Opinions please...Tympnai IVa / ML CLS / Soundlab Pristine II

[andyr]

Originally Posted by john65b

OK, I have decided to keep the Tympani IVa's for now.

Hi John,

As you still have your T-IVas, you could substantially upgrade them by removing the planar mid panels and replacing them with 6 x BG NeO 8 drivers (each side). You would need to modify the XO - according to 'Satie' on the Planar Asylum, you can do away with either the mid HP filter or the mid LP filter (sorry, forget which), as the NeO 8s just roll off by themselves. And he uses 6dB slopes for all filters except the bass LP, which is the standard 18dB.

The NeO 8s give you a much more refined/clear mid range, compared to the Maggie midrange, and the removal of 1 mid-range filter improves things, too. Contact Satie for more details.

It's something I am contemplating myself ... I combined T-IVa mid/ribbon panels with MG-2.5 bass panels to produce my "Frankenpans" (essentially T-IVas with only 1 bass panel ).

Regards,

Andy

[john65b]

Well, I sold the Tympanis and so far, no regrets...I have the DIY CLS running 250hz and up with a pair of old Tympani 1D bass panels doing the LF...

Insofar, I am not getting those pristine highs that I had from the Tympani IVa ribbons, but all else is simply gorgeous.

I may just add a ribbon tweet and be done with it...

[john65b]

UPDATE - Hey all...As I said,I reluctantly sold my IVa, and with the new CLS / Id bass panels setup, I felt I was sorely missing the high highs ad low lows. Midrange was perfect with the CLS with modified interfaces I built. If I could just have the lows and highs of the IVas with the mid of the CLS - it would have been perfection for me...

So when I had another chance to buy another pair of IVas locally, I jumped on it. They needed a complete rewire (bass and MR). Finally got around to rewiring a few weeks ago and now complete.

Wiring went as planned for the bass - cleaned off mylar with acetone, 3M Spray 77, wait 10 minutes until tacky, lay the bass wire, coat with the new and improved Miloxane (don't remember what they call it now N30 something), and DAP Weldwood glue the loop ends (my little addition to keep delam in check).

But I tried something different on the midrange - cleaned off the goop with acetone - completely - so I can see through the mylar. Unreal how the rubberized coating was probably 2x thicker than the mylar itself... Instead of laying a spray of Spray77, I put some DAP Weldwood between my fingers and ran up and down the bare 32 gauge MR wire and laid it on the clean mylar. I made sure I was careful to not put anymore mass other than the wire and the DAP Glue on the mylar. After an hour or so I went over the whole panel to make sure all the wires were properly glued down. No additional coat of Miloxane or anything over the wires/mylar.

Results were pretty damn amazing. All the MR clarity of the CLS electrostatic speaker. I was prepared to drop quite a bit of money on Saties 12 Neo 8 MR upgrade to get that snap of the CLS...and feel I no longer need to.

New black socks coming in later next week. I will never sell these. But glad I went through the transformation to get where I am now...

Again, YMMV

[AVWERK]

3m spray 90 is used for laying plastic laminate for countertops and sticks much better than 77. Spray 77 is more a craft type spray and may not last all that long over time.
FWIW

Regards
David

[john65b]

Yes Spray 99 may be better, but Spray 77 is what Magnepan recommends.

Idea is to avoid entirely (on MR panel) to keep diaphragm as light as possible...

[Andersonix]

Originally Posted by john65b

Results were pretty damn amazing. All the MR clarity of the CLS electrostatic speaker.

You don't really expect to get away with this claim, do you John?

[john65b]

Dude, if I'm lying, I'm dying...

[andyr]

Originally Posted by AVWERK

3m spray 90 is used for laying plastic laminate for countertops and sticks much better than 77. Spray 77 is more a craft type spray and may not last all that long over time.
FWIW

Regards
David

That's what someone told me about 5 years ago, when I had to re-lay one of my IIIa mid panels, after breaking a wire when my screwdriver slipped while screwing the panel to its new hardwood frame.

So I bought some; the spray did not come out in a light mist like, say, paint comes out of a spray can to form a clear, even film on the mylar ... instead it came out in a thick, white foam. The result was that:
a) the repaired mid panel looked awful, and
b) its output was lower ... I presume this was this due to the extra mass of the resulting driver, vs. the other mid?

I was able to compensate for this by increasing the output of that speaker's active XO mid channel (so that the image was centred when just playing the mid panels) but I was annoyed that I had decided not to use the Magnepan-recommended product.

So I would warn anyone against using 3M90.

Regards,

Andy

[tyu]

The Dap is all i use on my Magnepan rewires......Only time i have ever used any 3m.77..90..is on the tweeter wire an dont like it there ...
The Wires johns talking about are like Tweeter wire......32 gauge MR wire ......not bass wires ...but this my work to hold the base wire down an then you can come back over if needed for sure at the end truns...
thanks for the info John...
less is more in the case of puting anything on the mylar.....goodluck

[john65b]

If I were to do it all over again, I would do it like I did the MR - keep the mylar as light as possible. But on the bass panels, the extra weight is forgivable, and may actually be designed in by Magnepan.

That DAP is quite difficult to work with once you get it all over your fingers - sets up a little too quick for anything but a mid range rewire job.

And always start with a fresh bottle of DAP. I have noticed that bottles that have been previously opened and exposed to air don't stick or take longer to stick than a fresh bottle...

Again YMMV...