Are you sure Grandma had nothing to do with this? I know my wife is not that thrilled about my audiophile equipment, but hopefully not to point of destruction! $$$$$$$
Upsetting story looking for a solution
Right to it. My granddaughter stuck a finger through both berlynium tweeter covers on my Q5 speakers. I live in NJ. I contacted Magico. They are short of $1500 each. Plus shipping and labor. Magico does not sell the covers separately. They are part of the tweeter I am told. They vibrate on high frequencys I am told as well. Anyone have any experience or possible options for me? I am considering replacing on my own. Just seems insane for the cover. I have played tracks 4, 5 and 6 on The Ultimate Anologue test LP with what seems like great results. Am I missing something? Any info, ideas or solutions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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The physical labor involved in replacing those was actually something i was worried about. It's one giant aluminum baffle. It looks like Magico is doing some custom mounting, so they are probably removing the entire mounting plate on the original tweeter, and had no place to put the original screen, and then decided it looked or sounded better. But these are high-end speakers, you have to be prepared for high-end repairs. Sorry!! This is why I make my own. :) Erik |
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http://davidmichaelaudio.com/brands/magico/q5/ Looks like a somewhat difficult replacement - the front baffle of the speaker appears to slide out on rods - most likely secured from the back, see the last picture on the above page. That being said I wonder why Magico remove the protective screen that the BE dome tweeter is fitted with when procured from ScanSpeak for an example (the dome / surround looks VERY ScanSpeak) its there to protect the dome from specifically what happened to the OP - Probably because its not pleasing to the eye however acoustically it will make no difference. With their design and machining capabilities they certainly should be able to come up with something. Best of Luck |
Actually, now that i think about it, many drivers have replacement domes available. Contact Madisound and see if they can be ordered. Far cheaper than replacing the entire tweeter. Due to the nature of Be however, Scanspeak may not want to send out raw domes. on the other hand they may have a repair service avilable. Best, Erik |
How did she get up so high to damage the tweeter? If she did that, I would suspect damage lower down, as well.... In any case, for a speaker that costs that much, then sending them back to Magico would be the best solution. Hopefully, you have the original boxes. Freight would be the best way to ship. Who knows, maybe Magico will update the speakers while they are there and you'd be getting a better pair of speakers. |
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Maybe I'm in a minority but I would be extremely unhappy to discover that a Q5 I purchased used had been "modified" by the previous owner. As I recall Magico spec even the torque to be applied to the bolts holding their cabinets together, even trying to take the thing apart risks scratches on the finish which again would materially affect resale. Given this is a current model and Magico offer great after sales service it seems insane to be DIY. Look at this as a fun time for your dealer to loan you some other speakers to enjoy while yours are back with Magico (and if you don't have this sort of close dealer relationship(s) at this level why not?) Whatever you do I trust you will declare all this to any future buyer! Pity there's no CarFax for hi-fi |
Sorry to hear about your predicament. If I've learned anything from speaker listings here on Audiogon, it's that dented/poked tweeters have no negative effect on the sound and shouldn't keep you from listing them at what a non damaged pair would go for. /sarcasm While going in from the back looks complicated, the side panels on the q5 look like it would give you somewhat easy access to the tweeter. Have you tried pulling off a side panel to see how hard a replacement would be? Could save you some money if you're handy. |
If you bought the speakers new I would suggest working with the original seller and try to work out deal. When my kids were younger I fully expected that someone would poke a driver- fortunately, never happened. I also expected some small toy would be deposited through the rear port of the speakers. I don't think that ever happened |
I believe these are just scanspeak tweeters. Be is poisonous! and may need special care in disposing of them. I am not sure what covers you need, but the tweeters are $500 each retail. See if you had bought a speaker with an AMT this would not habe happened..... (just kidding) |
Can't your dealer handle the replacement? I managed to blow out a driver on my old V3s and my dealer swapped it out. Unless the construction on the Q series is the issue in any case you do need to fix it, whether it affects the sound or not you have probably taken much more than $3k off the resale value. Chalk it down to experience and consider making a tweeter cover cover 😉 I use flexible plastic 1/4 cup measuring pots for whenever I move my Q3s to cover the tweeters and avoid this sort of mishap, masking tape them on and you are set |