Advice needed on Ruark Crusader 2 Speakers

BTW, here is my theory on how the VC got deformed. It was bend very slightly inwards on the bottom around some places. I suspect that at some point the speakers were exposed to a loud thump caused by a large DC pulse going to the speakers. Since this mid-range is connected out of phase, it would have pushed the dome inwards. The magnetic gap get narrower at some point as it gets deeper, and maybe it hit that.

Anyway, just a theory.

Also learned my lesson. No more second-hand speakers for me. Either new, or my own hand-built new speakers.
 
Of course it's worth to replace it with stranded wire. The tension
on the driver's terminal that a solid core makes is a potential reason
for a mechanical failure.

It is actually multi-stranded, but it is 12AWG wire, and quite stiff. No reason for such a thick wire going to the tweeter, or even mid-range for that matter. As you say, it puts undue stress on the terminals, non-withstanding the fact that it transmits box vibrations to the driver unit. The wires are feeded through very narrow holes from the woofer chamber to the mid and tweeter chamber from the crossover.
 
Ruark Crusader II Problems.

I until very recently owned a pair of Crusader IIs purchased in 1997..

But in the past three or so years, the Mid Range dome units on both speakers have developed an annoying distortion on certain harmonic frequencies.

Sadly, Ruark ceased production of loudspeakers a while back and do not now repair their products.

The Dynaudio Mid Range replacements are as rare as hen's teeth, so I have given away my once loved speakers to a friend and will shortly,

be auditioning the ATC SCM40 speakers shortly as possible replacements...
 
You may have missed a trick there. As m'learned friend, Lojzek did mention, the 3" dome Vifa D75MX aka Scanspeak D7608/920010 is still available. You really should be looking for something just similar, not ropey old fleabay units. Easy enough to tweak a speaker.

Scanspeak D7608/920010 Mid Range - Vifa D75MX-41/08 replacement

Used like this:
Dali7A Nyt Delefilter - SpeakerBuilder Forum - Page 1

It was also used in the Dali 7A. The tweeter was always a 3/4" SEAS 19TAF/G dome. The woofer looks like an 10" foamed paper peerless or Vifa.
 

Attachments

  • Vifa D75MX peerless 10 paper foam 19TAF-G.PNG
    Vifa D75MX peerless 10 paper foam 19TAF-G.PNG
    76.6 KB · Views: 158
  • Vifa D75MX FR.PNG
    Vifa D75MX FR.PNG
    196.9 KB · Views: 164
Last edited:
My 25 year old Crusader 2's were sounding very brittle, and odd on piano music. I couldn't remove the drivers, so Wilmslow Audio (near Leicester, UK) replaced all the caps for me, and checked out the drivers, for just over £100. They took a week or two to run in, but they now sound much better.