120Ti Swollen cabinets

[vettedrummer]

Well I got the 120Ti cabinets from Stereojack today. These were in an ebay auction. The seller being unable to get the amount he wanted for the entire speaker parted them out. I won the cabinets and the crossovers. Since I have all of the speakers needed to fill these, I needed nothing more more from the seller. WRONG!!!!! How about truth is advertising???? He stated a small bump to back lower corner. No problem to fix , so no big deal. What he failed to disclose however was the fact that both cabinets had water damage to their bottoms. On the one cabinet were talking swelling that goes up the side panels so that you feel ripples under the veneer. Were talking splitting edges where bottom meets sides. On the other, not nearly as bad, it has swelling right behind the V-groove on the one side of the bottom along with the edge split. I've sent Stereojack an email telling him whats wrong with this picture and I'm waiting to hear back from him. My total outlay for these is $218.00 including shipping and the crossovers. Which, by the way, UPS did a perfect job delivering! I'm not sure what Olde Jack is going to say, but I'd like about half of my money back and then maybe I can find a good cabinet shop to cut off the bad wood and add in a new bottom on both of these and then I can veneer them. The rest of the wood looks fine. So I'm on hold for now about making grilles for these cause I'm pissed. If these were mine they'd be in the dumpster and not for auction on ebay. If anyone has ever done this, cut off bottoms and refitted with new please chime in! Nuff said!

[subwoof]

I did that to a group of (4) L220's some time ago and I also shortened 2 of them. It was a lot of work and I ended up making 2 of them into L150A's with a passive radiator...

I am repairing a single 4313B cab that had one bottom edge swollen/split and I will post the technique in the DIY forum soon.

Without seeing pix I am not sure what method you need to do. roly poly veneer usually cannot be repaired..

sub

[garyl]

I suspect you are talking about particle board under the veneer.

I have a pair of Altec 19s, actually just one cabinet-the other was worthless, that suffer this fate.

There is no way to the best of my knowledge to shrink back swollen P board. Once the seams separate then the cabinet is most likely fatally compromised. The expense and work necessary to cut and fit new pieces and then to re veneer would be rediculous. Also, particle board of today is not the same as from years ago.

I kept the one cabinet to use as a template to build two new exact copies. That said, there is little doubt original cabinets could be greatly improved upon which changes the entire plan or, at least in the case of Model 19s, makes the entire project totally illogical and at best a labor of love.

Keep in mind that once the P board absorbs moisture and swells it looses its sonic integrity and structural stability.

If it were me with your cabinets I would be searching for another set still solid to transfer my parts in to.

When ever I see speakers such as 19s that no longer have the bottom bases I always suspect the worse because in the past 30 years at some point most have been in direct contact with a cement floor. The wood wicks the moisture directly from the cement and the process of disintegration begins.

Gary

[00Robin]

Hmmmm,after reading all the comments,my cabinets which are from the late 50's DO have the walnut veneer on them and are really in decent shape with some good lemon oil and rubby rub-rub,BUT the underlying wood is NOT particle board. It's real wood. I have no idea what kind,I'm no wood expert,but its not plywood either.
What fascinated me about these cabinets is the way the backs of them fit into a recessed area with a one inch overlay of extra veneer to fit over to make the backs of them perfectly smooth,then you can screw them back into place and the cabinet looks perfectly smooth from the back or the sides making them an attractive piece of furniture with the upholstered framed pieces in the front.

Maybe that was a DIY technique from back then. I wish I could get the digital to work with the computer to show you all what I'm talking about. But,I'll bet the older guys know what I mean.

[macaroonie]

Build new boxes using good quality ply ( may I recommend you peruse my backyard box building thread ) and therefore you have the opportunity extend the height as in 240Ti. This will give you more cabinet volume and therefore the chance of better bass extension.

[vettedrummer]

Macaroonie, I already have a set of 240Ti's. The 120Ti's are the last part of getting all four members of the Ti family. I think I can cut off the bottoms and with existing teak veneered wood I have on hand (NOS teak dining table leafs) make them look right again. I already have everything I need to try to do this project so no cost to get into it. I just don't know if I want to be the one to cut into them or if I should defer to a experienced cabinet maker to do the cutout and replacement. Puting on new teak veneer to both sides to cover the repair would be no big deal for me. The bottom of the wood would already have the teak on it so it's ready to go. By the way the seller of these empty cabinets refunded $60.00 dollars to me for the water damage. So the cabinets are now down to $20.00 each. Everything else is fine on them so I think this replacement cut out will work. The cut out will also cut high enough into the sides to fix the damaged veneer so it won't be an issue either. If this does work, hey I didn't loose alot on them and maybe will learn something new to boot! Thanks for the input! Cheers, Frank

[Andyoz]

I really like your determination on this project but seeing as the cabinets don't owe you THAT much, I'd tend to ditch them and start with a new pair.

I couldn't stand to own something that was messed with that much, especially as it's the finishing touch to your Ti collection. I hope you don't think I'm being too negative, it's just my opinion.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, but is the effort really worth it in the end.

[macaroonie]

My thoughts exactly

[hjames]

I'm interested in 120ti speaker grills.....if this restoration project didn't work out or anyone knows where I can find a pair! Rob

Previous messages in this thread are over 3 years old, from 2007 -
it may very well be long gone at this point ...