Looking for carver al-iii non + loudspeaker ribbons
sam046
Posts: 4
I am looking for the 48" ribbons(2 ea) for the subject Carver Loudspeakers and preferably some that have had the ribbons rebuilt. I have a pair of these speaker in mint condition and I had the ribbons rebuilt recently by James Sauter. The problem is, that the speakers were intermittently cutting out while playing and I found that the circuit board that makes contact with the ribbon traces were not making good contact and the screws were not very tight, so I snugged them a little to put more pressure on the contacts and apparently tightened one speaker too much and the circuit board cut through the aluminum traces and pretty much rendered it useless. I have been an electronic technician for 30+ years and if it were anything but aluminum I could repair it like new, but instead I have not found anyway to repair these traces. I tried a conductive ink, but the resistance was too high after it dried. I could get these rebuilt again, but James Sauter is the hardest person in the world to get hold of and very rarely answers my emails. He does beautiful work and I highly recommend his repair, but it's so frustrating trying to get hold of him, not to mention that I hate to admit how bad that I screwed this up. Thanks in advance!
Post edited by sam046 on
Comments
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Got a roll of Reynold's Wrap in the kitchen drawer and some gelatin adhesive ? Experiment !!!
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I've experimented to the point that there is very little material to work with and believe me, the Reynold's wrap was among the first, since it was aluminum material. I think I may have found a solution. I'll let you know if it works! What makes it even harder is the fact that the area you have to work in is hard to access.
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Have you tried emailing Bob Carver? I don't know if his shop still fixes those, but he might be able to make a recommendation anyway.
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Yes I have! James Sauter that I mentioned in the original post, is associated with Bob Carver and he is the only one in the world that repairs these. I just spend $800.00 to have him rebuild both of my ribbons and they never sounded better until I screwed it up and believe me, I'm beating myself up pretty bad for this. I've got one more thing to try and if that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get him to repair the ribbon. Thanks for the suggestion!
Steve -
Why cut corners? Get it fixed right!
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I couldn't agree more. I'm a serious audiophile and a perfectionist and I've already talked to the guy that rebuilt them recently and he told me that he would rebuild it again. I guess another $400.00 is not too bad of a price to pay to ease my mind and to know that it will be like new again. Thanks for the reply!
