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Well, THERE's your problem!

HammerSandwich

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My mother's Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble satellites. I believe they're from the late 1980s, so no surprises here.

Surrounds Gone.jpg
 

LTig

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My mother's Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble satellites. I believe they're from the late 1980s, so no surprises here.

View attachment 57839
Yep, foam just disappears.:(
OTOH I sold a pair of DIY speakers with KEF B110 and Audax HD25 last year. I bought the chassis in 1988 and they looked and performed as new.:)
 
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HammerSandwich

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OTOH I sold a pair of DIY speakers with KEF B110 and Audax HD25 last year. I bought the chassis in 1988 and they looked and performed as new.:)
Rubber is much better! My 1994 M26WRs are still solid, for which I'm grateful.

I think I'm more surprised to see that Cambridge put a cone tweeter in a speaker.
That IS more unusual, isn't it? Can't say how many decisions were based on cost here, but the cabinet has no relief for "woofer" venting. It's very blocked. I'll try to remember to get a pic of that tomorrow.
 

wwenze

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Year 1980. Dome tweeters were not a thing yet.

Fast forward to 2010, and tweeters became not a thing at lower-end price points.
 
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HammerSandwich

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Dome tweeters have been around since the AR-3 in 1958. Not sure if development began while Kloss was still at AR, but he left & co-founded KLH before the AR-3 hit the market.

When did Hecht (Phase Tech) do the first soft dome? Late 60s?
 

tonyo123

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That level of deterioration is surprising. I have their original Outdoor speaker, their sound cubes, plus the original 2.1 desktop system, and all are working fine with surrounds still intact.
 

somebodyelse

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Yep, foam just disappears.:(
OTOH I sold a pair of DIY speakers with KEF B110 and Audax HD25 last year. I bought the chassis in 1988 and they looked and performed as new.:)
Rubber is much better! My 1994 M26WRs are still solid, for which I'm grateful.
It's like people making pronouncements about Class D vs. Class AB :facepalm:
There are different sorts of 'foam' and different sorts of 'rubber' with significantly different properties, including the way the age in different environments. Some rubbers will stiffen and crack, especially in the presence of specific environmental contaminants. Some foams will fall apart. Other foams and rubbers will remain apparently unchanged after decades. You could make sweeping statements about 'plastic' too, and be just as wrong.
 

RayDunzl

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You could make sweeping statements about 'plastic' too, and be just as wrong.

I found some old unopened cans of Quaker State Motor Oil in the bottom of the cabinet last year.

Real old, like, from (guessing) 1980.

I figured it would still be good for something, but it had jelled.

I'm probably too old now to save a bottle of synthetic for 40 years, just to see.
 

maverickronin

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I found some old unopened cans of Quaker State Motor Oil in the bottom of the cabinet last year.

Real old, like, from (guessing) 1980.

I figured it would still be good for something, but it had jelled.

I'm probably too old now to save a bottle of synthetic for 40 years, just to see.

This stuff still worked pretty well.

 

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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Cambridge Soundworks isn't Cambridge Audio... Cone tweeters weren't unusual in that time frame, even Coral used to have them in their kits.
Year 1980. Dome tweeters were not a thing yet.

Cambridge Soundworks was founded in 1989. Dome tweeters were certainly pretty common by then.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
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HammerSandwich

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I'd forgotten it was 1989. CSW had been around a little while before my parents bought these speakers, so they're probably not even 30.
 

somebodyelse

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renaudrenaud

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Well, you have the choice, either the trash or a low cost replacement parts and one hour or two of your time. I've only done this for friends or family, but some companies do it for you. My thinking is you can rebuild as a new one, even re magnetise the magnet (sorry for my English, not sure if this is the good words).

And there is a business for the highly regarded speakers rebuild by people who really know what they do.

I am sure in this forum some guys are really in the knowledge of the subject, for my part I just done the operation on low cost speakers.

Last time I have done this:
https://sites.google.com/view/audiofolies/veilleries/enceintes/mirage-sm5
 

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somebodyelse

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Your English is good, and I think it's the correct word as I know there are companies that do it.
 

Haflermichi

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It's like people making pronouncements about Class D vs. Class AB :facepalm:
There are different sorts of 'foam' and different sorts of 'rubber' with significantly different properties, including the way the age in different environments. Some rubbers will stiffen and crack, especially in the presence of specific environmental contaminants. Some foams will fall apart. Other foams and rubbers will remain apparently unchanged after decades. You could make sweeping statements about 'plastic' too, and be just as wrong.
Yep, absolutely correct.
Although it does appear that foam, as used by many different manufacturers, is certainly more vulnerable to "catastrophic" deterioration.
 

Sure Not

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You should fix them. Cambridge Soundworks made very high quality speakers for the price.
 
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