Saving Speaker Lab Super Sevens
JayMX
Posts: 446
Haven’t put up a resto thread here for a while. This project has kept me busy for a few months. Thought I’d do a little brag post cuz these worked out pretty well, IMO. 😎
A neighbor and fellow audio junkie dropped the rattiest pair of speakers off at my place a while back. I’d never seen a pair of Super 7’s before. Research lead me to believe that he was probably right wanting them restored. Brand new walnut clad pairs are $6K 🤯. These must have been built by a high schooler - in 1977 or so. I’m betting they were used for a band PA or something. Ridden very hard and put away wet MANY times. Covered first in self-adhesive floor tiles and then automotive carpeting with sooo much glue and silicone, they’d been a little moist, mdf was swolen in several spots. Drivers were ratty, missing one 10” woofer. So many chips and dings. But overall the cabinets were still sound. I powered them up and I’ll be darned if they weren’t fully functional!
I watched eBay for OEM 10’s for months. Finally a pair popped up and I pulled the trigger. Neighbor wanted them fully redone, and after a ton of bondo, sanding, walnut veneer, new caps and resistors in the xovers, new magnetically retained custom grille frames, and blue cloth from Huntley Audio, they’re looking (and sounding) fantastic.
I’m amazed at how good they sound for 45 year old kit speakers. Anybody here had experience with these old beasts? ~80lbs per cabinet ~90dB efficient. Fantastic!
Had to use the jack from my Tacoma to break the 12” woofers loose from the black silicone.
Had to scrape a lot of crap off the cabinets. Plenty of Bondo and sanding too.
White oak backer blocks and hurricane nuts for the drivers. Walnut veneer covered a myriad of sins.
Refreshed the crossovers.
Finally new grilles topped them off.
A neighbor and fellow audio junkie dropped the rattiest pair of speakers off at my place a while back. I’d never seen a pair of Super 7’s before. Research lead me to believe that he was probably right wanting them restored. Brand new walnut clad pairs are $6K 🤯. These must have been built by a high schooler - in 1977 or so. I’m betting they were used for a band PA or something. Ridden very hard and put away wet MANY times. Covered first in self-adhesive floor tiles and then automotive carpeting with sooo much glue and silicone, they’d been a little moist, mdf was swolen in several spots. Drivers were ratty, missing one 10” woofer. So many chips and dings. But overall the cabinets were still sound. I powered them up and I’ll be darned if they weren’t fully functional!
I watched eBay for OEM 10’s for months. Finally a pair popped up and I pulled the trigger. Neighbor wanted them fully redone, and after a ton of bondo, sanding, walnut veneer, new caps and resistors in the xovers, new magnetically retained custom grille frames, and blue cloth from Huntley Audio, they’re looking (and sounding) fantastic.
I’m amazed at how good they sound for 45 year old kit speakers. Anybody here had experience with these old beasts? ~80lbs per cabinet ~90dB efficient. Fantastic!
Had to use the jack from my Tacoma to break the 12” woofers loose from the black silicone.
Had to scrape a lot of crap off the cabinets. Plenty of Bondo and sanding too.
White oak backer blocks and hurricane nuts for the drivers. Walnut veneer covered a myriad of sins.
Refreshed the crossovers.
Finally new grilles topped them off.
Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩
Comments
-
Impressive!!!Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Assy to Classy I'd say. The owner is tickled I'm sure. NICE work.Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
-
Fantabulous looking veneer job! I wonder if a brace front to back would be another mod to consider?George / NJ
Polk 7B main speakers, std. mods+ (1979, orig owner)
Martin Logan Dynamo sub w/6ft 14awg Power Cord
Onkyo A-8017 integrated
Logitech Squeezebox Touch Streamer w/EDO applet
iFi nano iDSD DAC
iPurifier3
iDefender w/ iPower PS
Custom Steve Wilson 1m UPOCC Interconnect
iFi Mercury 0.5m OFHC continuous cast copper USB cable
Custom Ribbon Speaker Cables, 5ft long, 4N Copper, 14awg, ultra low inductance
Custom Vibration Isolation Speaker Stands and Sub Platform -
Looks awesome! There's alot of manual labor in those pictures- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
-
Great job!CD Players: Sony CDP-211; Sony DVP-S9000ES; Sony UDP-X800M2 (x2); Cambridge Audio CXC
DACs: Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC III (x2); Denafrips Ares II (x2)
Streamers: ROKU (x3); Bluesound Node 2i and Node N130 w/LHY LPS // Receivers: Yamaha RX-V775BT; Yamaha RX-V777
Preamps: B&K Ref 50; B&K Ref 5 S2; Classe CP-800 MkII; Audio Research SP16L (soon)
Amps: Niles SI-275; B&K ST125.7; B&K ST125.2; Classe CA-2300; Butler Audio TDB-5150
Speakers: Boston Acoustics CR55; Focal Chorus 705v; Wharfedale Diamond 10.2; Monitor Audio Silver-1; Def Tech Mythos One (x4)/Mythos Three Center (x2)/Mythos Two pr.; Martin Logan Electromotion ESL; Legacy Audio Victoria/Silverscreen Center; Gallo Acoustics Reference 3.1; SVS SB-1000 Pro; REL HT-1003; B&W ASW610; HifiMan HE400i
Turntable: Dual 721 Direct-Drive w/Audio Technica AT-VM95e cart
Cables: Tripp-lite 14ga. PCs, Blue Jeans Cable ICs, Philips PXT1000 ICs; Kimber Kable DV30 coaxial ICs; Canare L-4E6S XLR ICs; Kimber Kable 8PR & 8TC speaker cables. -
Dayum! Hopefully all that effort was worthwhile.Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
WOW! great job. Huge Speakerlab fan here. I first heard the super 7's at the speakerlab store in Tukwila WA in the early 80's. They would audition the speakers playing Kim Karne's Betty Davis Eyes. Wow the sound would blow you away.
I have a pair of Speakerlab DAS 9's in the garage system and they really rock the place.
I will did through my steakerab literature from the old days.
Great job on the restore. so nice! -
incroyable!
-
Looks fantastic!! Great job..
-
Out of the current world ~ Impressed!!"Sometimes you have to look to the past to understand where you are going in the future"Anger is just anger. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters.
You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice. Jim Butcher
Harry / Marietta GA
