I've got a pair of VMPS MiniTower IIA Speakers that I've had in storage for the past 15 years or so. According to the stamp on the inside of the cabinet, they were manufactured on June 27th, 1988. I purchased them new in late 1988 or early 1989. From what I remember, the cost somewhere around $1200 new. And I know that they sounded great!!! Better then any other speaker in that price range that I listened to at that time.
While in storage, they got some water damage to the bases - the MDF is all swollen and coming apart. Also, the foam surrounds on the Woofers, 4197's, and the Passive Radiators are pretty much gone. So, they'll all need to be re-foamed. And one of the grills, over the Super Tweeter, KSN-1039's, is cracked.
The upper parts of the cabinets, the Tweeters, MDT-29's, and the 3915 Mid-Ranges all appear in good shape, and I don't don't think I'll need to do anything to those, short of maybe sanding down the cabinets and refinishing those just to fix some little nicks.
So, I guess my questions are, before I get in to rebuilding these - is it even worth putting any time and money in to these speakers??
Other questions - For the KSN-1039 tweeters, does anyone happen to have a any ideas on where I could pick up a grill to replace the broken one? Or 2 full ones to replace both? Or, another tweeter that would work as a replacement? Or could I just remove the grill from the other one??
For the MDT-29 Tweeters, they seems to be working fine. But, do I have to worry about the ferrofluid being almost 30 years old?? I've found those online for about $50 each. Is it worth replacing these??
On the 3915 midranges, they're in fine shape - a couple of minor dents in the dust covers. Any thoughts on how to remove those dents??
The woofers, 4197's need to be re-foamed and I think I'll be good on those.
For the Passive Radiators, they don't have the Moretite, or any kind of Putty on those. But, it looks like Hot Glue all around the Dust Covers. Should I think about removing the hot Glue and replacing that with Moretite, just so that I can more easily make any adjustments??
And on the Cross-overs, is there anything these I should be concerned about, with these being 30 years old??
Any other things that I should be concerned with or be thinking about before starting any work on these??? I know these were the base model of the MiniTowers without any upgrades to the twitters or cross overs. So, are there any drivers I should think about replacing, just to get a better sounds from these??
Thanks in advance for any help and advice that anyone can give. I'm looking forward to getting these back together and hearing these great speakers again.
Jamie