of the drivers have sealing tape on the edges, and some don't.

For the T120's, replacement surrounds are apparently made by one company only. They are in the Netherlands and have eBay ads and YouTube videos. Called Audiofriends. The surround replacement looks doable by myself, but tedious. I decided to let Speaker Repair Pros do that to for $65 each.

I haven't even turned the speakers over to look at the L-pads yet.

Here's some pics of the surrounds of the T120 tweeters, and the front and back of the woofers.

Any idea why the color of the T120 diaphragm to the left is different? It's the only one like that. All the others are the same.













Anybody know who the manufacture is of the CF midranges?





Back of the right 15" driver. This is the slightly newer one, but looks like an older surround. No polystyrene on basket






Back of the left, older 15", but with I think a newer surround, notice polystyrene on basket




front of the left, older, 15" driver, but the surround looks newer than the right one






back of the right 15" driver, newer date code
notice no polystyrene on basket.





back of upper 10", this is the one I'm replacing the surround





front of lower 10", crushed center cap which I should be able to pop out easy






back of lower 10"




back of 12"

[GeorgeAb]

Nice work.

I will ask him if he knows codes for other manufacturers as well. I guess this was primarily for woofers and usually only for American companies.

Big list of speaker codes on Audiokarma.org https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/speaker-manuf-eia-codes-the-big-list.491925/

[davidc1]

Nice work.

Big list of speaker codes on Audiokarma.org https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/speaker-manuf-eia-codes-the-big-list.491925/

 :bowdown:Hanging my head....I thought I had "discovered" something.....thanks George!

[Rocket]

Hi David,

I'm glad the miller sound were able to point you in the right direction and help you get the speakers sorted out. I'm sure they'll sound fantastic once you've repaired them.

Cheers Rod