My first real speakers

[gamalot]

I think you have heard this before. "If they are not broke, don't fix them"!

XOs might need recapping but I think I would listen for some sign of poor quality sound first.

Woofers have a black tar substance around the edges that remains liquid. If the speaker has been close to a heat source or in direct sun it may be a good Idea to rotate them 180 degrees.

If the cabinets are in good condition then a good coat of wax may be in order.

I am sure I would do some critical listening at first to determine how they sound and take it from there.

Gary

[bowtie427ss]

Rotate the woofers 180 degrees so that gravity can work against the cone sag it's been promoting for the last 30 years.

Add hardwood diagonal braces to the interior of the five unbraced large surfaces.

Add a "front/back" brace between the baffle board and back panel.

If these are 16 ohm 846A, i'd abandon doing anything with the stock crossovers and build new from scratch, they're potted in tar and use a cheap cheesy rheostat/potentiometer where there should be an L-pad of at least a 50 watt rating. 846B and 846U use a much better designed and executed network and are a breeze to recap.

I always recap these 30 plus year old systems before applying power, or test them with a fresh network, many times the caps will drift upward in value, lowering the crossover point and threatening the life of the HF diaphragm.

Most importantly, enjoy them for at least another 30 years!

Woofers have a black tar substance around the edges that remains liquid. If the speaker has been close to a heat source or in direct sun it may be a good Idea to rotate them 180 degrees.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Great point Gary, it's always a good idea to shine a very bright light thru the grill and try to determine if the surround sealant has "oozed". I've heard horror stories of surrounds and cones torn from the frame when the sealant had puddled and hardened at the bottom and the woofers were carelessly/hastily removed. Patience and a blow dryer will soften the sealant enough for safe removal in these cases.

Just my .02 y'all understand.........

[Old Guy]

Originally posted by gamalot:
I think you have heard this before. "If they are not broke, don't fix them"!


Gary

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm sorta in this school. Give them a good audition first, if they were in regular use they may be just fine. Get used to how they sound, then you'll be better able to tell if you improved them.

[srbliss]

A friend of mine just gave me her fathers Valencias. They were in regular use until he passed away last year. They look to be in excellent condition and just need a good dusting off. I know that I should probably recap the crossovers - what else should I be doing? The serial numbers are 4547 and 4548.

[srbliss]

They are 846A's. I'd like to know how old they really are. I rotated the woofers 180 degrees - only one had "tar creep". The cones and surrounds look perfect. I noticed that the magnets seem very weak (they wont even hold one mounting screw) is this normal? They sound at best "dull" (nice but dull) on the low end, the HF seems pretty good. They don't play as loud as my old AR monitors that are supposed to be 91Db/watt (8 Ohm). I am driving them with modern SS mid-fi stuff. I hope to have a decent amp soon.

[Audio_by_Goodwill]

Originally posted by srbliss:
A friend of mine just gave me her fathers Valencias.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Marry her, if neither one of you is already spoken for!!!

[bowtie427ss]

I noticed that the magnets seem very weak (they wont even hold one mounting screw) is this normal?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There shouldn't be any significant field outside of the return pot, the pot does a good job of shielding the field making alnico Altec woofers and compression drivers safe to use in close proximity of CRT's and other magnetic sensitive devices. IOW, ferrous objects won't be attracted to them like they are with a ferrite magnet structure.

They don't play as loud as my old AR monitors that are supposed to be 91Db/watt (8 Ohm).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since they're a 16 ohm system, your solid state amplifier only has about half the potential to drive them as an 8 ohm load, not fair to compare their sensitivity to any other 8 ohm system.

Just my .02.................