Speaker repair

Datarape

Hello: I am pretty new but quickly becomming a audiophile junkiw. I have a Sony str-de915 Audio Video control center and am useing it just for my cds and mp3s. It has 4 channels out but I am only useing 2. I have it hooked up to my new pc that I built that has spdif opticle out to the receiver. I have a pair of old Poineer cs-g9001 floor speakers that have good sound I think. Mabey I havent heard really quality speakers but from what I have heard these sound great to me. I got them from a friend where he had them in storage from when his dad passed away. I think haveing them in the mini storage it damaged the foam on the woofers and it basically desintegrated all the eay around the speakers. They still sound pretty good but I want to fix them. Does anyone know where to get replacement speakers or is it easy to refoam them?

1 more question for the audio experts here. With my setup what do you think would be good speakers to look for? I like the vintage sound of the older type speakers really well. I think my freind used to have some american acustics that were really god sounding speakers.

Thanks for reading my long post and for my first post on this board....greeting everyone : )

Jay

skipf

Welcome Jay. Re-foamed speakers rarely perform as well as new replacement speakers. The cost of replacements for your Pioneer would probably run you as much as buying a new set of Polk R/T/M or TSi series bookshelf speakers, and I'd bet you would like the sound of the Polks better. Klipsch also makes some inexpensive bookshelf speakers that sound good too. Check whether your Sony will handle 4 ohm loads before buying Polks though. Welcome to the world of audio, you'll need a second job if you hang out here much. Upgradeitis is very contagious.

cnh

There are some refoam kits available on ebay. I'm not sure if 'professionally' refoamed speakers sound any worse than the original because I've had a chance to listen to some and really couldn't tell. It's really more a matter of the rest of the speaker. What kind of shape its in, the surface, the spider, the crossover, etc., etc. If that's all in reasonable shape refoaming done well shouldn't make much of a difference as long as you match the original material as well as you can.

Having said that, I have to agree, try a set of Polks...if you have the money try some RTI-A5s or higher. If you're cash poor and can settle for bookshelves...consider entry level M30s or the newer TSI-100s. Polks have a nice clean, detailed sound, with great midrange, tight base and strong defined highs--even the lower models sound pretty good.

As far as Klipsch is concerned, I, personally, find that an equivalent Klipsch compared to a Polk in the same price range--I have to give it to Polk every time. But I'm not a horn man.

cnh