AKAI SW-35 - Barn find rebuild

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Hello and good afternoon!

As mentioned in the tittle, I'm restoring a very old pair of back loaded horn cabinets form the... 70´s? I didn't found any precise date from when they're were originally built but still, I only know I got them with this lot of empty and incomplete cabinets for a true bargain.

You can see them on top of my custom build 2way speaker behind those Logitech Z4 satellites.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

https://s25.postimg.org/jepcmwqdr/SAM_0056.jpg

I couldn't stop noticing that one of them when I shook it up sounded like it had a pile of stuff inside it. Since both of them didn't work (and were sold as so) I had to disassemble. Both of the plastic squarish rings where broken, one of them I barely touched it and the thing fell of. Also, one of the alloy pieces had a rip on them so I supposed that one has been opened before for repair of something.

I opened that one who had stuff inside and... :gasp:
My suspicions of a mouse nest became reality.

Anyways, the cabinets had different speaker units, one with an Akai 12F-35 and the other with a 12B or 12H 35... I can't recall but they look very similar as fostex FE103EN but with a dark grey paper cone and dustcap, not inverted suspension.

12F-35
https://s25.postimg.org/xuzqz09lb/$_57_(1).jpg
https://s25.postimg.org/s5jiep3f3/image.jpg

Then I opened the other one which had the same speaker I've shown above, with was kind of repaired, the speaker had it's suspension glued all over the place and we could notice that it had some holes on it. The speaker is pretty much dead and in really poor shape, I tried to make it work but only make grrrrsshhhh and I could barely understand the music that was played.

I plan to do a rebuild or better say an overhaul of these, principally changing the front design and the wood textured plastic... casing? Sorry but I don't know which word is the better :confused: I want to put a brighter one.

I also need to get some full range speaker for it and it is here that I need some piece of advice form your experience with this type of alignment. I would love to get some fostex but they're ludacris expensive for me.

I was thinking Dayton Audio RS100 or TB W4-655 or similar in the same price range or cheaper. What do you guys think? Note that I've never worked on this kind of alignment so I may be choosing the completely wrong speaker for the use.

PS: I need to upload some picture as soon as I get home :)
 
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As asked and promised here goes.... and the nest goes to.

I want to apology the not very sharp picture, captions are taken directly from videos I recorded.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Testing the speaker...

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The thing works surprisingly well! Then I make a quick fix inside the other box with less dirt on it to test that one 12F-35C and my jaw dropped! This thing goes to a little bit lower then 50Hz without a hitch!

About the inside of the box. For what I saw and then looked on the internet, these SW-35 look like a "face-lifted" version of the SW-30.

sw-30(1).JPG


As seen in AKAI A&D SW-30
 
Yes! Do post a picture of the inside... cause I'm too lazy to tear mine apart :)

...which are in pretty good working condition, with dark grey paper cones for sure. Sound-wise quite mediocre, with limited bandwidth but, you know, paper cones can be polite and enjoyable in the midrange for background listening.

Are you sure they are back-loaded horns, or just slot loaded bass-reflexes?
 
Don't worry.

Yes I could ear those lows well but the place where I tested it was like cheating a bit, a kitchen with lots of resonances and reflections. But I put them outside so I would not have any of that but I can confirm that they go at least to that frequency, not very loud, but loud enough to be noticeable.

I've also noticed if I push a little bit from the low end, the highs tend to distord a bit like if the coil was to far away from where it is supposed to be and therefore it is canceled, totally understandable. But still, for a thing that has been in the corner for at least 15 years, had a rat nest in it, for how old it is, it just sounds more than fine. But they served very well, I'll put that unit in my collection.
 
No, this project isn't dead.

Sorry for being for so freaking long without saying anything. Oh and good year btw :D

Anyways, yeah, I've been trying to look for a similar working driver (the dark gray coned one) for that long and found absolutely nothing.

I've been thinking about a two way or maybe full range, with a pair of dayton neo woofers, ND105's if not mistaken and cheap pair of tweeters yet to be decided.

Also, I still got no clue of how that box actually works... I think It might be a reversed horn+Tline... but why the shape of the box makes it sound so peculiar?

I've tested the boxes with more recent cheap full range driver and the thing sounds about the same, only a bit graspier in the highs (again, cheap driver).

Any opinions/help is deeply appreciated.
 
Great news, finally found the perfect speakers for my small AKAI SW-35 towers.

Basically, my teacher brought me some old AIWA CS-5 bookshelves that which only the drivers where good, the boxes we're rotten. Apparently these came from a small stereo system.

But again, only got the speakers, and they we're for free. Well, they kinda served as a payment method for a my teacher's home cinema repair.

Anyways, have some (not mine) pictures from the same boxes I got.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Also, the AIWA CS-5 speakers kinda looked like the 12F-35 (the rounded chassis white coned drivers) but in the chassis of the 12F-35C (the grey coned speaker). You can see pictures of those on the first post.

I hope I can make some updates of these... my life is kinda grey right now lol
 
Re-glueing the suspensions

Yep, as the title says pretty much lol. Have some pictures.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The chassis a bit corroded, not too damaged thought. Gonna leave it as it is.
So I used normal wood glue, should do the trick. I did thought about super glue but that could literally eat the material.

I also did try do clean the suspensions a bit with some cotton, but a old teeth brush would be better to do that.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The nozzle was to thicc :D Used a toothpick instead.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Adding some weight and going to leave for the night to dry. Let's see how it is tomorrow. Cheers ;)

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
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