It isn’t really marble. It is a synthetic resin. I figured I would practice different techniques on the underside and see what sticks best. The material is very similar to cultured marble shower walls. I believe if roughed up it will hold. I generative titebond on both substrates, allow to dry, and then reactivate with an iron. I prefer this over contact cement as you can adjust for fit.
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I figured as such. Thank you.
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The woofer is ScanSpeak 21W/8552 Classic. Tweeter is also Scanspeak D2010/8513. The midrange is Eton 4-203/25 HEX. The tweeter is still available in a slightly different form. Drivers look high quality. The surrounds were cheap and May attempt this. I have a message into Madisound asking for compatible drop ins. The marble is just ugly for my tastes but the design is very cool and with a proper high end veneer job these could look exceptional. Also will polish the aluminum around speakers to see if I can mirror it. The drivers all have a part number sticker- Kxxxx where the X’s are numbers. Assume these are GMA part numbers. the foam diaphragm covering the tweeters have pinholes- not sure how to deal with that. I only bought these because I know Roy was a gem and didn’t want these to go to the waste bin.
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They are 2 piece and really heavy. I would guess 100 pounds each.
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Dekay, I saw that link as well. I have the drivers pulled and awaiting some feedback from Madisound. ScanSpeak was quick to respond but not much help. My wife is gagging over the look of these things :-0
I appreciate everyone's input thus far. Truly helpful and welcome.
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Your friend is spot on in many of the discussions I have seen. This one has been refreshingly civil- maybe I should bring up fuses or wire 😉. I have been able to order replacement surrounds and even the tweeter silk dome. Should take a few weeks to all come in and I will update. I asked a local cultured marble place for some scraps to experiment on veneering techniques as well. And DeKay…. I hit the jackpot on the marriage front.
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I never met him but have never seen anyone post that he was anything but a true genius and a really nice guy. I saw these in a local ad and couldn’t believe a pair would be tucked away in the middle of nowhere. They were not in the hands of an audiophile. Covered in dog hair and dust, and by nature not very attractive, they were a sorry lot. They will come back to life and stay in the family collection. I don’t like to see vintage high end go to the trash or destroyed.
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Appreciate the recommendations. leather may be a good choice but I am familiar with veneering techniques and a Rosewood or straight grained teak might be just the ticket for these. I also thought about veneer that has a pronounced heartwood color that could be centered down the front bevels. We shall see. The foam surrounds are a full 203CM/8" so most aftermarkets wont work. Ordered originals which take a bit to receive.
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How do you post a picture? I would like to share one of the finished drivers.
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So for those willing to attempt a replacement of a surround; It wasn't bad. If you remove the dust cap you can shim the voice coil so it is centered. I would recommend practicing putting your glue on some scrap first and understanding its working time and any idiosyncrasies. The first speaker the glue tube had some gel in the top and made a bit of a mess. Took some effort to clean it off. Some videos suggest using a brush to spread it evenly on the surround- I found my finger was far superior to avoid mess. Overall, the Eton mid- ranges tuned out pretty great. Still awaiting the ScanSpeak surrounds.
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Thanks for asking. I have all the drivers rebuilt. I also have the wire grills reshaped. Just tonight I veneered one of the speakers with an exotic grey walnut. To say it was a challenge would be an understatement with all the angles. I don’t know how to post pics or I would. I will attempt to send you one directly.
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No idea. I haven’t mounted the drivers due to the veneering project. All the dang angles on these things have me slicing my fingers up with razors as I trim the veneer. Veneering box speakers is a breeze. Marble geometric, not so much 😉 Another few weeks and we will fire them up with both tubes and solid state to see which sounds best. Thanks for the inquiry.
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I will figure out how to post some pics when I finish and let everyone know how they sound. Small delay as I am working on some other projects temporarily- namely a motorbike for the grandson. One speaker has been fully veneered and looks pretty good. The metal covers are now a little large so I need to spin them down on the lathe.
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Nope. I have 1 veneered. It got pretty frosty and my barn isn’t heated. I also got distracted with a zillion other things. I am committed to completing. I do appreciate your continued curiosity.
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Thank you Kenjit. I will make sure to do that.
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Jackd
i won’t do anything beyond the veneering and surrounds until I listen for a bit. I will look things over on the cover to make sure no leaking caps but otherwise no immediate changes. I have a decent number of high end caps in my tool box so at some point I might tinker but I would make sure the existing unites were mapped and saved for reinsertion.
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What I would love to do but won’t, is cut the top 4 inches of the speaker off, the obelisk, and make it flat. Veneering those is an absolute bear. I had every finger bandaged from razor cuts on the first one. The reason I didn’t start the second was I am rethinking the process to possibly find an easier but aesthetically attractive approach.
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Carpathian, if you are curious, I probably would not have been as eager to restore had I even passingly considered the issues I would be facing. But now that I am in… no quitting.
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And if anyone else is considering veneering over cultured marble with a variety of angles……… I wouldn’t recommend it. I have found a successful process, but it is a pain. I intentionally have let them set for a few months to see if the adherence is stable. Even the speaker cut-outs have no wiggle room so after veneering them I had to slightly turn down the holding rings by 1/32”
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