Just acquired a pair of large advent loudspeakers from a friends basement, and they sound like garbage. Heavy distortion/clipping from the woofers, with little response from the tweeters at all. Still new to the vintage audio world, so I am trying to figure out why this is happening. Relevant info: Digital Source (laptop) to Pioneer DJM-600 mixer to Nakamichi SR-3A to 2 Large Advent Loudspeakers.
As I'm writing this, I just noticed some screw holes that were drilled into the cabinet as well, presumably for mounting purposes. Would that be causing massive failure?
I have no idea whether they were in working condition or not when I got them. Want to know if something about my setup is causing this, or if I should consider replacing the guts of the advents (and with what components). Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
As I'm writing this, I just noticed some screw holes that were drilled into the cabinet as well, presumably for mounting purposes. Would that be causing massive failure?
I have no idea whether they were in working condition or not when I got them. Want to know if something about my setup is causing this, or if I should consider replacing the guts of the advents (and with what components). Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Sounds like the woofers are either blown or have taken a bump and there is a misalignment in the coil or magnet. The tweeters sometimes just need a terminal cleaning but if the woofers are all scratchy and the tweeters aren't working at all sounds like you own a set of cabinets. Are they the real wood cabinets and do you have the fried egg tweeters? I found that renewing the components can be rather pricey. I am still looking for reasonably priced woofers as I do happen to have the real wood cabinets.
Advents are notorious for having the foam surrounds rot out. Repair kits are cheap and easy to do. I own 8 and have refoamed all of them. The first kits came with new dust caps and shims to hold the voice coil centered while the foam is replaced. I did it that way and it worked fine. Subsequent kits had no shims or new dust caps. Those also work fine.
Early Advent woofers had masonite rings to use a 10" cone in a 12" frame which were very inexpensive (cheap). The foam is on the IN side of the masonite but on the OUT side of the cone. 4 of mine have the masonite and I used a hot air gun to soften the original contact cement and remove the masonite. I cleaned off the old glue and foam and cleaned the residue from the cone and glued the new foam to the cone. Then I used silicone bathtub caulk around the perimeter to put the masonite back in simultaneously gluing the outer ring of the foam to the back (in) side of the masonite. A whole lot of spring clothespins held the maonite to the metal basket until the silicone cured.
Later Advent drivers used a different basket with no masonite. The foam goes to the out side of both the cone and the basket and is a little easier to do. I spent about an hour per driver with masonite and half that for the newer ones. Make sure you give the glues plenty of drying time. I had some pure latex left from a pipe organ project that is an excellent adhesive for wood, foam and metal and is plenty strong and flexible so it doesn't crack. The glue must be flexible and not OVERLY strong meaning I wouldn't use contact cement. White glue is OK for the masonite but not the cone or the metal frame.
As long as you don't beat them up too much without the foam they should come back fine when repaired. And yes, they're SUPPOSED to sound like crap when they're broken.
G²
Early Advent woofers had masonite rings to use a 10" cone in a 12" frame which were very inexpensive (cheap). The foam is on the IN side of the masonite but on the OUT side of the cone. 4 of mine have the masonite and I used a hot air gun to soften the original contact cement and remove the masonite. I cleaned off the old glue and foam and cleaned the residue from the cone and glued the new foam to the cone. Then I used silicone bathtub caulk around the perimeter to put the masonite back in simultaneously gluing the outer ring of the foam to the back (in) side of the masonite. A whole lot of spring clothespins held the maonite to the metal basket until the silicone cured.
Later Advent drivers used a different basket with no masonite. The foam goes to the out side of both the cone and the basket and is a little easier to do. I spent about an hour per driver with masonite and half that for the newer ones. Make sure you give the glues plenty of drying time. I had some pure latex left from a pipe organ project that is an excellent adhesive for wood, foam and metal and is plenty strong and flexible so it doesn't crack. The glue must be flexible and not OVERLY strong meaning I wouldn't use contact cement. White glue is OK for the masonite but not the cone or the metal frame.
As long as you don't beat them up too much without the foam they should come back fine when repaired. And yes, they're SUPPOSED to sound like crap when they're broken.
G²
I neglected to mention that these were the "New" Large Advents, so no masonite on speakers (thankfully). I do have the orange fried egg tweeters, but sadly the cabinets are what appears to be fairly thick (1/2") MDF. I gathered my courage and pulled apart one of the woofers and confirmed that it was indeed blown (the coil was bunched up at the very bottom of the cone and scraping against the sides), so I cleaned off all of the enclosure and magnet. Wanted to restore the speakers as a learning exercise, as I've never done this before, but I agree with Cal that the components are pretty pricey. Given the number of issues with these, maybe I'll just use them as a template to construct my own out of updated components. Any recommendations on some parts vendors that have reasonable prices?
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