OA-14 Questions

[Martin Dellstig]

Hi!

I'm glad to hear everything worked out according to plan!

How did you install the tweeters? Melting, cutting or grinding?

Have a nice day!

Best regards

Martin

[petebeardm]

Three More questions have come up. I have set my teeters up in line with a diagram sent to me by Carlssonplanet where the back tweeters are almost in line with the centre back tweeter. So it is not a true "Y". Is the position of the tweeter critical to the sound? I've put a lot of effort into these speakers so I want to get them right so I will move them if necessary.
2. I also have a little bit of a dust problem especially this time of the year in Australia (it gets dry and a bit dusty).
What is the best way to keep the WR 165's (polypropolyne and rubber surrounds Peerless Cat. No. 833599) clean and what is the best way to remove dust from them without causing damage? the same question applies to the CT 62?
3. Is the modification to the filter difficult to do and is it essential? I emailed Carlssonplanet about puchasing the information but have not received a reply from them. Is there anywhere else I can purchase this information?
The speakers now are performing extremely well; the sound is much improved over what was already a very nice sound. The room  needs some work ( quite a lot of window) and when I ran a "Chesky" DVD-A test disk I was getting windows vibrating (at one frequency) on what they call a rattle test. I guess it was happening at around 120 Hz. I don't know what the solution to this is because of the size of the room (5.5 x 6.0) with about 4 metres of glass about 1.5 metres high The glass starts about 400 mm from the floor. We do have curtains. I am constrained by room layout etc and one of my OA14's has to go near a window (no choice). Any suggestions?

Peter

[petebeardm]

Martin

Missed your post. We (had the help of a friend) cut the grooves with a tool he had  that is designed for cutting tiles. It is a little hard to describe but it did the job. On the OD11's we used a drill and drilled  a series of holes and cleaned  the grooves out with a small file. In both case we glued them in on the OA14's I had made up little wooden blocks and we put these behind the tweeters.

Peter

[petebeardm]

I just wanted to confirm the position of my tweeters before I finally finish this job.
The diagram I received from Carlssonplanet had the tweeters in a sort of T formation which is the way I placed them; but some of the photos I have seen of OA-14's have the tweeters in a real "Y" with the back tweeters right back near the woofer.
Is the actual placement of these tweeters critical to the the resultant sound.
2. A second question regards the filters ( I can't read Swedish). I understand I can buy the components for the filters from a couple of places in Sweden.
The filters in my speakers seem to be in good condition and when you put the volume up with no source (that is input source) the speakers are dead quiet and my original OD11's were "professionally checked " a couple of years ago and found to be fine.
As i said my aim is to have a fully restored "better than new " speaker (the OA14's)and I'm pretty close.
Also in my previous post I mentioned a problem with placement of my OA-14's, Any suggestion I can't move the room around for various reasons (Cable TV connections etc).
One of my real surprises with the OA14 is how low it goes. they really do have very good bass. I have only had them for about 18 months but I have owned one set of OD11's since they were new in 1976. I woud love to get the SC-165 but the Peerless polyprpylene WR 165 does an excellent job.I now have got enough to cover every speaker I use and one spare that is; 4 OD 11's and two OA 14's.
I did audition some new Australian speakers in the up to $1500US (they are real nice speakers), but although they do some things better they still don't stand as clearly better than the Sonab's so I stuck with Sonabs (and spent money on them ) and upgreded my electronics . The result is very satisfying, I use on Od 11 (at a 45 degree angle) as my centre and although sometimes I may have to put a little more volume into it to match the OA14's (for movies) they is superb for SACD and DVD Audio music. Music is my main interest.

Peter

[Ygel]

Hi,

Im attaching an image that hopefully answers your question. I found it hard to put the three back tweeters in a different way than i did, and to me they form a pretty accurate "Y" The left and the right one i used the same places as the old ones, and the one in the middle i put as far back as i could. The one on the bottom however, Im not sure if its in the right position, maybe i should "lower" it a bit more.

I just finished my SSC modification of the filters the other day and I did hear a slight improvement in sound quality, but it wasnt remarkable If you want to make the modification, its very easy, you can find the components on the website: http://www.elfa.se/en/  its the english version of the site. If you cant find the components, I am pretty sure me or someone here will help you. Good Luck!

EDIT: You will only find the condensators on that site

[petebeardm]

Ygel

There is my problem. I do not know what the SSC modification is; I emailed Carlssonplanet to see whether I could buy what I assume is the document that describes this modification but I have not received an answer as yet.
As I said in my post I am happy with the performance of the filters and except for room Acoustics (I have tested my speakers side by side with a test disk and a Sound Level metre) and they are now very close in there output and sound since I put the CT62's on.
But if you know how I can get my hands on that document (I assume its a document).  I would like to buy it.
I have shifted the back tweeters on both my speakers ( a bit of a nuisance) and I can't say I picked up any difference but they are now similar to all the photos I have seen on this site.
According to speaker people I have spoken to locally the Peerless 833599 Polypropolyne Bass speaker does the job very well.  As I said in my first post I gave up trying to get the B65 oa drivers after I lost a couple in shipment a couple of years ago. I'm getting real close to achieving what I want with my speakers. The veneer on the cabinet need a litttle work but thats cosmetic and I will do a couple of more cosmetic things and  the job will be complete.

Thanks Peter

[Martin Dellstig]

Hello!

There are two different documents regarding upgrading of OA-14, one describing tweeter mounting and placing, the other regarding a filtermodification for replacing the old tweeters with CT62 tweeeters.

The "Y-modification" is almost ready and the filter upgrade is a bit further down the road. I hope to have the "Y-modification ready by next week or so. I can not give any specific date for the filter-modification but I hope to have that done before the summer.

As to why you have not received an answer from CarlssonPlanet I can´t tell for sure but Per who is receiving all mails adressed to CP has been on vacation. If you haven´t received an answer in a day or two send me a PM and I will sort things out for you.

Best regards

Martin

[petebeardm]

Thanks Martin

Just what I wanted. I put a new Ortofon Catridge on my "Micro Seiko" turntable yesterday a "Super OM 30" and I cannot believe the sound I am getting. I am staggered and extremely pleased with the results. If I don't receive an answer to my email I will email Carlssonplanet again later this week.

Again Many Thanls
Peter

[djdstone]

If you get a response let me know Peter as I'm about to order the instuctions to modify my own OA14's. Where did you order the drivers from? Did you go to Madisound in the US? Do you have the correct part numbers?

[petebeardm]

I got my my driver's from Speaker City in Burbank, California http://www.speakercity.com.. I received some CT62's (the last I need plus a couple of spares in the last week or so). The Peerless number for the CT 62 is 801730. Because I lost two B65-OA's 831881 (I think) in shipment I at the suggestion of the local dealer put the Polypropylene SC 165 833599 in all my speakers, and they do a good job but they are not as good as the B65oa, missing a Paper Cone and a short circuit ring.
However nobody in Australia has stock of these (the 833599); Madisound has none and I bought the last one from Speaker City. From what I am reading you should still be able to get both the tweeter and the Woofer from a couple of places in Sweden.
You could try Madisound on the B65oa but they had no stock of the 833599 a few weels ago and my understanding was that they could not get any more.
As for the CT62 I believe that Speaker City still has stock, but I do not know about Madisound. If your Sonabs (which some of mine didn't) have the original Peerless Driver it might be easier to get these reconed and new surrounds. The peerleess number for the B65-oa I got from a post earlier in this series of posts. I know that if rhe number is wrong
Try http://www.hifikit.se :if you fiddle rounfd under Produkter you will find the B65oa.

Peter.