Yesterday I purchased the three 2205C baskets at $34 each for my L/C/R. These are to be reconed to go in my L200 cabinets replacing the 130As. I'll have OCS do the recones as they are local to me. In the long run, I decided that it was probably a better idea to buy baskets and have them reconed knowing everything is new and paying an extra ~$50 each, than to trust someone on ebay that says they recently had a set reconed that may turn out to have been umteen years ago with new foams required in the next few years. Also, I worry less about damage just shipping baskets.
My questions are:
From the WinISD, the 2235 cones will provide the best bass response. But, these will require re-foams every 10-15 years. I believe that one step down would be the 2205 cones as originally equipped, at the expense of about 5.5 dB @ 35 Hz. The 2205s do get me about 3.5 dB more than the 130As at 35 hz. Is there a cone between the two (2235/2205) that gives better bass than the 2205, but never needs redoing (i.e., paper or cloth edge)?
I have N1200 x-overs (16 ohm). My horn drivers (LE175s) are 8 ohm. I hope to retain the N1200s (the Yamaha Z9 has an internal digital 31 band eq which should take care of dips at the crossover point). Would it be better to recone these at 8 or 16 ohms? (The old cones were 32 ohms, hence the "C" I believe.) Currently, of the speakers in teh cabinets, two of the 130As are 8 ohm and two are 16 ohm (center channel has two).
At a cost of $45/each, OCS can "recharge" the magnets. Is this usually worth the added expense and how can you tell if it really needs doing?
I was going to hold out for real 2235s, but decided that in the future I may once again want to set a magnetic sensitive device (CRT) on the center channel so opted to stay with alnico. Besides, everyone knows that alnico just "sounds better"? Right...