robertbartsch
06-10-2008, 12:05 PM
OK, so I was looking for some possible candidates for two compact surround sound speakers for a 7.1 HT and came up with some slightly damaged Altec 617 - 8A duplex 12 inch drivers in 8 ohm trim on E-bay.
The items were correctly advertised as needing repair so, before I bid, I called GPA and asked them about the costs of repair.
When I recieved the package from the seller, I was pleased at the general build of the speakers that weigh about 18 pounds each. These come with external OEM x-overs and are trully beafy. From the frames, they look to me like circa mid 80s.
Anyway, so far, I have connected one to an audio source and was underwhelmed by its performance. Both HF and LF drivers work but the quality of the sound is very poor. The LF is thin and weak and the HF is grainy and shrill.
Question: Is it likely that a GPA rebuild will restore these to their former glory?
I thought that it would be rare that the sound quality of a home speaker would deteriorate significantly over time and that most repairs are necessary from distortion induced voice coil burn-out or physical damage.
What could be wrong;
1. bad magnets,
2. corroded voice coils,
3. mangled diapham,
4. bad X-overs,
5. crud in the VC gap?
If I threw these on an amp meter what would that tell me?
Since a complete GPA re-build may approximate 3 times the original cost for the pair, is this project worth it?
Thanks...
The items were correctly advertised as needing repair so, before I bid, I called GPA and asked them about the costs of repair.
When I recieved the package from the seller, I was pleased at the general build of the speakers that weigh about 18 pounds each. These come with external OEM x-overs and are trully beafy. From the frames, they look to me like circa mid 80s.
Anyway, so far, I have connected one to an audio source and was underwhelmed by its performance. Both HF and LF drivers work but the quality of the sound is very poor. The LF is thin and weak and the HF is grainy and shrill.
Question: Is it likely that a GPA rebuild will restore these to their former glory?
I thought that it would be rare that the sound quality of a home speaker would deteriorate significantly over time and that most repairs are necessary from distortion induced voice coil burn-out or physical damage.
What could be wrong;
1. bad magnets,
2. corroded voice coils,
3. mangled diapham,
4. bad X-overs,
5. crud in the VC gap?
If I threw these on an amp meter what would that tell me?
Since a complete GPA re-build may approximate 3 times the original cost for the pair, is this project worth it?
Thanks...