DIY Studio monitor information

[EmilianoS]

Hi everyone, i have a DIY studio monitor, it was made by my father around mid 90s and i want to have more information since i need to fix the monitors and i'd want to know if it's worth or not
the tweeter is a Morel mdt 29 8ohm and the woofer is a peerless kp 65 pg 8 ohm, the cabinet size is wide 22 cm, deep 25 cm and height is 40 cm, it has a bass reflex in front with 5 cm diamter,
and it seems like the front has some like black panel attached to it but like if it was inside because it doesn't add thickness to it, i suppose it's glued, is it a recessed baffle? i'll post the pictures

i can't see the crossover for now, i know that they were made with being monitor for mixing in mind so i guess the crossover was customized to the speakers.
could it be something worth to mix in and from the components and cabinet liters and baffle what kind of price range if i would want it to compare to commercial studio monitor?
i have a fosi za3 as an amplifier and a babyface pro fs as audio interface, thanks

 

[staticV3]

Hi @EmilianoS! Welcome to ASR.

it seems like the front has some like black panel attached to it but like if it was inside because it doesn't add thickness to it, i suppose it's glued, is it a recessed baffle?

Only if the cabinet forms a lip all around the front baffle.

i want to have more information since i need to fix the monitors and i'd want to know if it's worth or not

You can't really fix a speaker like this without knowing how to build one.

For that, you need the right tools (measurement microphone, Dayton DATS, Multimeter, ...), ample time and determination, and expertise in measurement and simulation software like Room EQ Wizard and VituixCAD.

Without those, a $200-300 pair of new speakers would be a much better investment.

 

[EmilianoS]

Thanks! the idea would be to bring it here to someone that does hi-fi repairments, i used to have them hooked up to a musical fidelity a1 and sometimes a crown d-75 which both died years ago, then i got a pair of kali in5, and for what i remember the diy one the sound was good, but then i moved and sold the kali, then i got the diy one shipped here and the tweeter got damaged during shipping, probably it could be just the dome, but it's been long time so it's hard to make a comparison to how well they sound compared to other monitors, could be useful to measure with REW only the diffuser that works in full and see how it performs?

 

[DVDdoug]

since i need to fix the monitors and i'd want to know if it's worth or not

Technically, probably not. Especially if you are planning on using it as a monitor for mixing. But it might be OK for everyday listening and I suppose there is some sentimental value. DIY monitors for "serious" audio production are usually a bad idea...

As you may know the "modern trend" is active monitors. And a lot of small "near field monitors" are barely "monitors"... Often they are just powered computer speakers without grill cloth.

How does it sound now? Damage to the dust cap doesn't usually destroy the sound, It's hard to know what kind of repairs needed (or wanted). You can get replacement dust caps and you cut-out the original and glue a slightly larger one in-place to hide any cosmetic damage done by cutting.

If you replace the woofer you should plug the Thiele-Small parameters and box volume into WinISD (or similar) to re-optimize the port, or the software can tell you if a sealed box is better (for the particular driver and box size). In the 90's your father may not have had access to such software so tuning may have been done by trial-and-error.

I didn't actually notice the tweeter damage in the picture. It may be functionally OK.

a DIY studio monitor, it was made by my father around mid 90s and i want to have more information since i need to fix the monitors

I assume you have a pair? A mono speaker is a bit of a novelty. (Of course, any changes should be done to both.)

i suppose it's glued, is it a recessed baffle?

Probably. I guess the back doesn't come off either? Sometimes the box is permanently glued shut and the only way to access the inside is to remove the drivers. I've got some speakers like that.

The baffles on my DIY speakers are screwed from the inside, so they can be removed after the back panel is removed.

i can't see the crossover for now,

You can remove the woofer to see inside.

 

[EmilianoS]

I forgot to add that the drivers all works except from a tweeter in one monitor which has probably the dome got damaged from shipment, I can hear the low and mid but no the frequency that should comes from the tweeter, also if I put my hear on the tweeter there’s no sound in one of the monitor, so the other monitor it should all be ok.
For the baffle it seems the only way to accesss the inside is to remove the drivers,
I don’t know if it’s just something aesthetically or if it’s a proper baffle

 

[DVDdoug]

...Personally, I don't do any serious audio production so I don't NEED accuracy (and I have other speakers). If the good speaker sounds OK to you, what I would probably do is replace the tweeter. I see the Morel tweeter is still available from Parts Express (not cheap!).

Then I'd replace the dust caps on the woofers just so they don't look so ugly.

 

[EmilianoS]

I saw also I could find the replacement for just the membrane and should be around 20/30 euro but i was thinking to bring to a lab close to where I live so they can tell if it’s the dome or also the whole tweeter, but let’s say I want to use it as hi-fi speaker and not necessarily for mixing, would it make sense to have it repaired? Like I have no idea about the quality of the actual drivers
Of course I won’t get rid of them because they hold value to me but it was more to understand if they could actually make sense for the quality

 

[DVDdoug]

would it make sense to have it repaired?

Replacing the membrane (usually) includes the voice coil so there's no reason for it not to work. But I've never done a replacement myself and I don't know how tricky it is to get everything mechanically aligned. If the lab can do it for a reasonable fee, you might want to go that way.

Of course I won’t get rid of them because they hold value to me but it was more to understand if they could actually make sense for the quality.

There's really no-way for any of us to know. I'm sure you can buy better or worse speakers and you'd have to go to an audio/video store to get an idea of how much money you'd have to spend to get better sound. just keep in-mind that the room affects the sound so speakers will sound different in the store than at home, and you may not be able to bring-in your speakers to A/B in the same environment.

 

[Flaesh]

https://www.soundimports.eu/en/more...vtTxdvi3OjGnjWACc29a5n6U2bnkIPYUcRv1sILoENC4i € 69,95 6 In stock

 

[EmilianoS]

thanks! I will bring the speakers to a lab close to where i live, also to check the crossover since it's quite old, i can get a quote for free,
it was more to understand of hypotetical to what price could be competing compared to commercial monitors/hi-fi speakers based from the drivers and cabinet,
i will repair them anyway but i wanted to understand if i could actual use it or if it was best to add a pair of monitors

 

[analogonly]

Sentimental value only is most probable. Get a pair of small Genelec or Neumann.