The upgrades that never came?

koteng · « **on:** 12 Mar 2005, 11:11 am »

Hi All,

I own a pair of the original VMPS RM40. I bought them in the US and brought them back to Norway where I live now.

I have followed this forum without contributing much.

I have done most of the tweaks for theese speakers postet on this forum. I must say a big thank you to all contributers. You have all helped me make my speakers better.

Now to the topic. I am missing information about some of the upgrades mentioned on this forum and would like you great people to post their experiences with the following upgrades:

1. The FST upgrade (for RM40) .

Has anyone done this upgrade without changing to the new cabinets? (I live in Norway and shipping speakers forth and back would be to expensive).

There was one thread that mentioned a dressplate beeing part of the upgrade. Has anyone gotten one?
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=3170&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=dressplate

2. The woofer crossover upgrade (for RM40).

There were some posts on upgrading the lower crossover from the original 166Hz to around 200Hz. When making the RM30 Brian found the higher crossover frequency made the midpanels sound better.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=7124&start=10&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=retrofittable

I sent this mail to Brian asking about this in March 2004:

Hello Brian,

In the description of the new RM30M on AudioCircle, you mention some
changes in the lowpass crossover filter that dramtically improved
system clarity and that would be retrofittable on the RM40. And cost
about $50.

When will this be avalible?

The answer was on April 1. 2004:

No available yet, will keep you informed.

I'm still waiting...

I know there is a mid-woofer upgrade availible now. Will this upgrade cover the crossover as well? Will there be a separat crossover upgrade option?

3. The window bracing upgrade (for RM40).

In this post Brian says he will try to get som retrofittable window bracing for the old cabinets. Has anyone received theese?

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=8389&start=40&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=frequency

Regards
Roger

Marbles · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 02:04 pm »

With regards to 1. Tyson did this upgrade with the help of Mgalusha.
With regards to #2, I did this upgrade when I upgraded to the new midwoofers. I am the only one to have received them AFAIK.

No idea on #3, but it is a simple job to cut some dowel rod and make your own bracing.

If you do a search, I think you will find that Tyson very much liked the change to the FST (w/cap change) and when BC visited Tyson, he mentioned they were the best pair he had ever heard in a customers system.

With regards to the midwoofer/cap upgrade. It is well worth it for ME. I have a large room and the bass increase was significant. So much in fact that I HAD to do #3.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 05:44 pm »

The new midwoofers and crossover parts for Tyson arrived here on Thursday.

I will be going over to his place today and installing them. He will also be installing some dowell bracing similar to Marbles.

The TRT caps should be to Brian soon and then he will be sending me out the midwoofer upgrade kit to install in Jerry's (Turk) RM-40s.

BTW Tyson uses all BOLDER cables and has a set of Bybee biwire jumpers on his 40s. That might have had a little to do with what Brian said about the sound at Tyson's

warnerwh · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 06:02 pm »

It's amazing Brian didn't get back to you. He's excellent at returning emails. The FST tweeter is smoother and has a better dispersion than the spiral. Also your crossover is lowered to I think about 6900. For bracing refer to the thread: Braced the cabinets here on this forum and see Marbles post.

koteng · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 06:40 pm »

Quote from: Marbles

With regards to 1. Tyson did this upgrade with the help of Mgalusha.
With regards to #2, I did this upgrade when I upgraded to the new midwoofers. I am the only one to have received them AFAIK.

No idea on #3, but it is a simple job to cut some dowel rod and make your own bracing.

If you do a search, I think you will find that Tyson very much liked the change to the FST (w/cap change) and when BC visited Tyson, he mentioned they were the best pair he had ever heard in a customers system.

With reg ...

Thank you for the response Marbles.

So for #1 upgrade, I would need a carpenter, to cut holes in the cabinet and make the dressplate for me. Are there any drawings for this dressplate I could give to the carpenter?

For #2 I have to buy the new midwoofer to get the upgrade, or is it possible to do the crossover upgrade without changing midwoofers?

For #3 there never where any window bracing shipped from Brian, but an option is to put in dowels of oak, like Marbles decribes in his post on bracing. Is this a method recommended from VMPS aswell?

I have on more question for you Marbles, since you have done them all, or at least heard them all.
Are one of these upgrades more noticable than the others, or do you recomend them all?

Regards,
Roger

Marbles · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 07:07 pm »

Quote from: koteng

I have on more question for you Marbles, since you have done them all, or at least heard them all.
Are one of these upgrades more noticable than the others, or do you recomend them all? icon_question.gif
..

I have ONLY heard the RM40's with the FST....therefore my opinion is based only from people who have heard them with both tweeters.

Do all the upgrades...numbers 2 and 3 were well worth it for me.

According to others #1 is well worth it as well.

I don't think you have to cut more holes..just cut the dress plate to cover the holes that will be there when you change from the 2 tweeters to one.

I cannot answer your other questions...sorry about that.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 07:13 pm »

We no longer do the in-field FST upgrade for RM40's. Too much work, cabinetmaker never made up the right adapters (I have plenty of the wrong adapters). This is why we started the cabinet exchange program for mls cabinets (see details on the Forum sticky.). If routers and saws are involved, don't try the upgrade, either have the factory do it or exchange cabinets.

koteng · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 08:58 pm »

Quote from: Brian Cheney

We no longer do the in-field FST upgrade for RM40's. Too much work, cabinetmaker never made up the right adapters (I have plenty of the wrong adapters). This is why we started the cabinet exchange program for mls cabinets (see details on the Forum sticky.). If routers and saws are involved, don't try the upgrade, either have the factory do it or exchange cabinets.

I am not to conserned about aestetics Brian. As I live in Norway a heavy cabinet would be to expensive to ship.

Would I need to do any woodwork if I replace one of the spiral tweeters with the FST-tweeter and keep the other one passive?

Is it possible to do the woofer xover upgrade without replacing the midwoofer?

Regards,
Roger

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 09:13 pm »

I do not recommend doing either upgrade from such a long distance.

Marbles · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 09:31 pm »

Koteng, the woofer upgrade was very, very simple.

I have VERY little experience with a solder iron, but soldering in the caps was very easy for me to do.

Changing the midwoofers is simple...anyone can do it.

I understand BC's concerns, but I would take a chance if the shipping were halfway reasonable.

koteng · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 09:54 pm »

Quote from: Brian Cheney

I do not recommend doing either upgrade from such a long distance.

Why Brian???

As Marbles says, all upgrades improves the speakers, and shipping elements and crossover components can not compare to shipping a heavy cabinet.

I am an electronics engineer, and I think I can handle instaling the upgrades. The only consern I have is the woodwork, but if I can get the upgrade without doing any woodwork I will be happy.

Regards,
Roger

mgalusha · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 11:01 pm »

koteng,

I did the FST upgrade on Tyson's RM40's and all that is required is a jigsaw, a sharp knife (I used an X-Acto), sandpaper and a good soldering iron.

I used some 3/32" (about 2.5mm) birch plywood to make the dress plates. Basically I cut the plywood to fit into the recess where the spiral tweeters were mounted and then traced the outline of the new tweeter on the plywood and cut the plywood to the curve. I then sanded it so that the curve was a good fit against the tweeter.

To fit the tweeter you will need to enlarge the opening to clear the magnet and transformer. Dimensions are available here . The linked drawing is for the Aurum Cantus G2Si which Brian states is not the same driver but it does have identical dimensions, and mounting points. This can be done with a jigsaw, care and patience.

I suggest covering the front panel with some low tack painters masking tape to protect the finish and to provide a surface you can mark for cut lines. Once the opening is enlarged you will need to relieve the sides to allow the tweeter to sit flush. I simply set the tweeter in the opening and marked the outline with pencil. I then used a very sharp knife and cut through the veneer along the outline. Turns out that the veneer is just about the same thickness as the tweeter and it's relatively easy to make it fit. The entire job was completed in an afternoon. This also included the cap replacement and wiring jumpers across the biwire switch.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Edit: Below is a picture of one of Tyson's RM40's with the FST added. He replaced the midwoofers today and happend to post a photo showing the tweeter.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 Mar 2005, 11:36 pm »

Don't say I didn't warn you. The FST upgrade wis $400pr and the midwoofers are $200pr, plus shipping. I'll throw in an FST adapter plate free. If you have TRT's the extra caps are $80pr.

koteng · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 11:05 am »

Quote

koteng,

I did the FST upgrade on Tyson's RM40's and all that is required is a jigsaw, a sharp knife (I used an X-Acto), sandpaper and a good soldering iron.

I used some 3/32" (about 2.5mm) birch plywood to make the dress plates. Basically I cut the plywood to fit into the recess where the spiral tweeters were mounted and then traced the outline of the new tweeter on the plywood and cut the plywood to the curve. I then sanded it so that the curve was a good fit against the tweeter.

To fit the tweeter you will need to enlarge the opening to clear the magnet and transformer. Dimensions are available here . The linked drawing is for the Aurum Cantus G2Si which Brian states is not the same driver but it does have identical dimensions, and mounting points. This can be done with a jigsaw, care and patience.

I suggest covering the front panel with some low tack painters masking tape to protect the finish and to provide a surface you can mark for cut lines. Once the opening is enlarged you will need to relieve the sides to allow the tweeter to sit flush. I simply set the tweeter in the opening and marked the outline with pencil. I then used a very sharp knife and cut through the veneer along the outline. Turns out that the veneer is just about the same thickness as the tweeter and it's relatively easy to make it fit. The entire job was completed in an afternoon. This also included the cap replacement and wiring jumpers across the biwire switch.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Hi Mike,

This helps a lot! Thank you!

Did you use the FST adapter plate, Brian is mentioning in his post?

How did you seal the cabinet around the plywood? With glue?
I would think the dressplate would need to be fasten in each corner with screws? Did you experience the improvments in sound quality Marbles are describing?

Brian,

Is there a danger of resonance with this dressplate?
It seems fairly simple to make (great work Mike!

). I have a friend who works as a kitchen fitter. I would think this would be an easy job for him.

Will the FST adapter plate seal the cabinet after instalation?

I am a bit worried about the shipping cost of the midwoofer elements Brian. They seem very heavy.
What is the shipping weight of the midwoofers?

If they are very heavy, could I do the midwoofer crossover upgrade without changing the midwoofer, or would it be pointless?

Regards,
Roger

Rocket · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 Mar 2005, 01:17 pm »

Hi Koteng,

If you can find out the weight go to usps and they can provide a quote for you.

I recently imported an amplifier which weighed about 40 pounds from the states to western australia and it cost me $235us.

Regards

Rod

koteng · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Mar 2005, 11:00 am »

Quote from: Rocket

Hi Koteng,

If you can find out the weight go to usps and they can provide a quote for you.

I recently imported an amplifier which weighed about 40 pounds from the states to western australia and it cost me $235us.

Regards

Rod

Thank you for the tip Rocket!

I will do that as soon as I get a response from Brian.

Regrads,
Roger

koteng · « **Reply #16 on:** 15 Mar 2005, 05:50 pm »

Quote from: mgalusha

koteng,

To fit the tweeter you will need to enlarge the opening to clear the magnet and transformer. Dimensions are available here . The linked drawing is for the Aurum Cantus G2Si which Brian states is not the same driver but it does have identical dimensions, and mounting points. This can be done with a jigsaw, care and patience.

About the FST being the same as Aurum Cantus G2Si Mike. The Aurum is rated 30W while the FST is rated 100W. I think Brian is wright. They can't be the same. The cost of the Aurum is $160 pr pair.

Brian,
I'm still waiting on the shipping weight of the midwoofers.

Regards,
Roger

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #17 on:** 15 Mar 2005, 06:54 pm »

Shipping weight of two new midwoofers is 30 lbs.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #18 on:** 15 Mar 2005, 06:54 pm »

Shipping weight of two new midwoofers is 30 lbs.

koteng · « **Reply #19 on:** 15 Mar 2005, 07:44 pm »

Quote from: Brian Cheney

Shipping weight of two new midwoofers is 30 lbs.

Thank you Brian,

With USPS Airmail Parcel Post Rates to Norway the shipping would be around $100.

If the FST and The midwoofer can be shipped together, I could live with that shipping price.

I will send you a PM Brian...

Regards,
Roger