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Guys and gals...need your input!
I just found a real nice pair of Altec Santana speakers today at a garage sale....sound great, for what they are: Rock N Roll speakers...
Anyway, the original owner had never removed the grills.....when I did, I noticed the "coating" they use on the surrounds has pooled at the bottom and is still a sticky goo....the surrounds are still nice and tacky!
One woofer has had some of this coating drip down over the cone....any problems with this? It still seems to sound good as ever....what do you think on this?
Follow Ups:
I'd buy them and clean up the goop.
Thanks! I did buy them, and they sound good....
I cannot clean the goo off the cones so should I just leave them alone? I can clean the goo from the baffle.
Now, on the tweeters....do I keep the originals, which are not that great, or do I get a a decent set of tweeters to pop in there. Anyone know the cross over point?
If I really wanted to go crazy, I'd make a new baffle with a cutout for a pair of really nice sounding old Crisman horns I have and beef up the crossovers.
But then again....they do rock just as they are!
it's doping-- all the old accordian surrounds altec made were kinda gross-- and i've seen 755's be DISGUSTING and sound aces.. if they got heated, i guess the stuff ran.. but i seriously wouldn't sweat it. play away and enjoy!
d
Buying them is a good idea, but I would advise not attempting to clean them. The 'goop' that they use seems to remain tacky, a good thing, for an extremely long time It is also extremely tenacious and you need some pretty strong solvents to clean it up. I wouldn't apply such solvents to a cone. If the treatment has pooled nut not glued the speaker to the cabinet, may I suggest simply turning the speaker upside down? Eventually, especially since it is the start of Summer, it will flow in the other direction. By now the fabric surround will have become fairly brittle. Trying to mechanically wipe off the thick material will most likely damage the surround, and I know that from experience!
Stu
I posted a picture of what I am up against....the other speaker does not have goo on the cone but it has dripped down between the baffle and grill....
Please let me know what you think.
THANKS!
yeah-- i'd take a razor knife and separate that from the wood far enough into the wood that you KNOW you're not hitting the surround... with enough vibration, you might damage your surround.. you'd have to be gingerly about it.. but that's a LOT of doping! don't SWEAT it.. but be careful, and i think you'll be alright!
d
Your goop is very common on specimens of the 755C. Do not disturb! That gloppy biflex is a thing of beauty, visually and aurally. You can find out more on Ken Hagelthorne's www.hifilit.com site, and Don McRitchie's www.audioheritage.com. In the case of the latter, you can register and pose your question to bona fide Altec experts. They are certain to make suggestions regarding the existing tweeter, which as you have alreay pointed out is not the Santana's strong point. The biflex's great attraction to DIY-ers is as a single driver that covers almost all frequencies of musical interest, permitting a very high crossover using a single capacitor to something really tasty, like Altec's own 3000, although these have become absurdly expensive.
I had some Altecs with the cones in a similar condition. The cabinet was really trashed and showing termite damage so I decided to pull the drivers. That goop on the bottom literally ripped out the surround (i hadn't removed the wooden latticework grill to inspect). I wasn't too worried because I know how to recone the drivers (Great Plains has the kits available, BTW).
I haven't tried it, but I am thinking that a hair dryer, carefully applying heat to the area, will loosen the goop. I remember trying to cut through the puddle, but it reforms fairly quickly or at least still sticks, and the stuff that drips between the speaker and the cabinet is impossible or nearly impossible to access. Might want to try turning the speaker upside down when experimenting.
Or perhaps simply leaving the speaker upside down in a warm place for a few months may reverse the puddle. Maybe you may want to try cutting off the excess (with an x-acto knife, carefully) and then inverting the speaker and applying heat. As the puddle rises to the center of the surround it must be affecting the movement of the cone to a certain degree. This would essentially redistribute the goop without having to remove the driver and possibly damaging it.
Incidentally Great Plains also carries that goop used in case you need it.
Good luck, remember patience is the key. It took years for it to puddle and you can't reverse the process overnight.
Stu
Maybe Great plains may not have a recone kit for the driver, so be very careful!
Stu
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