Corrosion SEAS Magnesium Drivers

Ok I have decided to try the Nextel drivers and make the reductions.changes the crossover. I have to give a thumbs up to Chris at Solen.ca. When I noticed the problem I contacted him along with Seas and Chris has be exceptional to work with. He contacted Seas several times with my complaints. He came up with an alternative nextel driver at a great price and even helped with alternative cabinet designs. In my opinion he has gone above and beyond. He has been quick to respond and supportive with all my whining. Thanks Chris
 
Lojzek

thank you for your help. I have a couple of questions. In the cross over the tweeter and woofer are powered separately will the removal of R2, R3 and C4 put the tweeter at risk of damage? Will moving the woofers out so there is .5" distance between the tweeter and woofer voice coil hurt anything and give the desired delay? - closer to time aligned. thank you Ben
 
Hi,

Removing the designated parts will not put the tweeter under more strain, it will only make it louder because both of the new woofers are louder than the old ones. Adding the delay was meant only for the XSim to try simulating it a little better. The phase compensation/delay (asymmetrical filters) is already within the crossover. There is no need to change how woofers are built into the baffle.
You are welcome!
 
Hi yes that is what seas recommended after I had the nextel drivers but they are crazy expensive more than I would spend. At the end of the day I have the nextel speakers they sound very good - room position was very important. They are very musical but do not have the low bass of the mag drivers 30 vs 45. I spent a lot of time and got a lot of help from AllenB and many others on this site. They measure better than +/- 3 smoothed to 12 In hindsight I would have bought the mag drivers again and taken my chances they have a great sound. I do intend to build new speakers next spring using the nextel drivers. they are a pretty good match with the millenium tweeters The small thor boxes are a little too big for those woofers IMHO.
 
So is there a way to get rid of the corrosion the corrosion on my Thors look terrible.

ok so will they send me new drivers?

All I know is that it is disappointing.

Ok I have decided to try the Nextel drivers and make the reductions.changes the crossover.

sorry I have to stay away from the Magnesium cones.

Hi yes that is what seas recommended after I had the nextel drivers but they are crazy expensive more than I would spend. .

3 of the SEAS Magnesium cones are now completely gone. Weirdly it is the 2 18cm woofers of the center channel and 1 of the 22cm woofers in the left channel. The rest are also slowly getting worse (despite coating the drivers with automobile protective spray).

I will now surely have to invest in new drivers. I did write to SEAS (Claus has left but I did write to Håvard, Jorge, and Olav and got no response.

I have also written to Madisound today to ask if they can offer me, fresh drivers, at some discount given that I would be a repeat customer.

My choices are:
SEAS Nextel (same chassis as the Excel)
ScanSpeak Revelator W22 and Illuminator W18 (almost the same chassis as SEAS)

I am leaning towards the Nextel drivers but I would require help redesigning the crossovers. The last time, Rick Craig of Selah Audio did all the hard work but sadly Rick passed away in August of (what I believe) was a heart attack.

Do you think Chris at Solen could help me out with a redesign if I sent him all my cabinet specs and bought all the drivers from him?

Many decades (80s and 90s) ago I used to correspond with Dennis Oullet at Solen (when I was building loudspeakers using Morel, Focal, and Dynaudio drivers).

I would be replacing
4 x SEAS Excel W22EX-001 (E0022) 8" Magnesium Cone Woofer
with
4 x SEAS Excel W22NY-001 (E0045) 8" Nextel Cone Woofer

2x SEAS Excel W18E-001 (E0018) 7" Magnesium Cone Woofer
with
2x SEAS Excel W18NX-001 (E0042) 7" Nextel Cone Woofer

2 x SEAS Excel W15CY-001 (E0015) 5.5" magnesium Cone Woofer
with
2 x SEAS Excel W15LY-001 (E0041) 5.5" Paper/Nextel Cone Woofer

and

1x SEAS Excel W12CY-001 (E0021) 4.5" Magnesium Cone Woofer
with
1 x SEAS Excel W12CY-003 (E0044) Nextel Cone 4.5" Woofer

These days I generally stick with SB Acoustics and their aluminium drivers are excellent.

I heard this too, but at this stage, SB Acoustics would require significant woodworking if I was to use this option, something I would like to avoid since it would ruin the veneer.
 
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Just as an update, several months ago, SEAS worked with Andy at Madisound and offered me a 30% discount on replacement drivers. I took the offer. I also believe that SEAS has changed the coating on their Excel drivers to make them more resistant to humid environments. I had to pay for shipping, customs, and other import taxes a second time, but such is life.
 
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