[vinagunner]

v

[rebbi]

Okay, Gang,

Here are some "gut shots" of the Omega Super Alnico's as I was replacing the Alnico Help driver that had had its voice coil knocked out of whack by FedEx.   

Gingerly removing the first screw, fearful of sneezing and putting a gash in the gorgeous zebra wood finish.   


Amazing the kind of photos you can take with a cell phone these days...


Here's the original, damaged driver:


Because the leads clip on to the driver connecting tabs, attachment is a breeze. No solder needed. Also, the leads are both color coded and sized differently to make reversing them impossible!   


I like this shot because you can really see the multi-layer construction of the cabinet:


Here's the internal cabling, made by Supra in Sweden. My speaker cable, the Supra Classic 6.0, is a heavier gauge version of the same thing.


Here you can see the internal damping layer, along with the front end of the port, which has a thin layer of fabric stretched over it.


The new driver, as it ships in its box.


... along with a side view.


 I will add that installing the new driver to be about twenty minutes, but that was because I was being super-paranoid-careful. An experienced person could do it in ten minutes.

[vinagunner]

v

[DaveC113]

Looks good!

I just had some rebuilt woofers knocked out of whack during shipping so the voice coil was rubbing. I used a dial indicator to figure out where it was off and a large solid-brass hammer to straighten it out. It worked! 

[roymail]

That first picture at the top of your post, I couldn't see any visible damage to the driver.  You did say that pic was the damaged driver being carefully removed, right?  What am I missing?  Thanks for posting all the pictures, and all the best with your new Omegas.

[DaveC113]

That first picture at the top of your post, I couldn't see any visible damage to the driver.  You did say that pic was the damaged driver being carefully removed, right?  What am I missing?  Thanks for posting all the pictures, and all the best with your new Omegas.

If a speaker or driver is dropped in shipping it can skew the voice coil gap so the VC rubs against the motor magnet as the speaker cone moves. There is no way to see this damage but if you gently press the cone in and out you can feel it rubbing. If you play music it will buzz...  With some drivers, especially ones with steel baskets and ferrite motors, it's possible to measure the displacement by putting the driver on a level surface and measuring the height of the magnet along the edges, then doing something to straighten it out... like hitting it with a big hammer or prying on the magnet.

[roymail]

Thanks, Dave.  Appreciate the detailed explanation.

[rebbi]

That first picture at the top of your post, I couldn't see any visible damage to the driver.  You did say that pic was the damaged driver being carefully removed, right?  What am I missing?  Thanks for posting all the pictures, and all the best with your new Omegas.

Roy,
You can't really see it due to the camera angle in the first picture, but looking down at the speaker from above, you'd be able to see that the whizzer cone was skewed off to the right by a few degrees - i.e., not fully perpendicular to the main driver cone. As Louis explained to me, since the whizzer is connected to the voice coil, this is one way to tell that the voice coil has been banged out of alignment.
I tried gently pressing my thumbs on the side of the main driver to see if I could feel any catching or scraping and I could not. But the driver itself was literally generating more buzzing and rattling than music, which is another sign that the VC was messed up. Louis told me that a corner drop to the box in shipping usually won't cause damage of this nature, but a "belly flop" straight down can do it.

[beowulf]

Wow, nice pics rebbi!  Those speakers are built like a brick house!  Love the Zebrawood as well.  I was thinking about walnut for next pair of Omegas as I love Walnut so much, but after seeing how yours turned out I really love them and from the pics it seems as if Zebrawood has more brown tones in it and they would go well with my other walnut furniture as well.

[pstrisik]

Wow, nice pics rebbi!  Those speakers are built like a brick house!  Love the Zebrawood as well.  I was thinking about walnut for next pair of Omegas as I love Walnut so much, but after seeing how yours turned out I really love them and from the pics it seems as if Zebrawood has more brown tones in it and they would go well with my other walnut furniture as well.

I have Zebrawood on my Super7XRS'.  They darken a fair amount over time.  They kinda are a walnut shade of dark in its darker tones.  The difference is the contrasting lighter tones.  I'll get a photo up and we can compare to Rebbi's brand new wood. 

Rebbi, If you get a chance, I'd love to see the rear and new terminals Louis is using.  He says this month for me, so I'm trying to hold myself over till then! 

........Peter

[pstrisik]

Here's a couple of shots.........   

[pstrisik]

This photo of Rebbi's seems to be thought of as the best representation.  Maybe they don't look that different (?).  Different cameras, rooms, lighting, so not very scientific.  I know mine did darken as I had the grills on until about two months ago and there was a clear delineation where the grill was.  After a couple of months with the grills off, the rest of the veneer darkened and caught up.  Louis predicted that and he was certainly correct.

[rebbi]

I have Zebrawood on my Super7XRS'.  They darken a fair amount over time.  They kinda are a walnut shade of dark in its darker tones.  The difference is the contrasting lighter tones.  I'll get a photo up and we can compare to Rebbi's brand new wood. 

Rebbi, If you get a chance, I'd love to see the rear and new terminals Louis is using.  He says this month for me, so I'm trying to hold myself over till then! 

........Peter

Here you go:







Sorry the orientation of the photos is screwy – don't know how to fix that!

[pstrisik]

Thanks...  they're pretty alright.  Seems about the same as mine though.  Only mine are silver colored rather than gold.





.......Peter

[beowulf]

Thanks for all the cool pics guys, the Zebrawood is quite stunning.

[doggie]

Here's the internal cabling, made by Supra in Sweden. My speaker cable, the Supra Classic 6.0, is a heavier gauge version of the same thing.

I recently decided to match the internal wiring in my Omegas Super 6 Alnico's with some of the Western Electric WE16 wire that I had found out about on Jeff Days great blog site. I guess that my speakers are older and did not get the Supra wire. My wires are labeled "Automotive Zip Cord". They have two conductors to the plus terminal and one to the ground terminal. I was a bit surprised but given how good the speakers already sounded I am sure that Louis chose them by ear. The Western Electric wire should not sound good based upon theory: plastic insulation and tinned copper wire but it is wonderful. Great clarity but warmth and really good tonality.

[pstrisik]

I also have some of the WE16.  I will use it for my separate tweeters.  I decided to get some of the same wire in 11 gauge for the Omegas though.  The Japanese guy that Jeff Day got this from suggested that a heavier gauge would probably be better if over xx feet (can't recall exactly what length).  I will be using locking bananas from Blue Jeans Cable - same as in my photo a few posts back.  I am also going to use techflex uptown red (black with a red tracer).  You can still see the wire through it, but it is used, with cloth outer layer, so a bit dirty and would get more so.  I hope to build them maybe this weekend.

.......Peter

[DaveC113]

Yes, I have the same 14g WE wire in a couple of PCs I built many years ago. Much better than regular TPC wire, a bit on the romantic side but very good value wire. UPOCC is better but more $... if you don't mind soldering I'd solder your WE wire directly to the binding posts and driver terminals.

I'd consider binding posts as well. Louis sells Supra posts which are a great value, Furutech posts are amazing but a lot of cash. I have Pomonas on mine and while they are very good the Supras are probably a better bet as they are more robust. Both are telurium copper afaik, which is a big step up from regular brass posts.

Peter, those BJC bananas are a big 'ol chunk of brass, I'd reconsider...

[pstrisik]

Yes, I have the same 14g WE wire in a couple of PCs I built many years ago. Much better than regular TPC wire, a bit on the romantic side but very good value wire. UPOCC is better but more $... if you don't mind soldering I'd solder your WE wire directly to the binding posts and driver terminals.

I'd consider binding posts as well. Louis sells Supra posts which are a great value, Furutech posts are amazing but a lot of cash. I have Pomonas on mine and while they are very good the Supras are probably a better bet as they are more robust. Both are telurium copper afaik, which is a big step up from regular brass posts.

Peter, those BJC bananas are a big 'ol chunk of brass, I'd reconsider...

I like romantic.   

Do you know what Louis is using for posts going forward?  I'm getting new speakers from him. 

To what degree is the conductivity influenced by the plating?  The signal has to pass through it.  CuTe would have to be plated, correct?

There is so much back and forth about this stuff.  I read all sorts of things like: no solder connections are better (those BJC connectors can be solderless), it is a negative if the contact materials (plug against jack) are different, etc, etc.  No matter what I do it seems there is evidence for and against.

Ya know!?

.......Peter

[DaveC113]

I like romantic.   

Do you know what Louis is using for posts going forward?  I'm getting new speakers from him. 

To what degree is the conductivity influenced by the plating?  The signal has to pass through it.  CuTe would have to be plated, correct?

There is so much back and forth about this stuff.  I read all sorts of things like: no solder connections are better (those BJC connectors can be solderless), it is a negative if the contact materials (plug against jack) are different, etc, etc.  No matter what I do it seems there is evidence for and against.

Ya know!?

.......Peter

Pretty sure he's using Supra posts as the upgrade option:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/supra-binding-posts/supra-boxcon-binding-post-pair/

I don't think you can do better for the money, I believe they are tellurium copper which is ~99.5% copper vs brass at ~65-70%. The issue with brass is it causes grain and harshness, pure copper sounds far better. If you can use spades the Furutech FP-201 in gold or rhodium are the best value for high quality speaker connectors. The cheapest bananas I know of that are good are DH Labs locking bananas at $15 ea, Neotech has the same ones (thick style only) in rhodium for $25 ea. If you want really good bananas check out Furutech FT-212.

Also...

-the conductivity of platings is less than copper but they are so thin they have very little effect on the total resistance. Their largest effect is the effect they have on the signal as it passes through the plating material and material boundaries. Copper needs to be plated to avoid corrosion. Often people misunderstand electricity as flowing like water, and think things like platings are bottlenecks but it doesn't work like that. Fuses are a good example, they are made of super-thin wire but that doesn't mean your whole house can be wired with wire that thin. Also, resistance is linearly additive.

-the difference between solderless (set screw) and soldered connections is minimal, in fact the best RCA plug available, the WBT 0102 at $408/set, use soldered terminations and 0102s are probably used on 75% of cost-no-object cables.

-there is no issue with combining plated connections that use different plating materials. Maybe some people think there will be electrolysis but I have never seen any evidence of it and it does not negatively impact sound quality. In fact it's not a bad idea because combining platings minimizes the sonic contribution of any one plating material.

On forums, I've often heard people defend positions based entirely on faith and stubbornness. It's the internet and anyone can post. If you have specific questions about that stuff feel free to post a thread in my forum.