Audio Artistry Beethoven's midrange stop working

In addition to removing the top, as Siegfried describes below the rosewood trim panel on the back of the Beethoven must be removed to access the screws in the Spine. This trim piece is also glued down with a soft silicon glue. Use a 1/16” x 1” x 36” piece of aluminum and sharpen one end and use a rubber mallet to tap it underneath the center of the spine starting at the bottom to remove the trim cover, be careful not to damage the small mesh grills over each hole in the rosewood trim. There is a glue point between all the drivers and at the bottom so the full length of the aluminum will be used. As you get near the last glue point you will be able to lift the trim piece out of the channel. The grill is affixed to the spine using 1/8” window screen spline available from Lowes or Home Depot. You will need to remove the 1/16” x ½” wide neoprene gasket that is covering the track for the spline holding the grill cloth in place. Next remove the spline from the track and pull the grill cloth to each side. This will reveal the screws holding the spine in place, remove all the screws and unsolder the wires to both 8” and 10” drivers. The 8” and 10” drives are glued to the spine so once all screws are removed gently lift the spine out of its mounted position and all drivers will follow. Make sure you don’t damage the wiring to the speak-on connector or simply unsolder those wires also. The drivers are also attached with soft silicon glue, use a putty knife to slip between the spine and the magnet working your way around to release the glue holding the defective driver. Position the new driver in the cabinet and put an ample spiral of silicon glue (a suitable version is available from Lowes and Home DePot) on the new driver’s magnet. Next reposition the spine and make sure each driver drops into the gasket arrangement on the front of the speaker. Replace the screws in the spine and make sure the glue does not spread beyond the magnet. (If you need to replace an 8” driver, there is a spacer that needs to remain in place). Re-attach the grill cloth to the spine using a window screen tool and stretch the cloth at the top and bottom of the speaker and press it into the glue and replace the staples (HINT: Harbor Freight has an air operated upholstery stapler for about $20.00 that works very well). The Neoprene gasket must be replaced, I may have some here if you can’t find that material. The spine will need to be glued in place and we held it down using 25lb lead shot bags while the glue was curing (make sure you remove most of the old glue). Follow the other steps in reverse to complete the assembly.

IMPORTANT: Remove the tweeter before laying the speaker on its face to work on it and note the tweeter wiring polarity is inverse phase (red wire to the minus terminal) on the tweeter.

Marshall Kay