Oa5 Ii

[Adam Kimberley]

Greetings from England: my apologies for conversing in English.
I admired Sonab loudspeakers as a student in the 1970s but was too poor. We don't see many Sonabs in the U.K. but I've recently bought a pair of OA5 IIs and have a lot of questions I'd like help with before I ruin them!
I have cleaned the bass speakers & the cones & surrounds seem in good condition. Should I coat the cones and/or surrounds anyway?
The tweeters all function, but the treble sound is a bit harsh and 'noisy': does this respond to cleaning and coating or is relacement the answer? I haven't seen any CT62s for sale in the U.K. The cloth cover over one tweeter is missing - does this matter, & what material should be used to replace it?
Before I lift the baffle I should like to know what is underneath - is the filter/crossover the same as for the OA 14, and do the capacitors need to be replaced? Are the tweeters better placed the same way as on the OA 14, & is the phase of the tweeters always the same in all Sonab speakers?
Sorry that I have so many questions, but I have a good pair of loudspeakers (some friends prefer them to my Quad ESL63s) and I want to improve them if possible or leave them unchanged & enjoy the music.
Best wishes, Adam Kimberley.

[Roland Storm]

Adam, Welcome to Carlssonplanet.

Have you visit the homepage http://www.carlssonplanet.com and the english version? There you find the speakers and at http://www.carlssonplanet.com/ShowPage.asp?p=tips all about restoring and upgrading.

Best regards

Roland

[Martin Dellstig]

Hello!

I'll try to adress your different issues:

Tweeters
Try URL: http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk
they are listed as Peerless representatives in UK, If the don´t stock them perhaps they can order them for you.
Philips "basspeakers" 9710
If they work, don't fix them. Just check out that you can't see through the surrounds i.e. that there are no visible holes when you hold them to a lamp as described in Hints for restauration.
Also that they don't sag, check the spider.
The cloth around the 9710
It protects the rather exposed 9710, try to get a new cloth to wrap around. Choose a cloth that gives no resisitance if you blow through it.
Filter
No it is not identical to OA-14 and the other models from the seventies. The only thing you need to do is to replace the capacitor, the value should be visible on the capacitor, I don't rmeber if it is 4,7 or 5,6 uF right now.
The tweeters are connected in series parallel and are in phase like on all other Carlssonspeakers.

Keep us posted and we'll help you along.

Good luck!

Best regards

Martin

[Adam Kimberley]

Thank you.
I have found the 'restoration' pages very helpful indeed, though was left unsure whether 1970s capacitors would need replacing. My Philips drivers seem to be quite healthy & I'm leaving them alone at present - partly because I'm not sure what to use for coating, very dilute PVA perhaps? The covering for the bass units are like a silk scarf wrapped around them & are O.K. - the tweeters seem to have cloth glued over them & I'm not sure what to replace this with, or nothing? Does stiffening the tweeter cones (PVA?) help, or should I just replace them?
The tweeter placing in the OA14 looks as if it should be better for stereo, has anyone tried this orientation on the OA5 ?
I am very impressed both by the 'speakers & this website, I wish I had managed to find some of these speakers before. As I said before, they compare well with elecrostatics in my room, and I can recommend the Quad 405 or 707 to drive them.
Regards, Adam K.

[12björn]

The tweeter placing in the OA14 looks as if it should be better for stereo, has anyone tried this orientation on the OA5 ?

This konfiguration is recommended for OA5 and OA6 as well. Information about this is given in one of the newsletters ("Nyhetsbrev"). Unfortunately this section is not (yet?) translated to English. There is also an instruction in Swedish for Y-placement of tweeters that can be bought from CarlssonPlanet. If this instructionalso  is available in English I don't know.

Regards

Björn

[Adam Kimberley]

Thank you for all your advice.
I have changed the capacitors (4,7microF) for new SRS audio grade, and replaced the wiring from terminals to the filter board, and from the board to the bass speaker. I used QED 79-strand 'speaker cable. I have not changed the tweeter wiring.
I am amazed at how much improvement in sound quality this has made! Because I did both changes at the same time I don't know which had the greater effect, but the bass is 'tighter', more controlled, and the treble clearer & less harsh.
I'm not going to change anything else at present, just enjoy the music!
Adam K.