Recapp or not to Recapp this Cerwin Vega vintage speaker

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Ronj

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Joined 2010
#1
Hi,
I just acquired a Cerwin Vega D-15EE. It has its surround rotten and I am gonna re-foam it.

Amd once I opened it I noticed that all the X-over caps look Mylar/polyester doesn't look polypropylene. Also the internal wiring looled super think.
As anyway I had opened up the speaker for re-foaming; I was just wondering whether I should re-cap and use better polypropylene caps.

Your comments are really appreciated

Thanks
Ron
 
#3
There's nothing much wrong with the sound of a good mylar. Better than a bad polypropylene 😉. Anyway, this cap of mine is a metallised polypropylene cap.
 

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#5
Hey Guys, thanks for the responses. I was drowning in beer when I posted it earlier. And passed out few minutes after posting it... Oh yeah may be they are polyprop. Cant find any electrolytics in them anyway... These speakers now I know are from early 90s... Wonder how they would sound 🙂

What I meant was internal wiring looked very thin... Sorry for the beer induced typos in the previous messages. I am nurturing a bad hangover now at 5.30PM+ in the afternoon... Serves me right!
 
#6
And how about the wiring? leave'em alone? Yup you are right, at least the 1MFD cap look like the polypropylene I have in some Pyle speakers and China speakers, but the cheap variety...

Will they benefit from recapping with say MUNDORF M-cap/MKPs and changing to good 18AWG or 16AWG OFC cables? Or save myself the trouble and leave them alone? Especially when their X-overs are PCB-less so messing up is very likely?

Sorry guys, I am like all charged up as these are my first pair of real old school type big speakers except for a pair of cheap Sansuis... Esp with their 15" low drivers, they kind of sit in a league of their on among the other puny floorstanders I have; like the Wharf Diamond and the Mordaunt Short Carnival 6s.
 
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#7
You might gain more by replacing the coils. But then again, you might not 😉

I have some CV floorstanders I got in college. They claim a xo of 400 and 3k, but I think the xo's are higher than that - funny I never have measured them....
 
#8
I'd just fix the surround and spend a month or so listening. If you don't have measuring gear it will give you an idea of any flaws, then come back to us and with that info we might be able to suggest improvements. Though you could draw out and measure the crossover schematic whilst they are open, then you'll have something to use to research improvements/upgrades.
 
#9
pinkmouse said:
I'd just fix the surround and spend a month or so listening. If you don't have measuring gear it will give you an idea of any flaws, then come back to us and with that info we might be able to suggest improvements. Though you could draw out and measure the crossover schematic whilst they are open, then you'll have something to use to research improvements/upgrades.
Click to expand...
Well that makes sense... I am gonna use these speakers with my small all recapped Nikko A-300D 70s Amp 18W+18W, and a matching recapped Nikko T-300D Tuner. Considering none of the pairing gears is anything spectacular, I think may be I should just use them as is after a re-foam.

But the thing is its now or never, I am not gonna open them again once the re-foam is over. I have my hands full with too many "open" projects which will occupy me at lest for a year 🙂
 
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#10
Yes, you'll have plenty to do finding the right height for them to get a clean midrange, find good distances from the walls and toe angles.

Those particular caps I have (may not be the same as others) sound just slightly dark although quite clean otherwise. A good mundorf would be an improvement in my case but the difference is still subtle. Enough to make you think twice before forking a hundred quid...especially when there's so much else to do. Since you're in the cabinet, you could redistribute the damping and make sure it is still plyable.
 
#11
AllenB said:
Yes, you'll have plenty to do finding the right height for them to get a clean midrange, find good distances from the walls and toe angles.

Those particular caps I have (may not be the same as others) sound just slightly dark although quite clean otherwise. A good mundorf would be an improvement in my case but the difference is still subtle. Enough to make you think twice before forking a hundred quid...especially when there's so much else to do. Since you're in the cabinet, you could redistribute the damping and make sure it is still plyable.
Click to expand...

I am surprised to see the port-hole which more or less look like a hand sawed MDF piece glued on the cabinet after making a rectangular opening on the back side of the cabinet...

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


here is a pic... The orange dust on the left corner, you guessed it, the rotten foam-surround dust 🙂

I was thinking of only going up to Mundorf M-Cap MKPs not supreme or "oil" types. They just will cost me less than USD $30 together for both the speakers. Not a substantial amount when the speaker is a "give away"

One more question, should I buy a so called "official" orange color re-foam kit off ebay or from here http://www.simplyspeakers.com/cerwin-vega-speaker-foam-edge-repair-kit-fsk-15fr.html


Or buy a normal 15" foam surround, which I can locally procure here in Singapore. It costs something like USD $10 per piece for a 15 incher here... And they are normally black or dark-ash colored. But am worried with out the orange colored one, the speakers would lose their classic charm/value(if there is any)?
 
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