[tortoiseman2542]

Hi all!

As many may know, I have a love of both Moho and Rosewood AV123 speakers.  The ever elusive unicorn that I've spent years trying to find, and only know one person that has a pair, has found their way to me and I'm SUPER thrilled.   

I found a pristine pair of AV123 X-LS Classics in Piano Rosewood!!!!!  I found these in a Craigslist ad in Colorado from a nice gentleman who agreed to ship.  It was risky as I could've easily been ripped off, but it turned out beyond my wildest expectations.  Check out the pics below (sorry for the quality).

Here's my dilemma....

I really want to turn these into X-LS Encores with a max out kit from Danny and GR Research.  But I've already run into a problem. 

I have a couple of loose encore tweeters lying around while I wait for my X-Statik cap upgrades from Danny, so I tried to see how close the fit was.  As you will see from the pic below, there is about a 1/4 inch gap between the Encore tweeter and the Classic tweeter cutout. 

I've spent a few hours digging around the web and found several examples of an adapter ring of some sort (see last pic).  I also remember back in the late days of AV123 that many people were doing this conversion.  I just can't find instructions or evidence of what was done. 

Any ideas of how I can adapt the Encore tweeter to the Classic tweeter hole without messing up the speaker finish? 

I am not opposed to just upgrading the existing crossover btw but I'd love to have the only pair of piano rosewood encore X-LS's with max XO. 

Any ideas? 

Robert

[tortoiseman2542]

Side note... i didn't blur out the XO values as Danny doesn't offer kits for these.  As you can tell, the XO's are minimalistic but not terrible. 

Robert

[AlexH]

Maybe something like a Defraction ring to cover it up.  "https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/acoustic-damping/dampers-felt-defraction-ring-for-tweeters/"
Not sure what Danny would think.

One other time I had a friend who cut his tweeter recess to large and we used an O-ring around the tweeter to fill in the gap. It looked pretty good but the gap was smaller than yours.
Just a thought.

[tortoiseman2542]

I did find an old post from Danny that makes me believe the faceplates might be swappable.  I’ll check out the tweeters in the morning.

Robert

[corndog71]

Maybe Hobbs could 3d print new encore waveguides.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Possibly, but I believe the encore faceplates are glued into place, as well as usung the clips in the back. And its tough to access them without also risking damage to the soft dome of the tweeter.

Its also not a simple shape to reproduce.

[tortoiseman2542]

Hobbs,

Do you know if you have any of those encore tweeters with classic plates lying around?

Robert

[tortoiseman2542]

Well my curious nature got the better of me and I said eff it. Just $50 if I mess the encore tweeter up. Good news is the encore faceplate was just clipped on and lightly glued. Took a little flathead and patience but the encore faceplate did come off.

The question is…. How do I attach the classic faceplate to the encore tweeter?  I can’t screw it on so I’m thinking some careful gluing. Any suggestions? 

I want to make sure the faceplate attaches solidly and the method of attaching holds the heavier encore tweeter.


Interesting seeing the two tweeters side by side. You can see and feel how much better the encore is.

Robert

[Shives]

You can use a glue that would not attack the rubber or plastic. Might have to try some and see what works.

Thought about doing this. Another route would be to take the larger tweeter out and fill the hole. You can do this with a few things. A Glowforge would work to cut the parts out. Once you have the puzzle parts to seal the hole, glue, then re-cut to proper dimensions. Glue would have to be really good. And, filling the hole would be fun.

Looking quickly, it looks as tho the tweeter hole is different shape and size. That could also cause issues with how the encore tweeter will work. (Might)

Few people have CNC routers, and other ways to reverse this cut-out. The wood edge would be exposed, but you can paint that black. An idea I had to do these.

Looking forward to your resolve! Awesome work!

[tortoiseman2542]

You can use a glue that would not attack the rubber or plastic. Might have to try some and see what works.

Thought about doing this. Another route would be to take the larger tweeter out and fill the hole. You can do this with a few things. A Glowforge would work to cut the parts out. Once you have the puzzle parts to seal the hole, glue, then re-cut to proper dimensions. Glue would have to be really good. And, filling the hole would be fun.

Looking quickly, it looks as tho the tweeter hole is different shape and size. That could also cause issues with how the encore tweeter will work. (Might)

Few people have CNC routers, and other ways to reverse this cut-out. The wood edge would be exposed, but you can paint that black. An idea I had to do these.

Looking forward to your resolve! Awesome work!

The tweeter holes are exactly the same actually. Bad angle on my photo.

Robert

[WGH]

The question is…. How do I attach the classic faceplate to the encore tweeter?  I can’t screw it on so I’m thinking some careful gluing. Any suggestions?

3M VHB Double Sided Tape - Very High Bond
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/vhb-tapes-us/

[nlitworld]

2 part glues should also work if you went that route. Single part like super glue or E6000 use a lot of solvent in them which can get a little dicey to get a good bond. 2 part epoxies take a lot longer to set but are much stronger in the end.

[E-Zee]

I've also had good luck with 2 part epoxy. I specifically like the 5 minute quick setting versions for this type of task or for gluing thread inserts or similar.  This is not the only
option. There are quite a few brands that make a quick set epoxy. Lots of local hardware stores usually carry the Gorilla Glue brand and JB weld brand quick set epoxy.

[tortoiseman2542]

I've also had good luck with 2 part epoxy. I specifically like the 5 minute quick setting versions for this type of task or for gluing thread inserts or similar.  This is not the only
option. There are quite a few brands that make a quick set epoxy. Lots of local hardware stores usually carry the Gorilla Glue brand and JB weld brand quick set epoxy.

Thanks E-Zee!  2 part epoxy is top of my list more than likely.  I am going to call Danny this morning when they are there and see if they have any of the classic faceplates on encores sitting around.  Maybe I'll get lucky. 

Danny,

Any ideas if you guys have any of these left there?

Robert

[Hobbsmeerkat]

We dont, last I heard

[tortoiseman2542]

We dont, last I heard

Do you know if the faceplates were switched by you guys or bought from the manufacturer that way?

Thanks!
Robert

[tortoiseman2542]

Hey Everyone!

So I talked with Danny yesterday and he convinced me that trying to modify the Classic faceplate on the Encore tweeter isn't the best idea given how they attach the Encore tweeter.  So I found a local fabricator that is going to recess the encore tweeter and make a matching O ring type thing to fill in the gaps so it mounts flush and looks close to the same as it does on encore X-LS.  I'll post pics once it's done. 

Thanks for all the help and advice all!

Robert

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Looking forward to the results!

[drumphile]

Very interested in this thread!  I just so happened to find a minty set of AV123 X-LS speakers (aka: X-LS Classic?) this past weekend, although mine are the simple black finish.  Got 'em super cheap though, and because I knew what these were I wanted to see if anyone else out there had done the conversion into X-LS Encores.  Glad I found this forum and this thread!

Looks like GR Research is out of tweeters right now (if the website is up to date).  Any idea what the new crossovers cost?

[tortoiseman2542]

Hobbs or Danny,

Is that note still accurate on the tweeter?  I never noticed that. 


Robert