Thoughts on The Carmel by Altec??

[Cooljjay]

Just pulled these down from the rafters at an estate sale and nope there wasn't stairs. I was curious on your thoughts about these? I like the sound and they sure do rattle the walls. Someone mention I should change out the crossover caps..good idea? I am currently figuring out how I want to go about refinishing the cabinets, the whole sun bleach effect doesn't do it for me. If anyone has an original article/catalog/flier on them it would be great to see. Heres some photos

[Goodwill_HiFi]

I don't know anything specifically about Carmels, but they look like a good project. After seeing some of your other work on AK, I feel confident that you'll be able to do something about the finish...... I've never seen bleaching like that on wood.... a cone yes, but the wood?

Replacing caps in crossovers likely isn't anything specific to the Caramels..... that's standard operating procedure for many people when "new" vintage speakers are acquired.

[oznob]

Just pulled these down from the rafters at an estate sale and nope there wasn't stairs. I was curious on your thoughts about these? I like the sound and they sure do rattle the walls. Someone mention I should change out the crossover caps..good idea? I am currently figuring out how I want to go about refinishing the cabinets, the whole sun bleach effect doesn't do it for me. If anyone has an original article/catalog/flier on them it would be great to see. Heres some photos

http://www.audioheritage.org/photopo....php?photo=257

[oznob]

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ghlight=carmel

Here's another interesting thread. You could do a search and find other posts on these speakers. Nice score BTW!

[Robh3606]

Nice score!!

I hope you can fix the water damage on the one cabinet.

Rob

[grumpy]

I think that's the third base/plinth type I've seen on Carmels/Avalons.

Looks like a reveneer might be needed, even so, that's a very listenable
combination (worth the bother, IMO).

[Cooljjay]

Thanks for the links, I just went out and bought the XL size of dark walnut stain so lets see if I can get some cool on these pasty old ladys I was wondering if anyone knows how hard it is to remove the grill? I would like to attempted the inside out trick to see if the backs are in better shape then the fronts. Here is a picture of the driver arrangements.

[Chas]

Wow, your pictures take me back a few years. I bought a pair in 1981. Mine were much darker, like typical oiled walnut. The grilles are not removable, at least I never figured out how to do it.

Good luck, your efforts will be worthwhile.

[grumpy]

If you succeed in pulling the baffles or grilles from the Carmel's, please
document what you did here. I promise to do the same if I ever get to it
(nearly identical Avalon cabs I found with modified baffles).

[Cooljjay]

Well I will warn don't attempt to remove the grilles. I was going at it last night and removed the horn, and started removing the woofers, one wouldn't come out so I gave a tug well turns out the goop altec used glued the woofer to the baffle. I repaired the surround the best that I could but I tore at least an inch. So be warned to not remove the woofers. I have stated the refinishing of the cabinets, after I determined there isn't a way to remove the grille. I tried to just stain and lacquer the cabinets but when the stain was applied it look just hideous because the bleaching of the wood, it was really uneven. I decide to pull out the can of dark walnut toner and toned them dark. I will need more toner but it seem to be coming out nicely. Here is a picture of the damaged veneer, after the repair and sanding(no I didn't replace the veneer) and then a after with the toner and stain lacquer applied...still have the front and one side to do.

[westend]

Well that's a very nice repair job, night and day from the damaged to the refinished look.

[Cooljjay]

Well like I said I couldn't get the stain evened out so I used toner to tone it to a nice dark finish. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I think I am starting to like it. With the faded grille cloth it looks kind of like look at my big speakers. I ran out of toner so I can't get to the other one for a while, and this one could use some touch ups on the front but looks 100% better in my book. What do you guys think?

Before


After

[Goodwill_HiFi]

While I'd prefer to see more of the grain, that does look really nice! Could you tell me/us more about toner? I don't normally don't associate that word being used with wood finishing..... how is it different than a stain?

[Cooljjay]

While I'd prefer to see more of the grain, that does look really nice! Could you tell me/us more about toner? I don't normally don't associate that word being used with wood finishing..... how is it different than a stain?

Here is a good web site that explains toners and saves me a lot of typing http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...oner_Tips.html

I use mohawk toners which can be bought from radiodaze.com since its more a specialty item that has been forgotten and no one supplies anymore.

[Goodwill_HiFi]

Here is a good web site that explains toners and saves me a lot of typing http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...oner_Tips.html

I use mohawk toners which can be bought from radiodaze.com since its more a specialty item that has been forgotten and no one supplies anymore.

Thanks..... I still am a bit unclear on it, but I'd probably have to see it done to fully understand. For instance if the toner is opaqe how would you use a stain on top of it...... or maybe stain is only used on top of non-opaque toners?