Hello,
I'm so sad to start a thread like this. I'm a truly Lowther lover, I like so much the way this speakers represent the detail and dynamic of real instruments, even if I know very well how much work you have to do on them to make them sound more "musical" and linear.
These are a marvelous mix of engineering and handcraft objects, but the neodymium series... let's talk about it.
I find them a great improvement compared to the ferrite ones (sorry, I never put my hands on a alnico one), more smooth and detailed, more frequency extesion, less peaks to tame.
After about 8 years one of them started to make strange noise and scratches, so I thought "ok, the same old story, I have to center it". You know what I mean, Lowther are quite delicate units, I centered them quite a lot of times, especially the unit with high weight magnet.
So I opened them, but I saw strange brilliant piece of metal inside the gap. Strange, I give a lot of attention to avoid dust to go inside he gap, especially considering that is open to air due to the mechanical structure of the speaker.
In the same time, I noticed the presence of a particular type of dust, not easy to pull out. I didn't have the courage to believe to my eyes, but there was no doubts: the neodymium magnet was starting to loose its nickel covering, and the neodymium powder was starting to go everywhere in the magnet unit.
I wrote to Lowther to report this serious issue, they answered me with a standard price list of refurbishment tasks. Practically, they treated me as I caused the damage of the speaker.
I think it's a real shame that a such high reputation and historic company accept the fact that theyr recent enginnering design present such a serious fault. One can love or hate Lowther, but they are bringing music from almost a century (the first Voigt design was released around 1930) and a Lowther made in the '60/'70 years can still sings well in our days.
So, they managed to reach the impossible: build a throwaway speaker. Sure, it's a great improvement in terms of business, you have to pay a 1300/8 years tax to own a pair of DX (and EX, I think) series Lowther. How a honest thing it can be, we can speak about it...
I expected a so different reaction from Lowther company: apologize for the engineering design fault, a public action against the neodymium magnet supplier, a quasi-gratis exchange program of the magnet unit... nothing of this, I have to accept the idea that the Lowther neodymiom magnet show the building quality of a Chinese low-cost gadget.
I NEVER buy a DX or EX series again, and I invite audio friends to take in serious consideration the opportunity to run other ways.
So sad to say, but I have to share it, at least to give respect to the great engineers that made great the Lowther name in the past. I'm sure that they're not happy with this particular Lowther's turning point and behavior.
Massimo
p.s.: from that point, other 2 speakers started to scratch... embarrasing.
I'm so sad to start a thread like this. I'm a truly Lowther lover, I like so much the way this speakers represent the detail and dynamic of real instruments, even if I know very well how much work you have to do on them to make them sound more "musical" and linear.
These are a marvelous mix of engineering and handcraft objects, but the neodymium series... let's talk about it.
I find them a great improvement compared to the ferrite ones (sorry, I never put my hands on a alnico one), more smooth and detailed, more frequency extesion, less peaks to tame.
After about 8 years one of them started to make strange noise and scratches, so I thought "ok, the same old story, I have to center it". You know what I mean, Lowther are quite delicate units, I centered them quite a lot of times, especially the unit with high weight magnet.
So I opened them, but I saw strange brilliant piece of metal inside the gap. Strange, I give a lot of attention to avoid dust to go inside he gap, especially considering that is open to air due to the mechanical structure of the speaker.
In the same time, I noticed the presence of a particular type of dust, not easy to pull out. I didn't have the courage to believe to my eyes, but there was no doubts: the neodymium magnet was starting to loose its nickel covering, and the neodymium powder was starting to go everywhere in the magnet unit.
I wrote to Lowther to report this serious issue, they answered me with a standard price list of refurbishment tasks. Practically, they treated me as I caused the damage of the speaker.
I think it's a real shame that a such high reputation and historic company accept the fact that theyr recent enginnering design present such a serious fault. One can love or hate Lowther, but they are bringing music from almost a century (the first Voigt design was released around 1930) and a Lowther made in the '60/'70 years can still sings well in our days.
So, they managed to reach the impossible: build a throwaway speaker. Sure, it's a great improvement in terms of business, you have to pay a 1300/8 years tax to own a pair of DX (and EX, I think) series Lowther. How a honest thing it can be, we can speak about it...
I expected a so different reaction from Lowther company: apologize for the engineering design fault, a public action against the neodymium magnet supplier, a quasi-gratis exchange program of the magnet unit... nothing of this, I have to accept the idea that the Lowther neodymiom magnet show the building quality of a Chinese low-cost gadget.
I NEVER buy a DX or EX series again, and I invite audio friends to take in serious consideration the opportunity to run other ways.
So sad to say, but I have to share it, at least to give respect to the great engineers that made great the Lowther name in the past. I'm sure that they're not happy with this particular Lowther's turning point and behavior.
Massimo
p.s.: from that point, other 2 speakers started to scratch... embarrasing.
Thank you ghemml for supporting me, unfortuately the nickel chipppings cannot come from the magnetic voice coil paint.
I'll try another deep clean and I'll try to make a photo, there are no doubt about the origin: they come from the metal (nickel?) magnet coating, exactly as it does after few time with cheap magnets.
Sad story.
I'll try another deep clean and I'll try to make a photo, there are no doubt about the origin: they come from the metal (nickel?) magnet coating, exactly as it does after few time with cheap magnets.
Sad story.
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