Classic EPI 100V Speakers

Finally getting around to some projects that have been sitting. This nice, classic pair of EPI 100V's came to me last year and I finally got around to re foaming the woofers.

I hooked them up and remembered why I like these speakers so much, very simple in design, where the crossover does get in the way, just 10uf capacitor for the tweeter. Plenty of tight bass in a sealed enclosure.  I think it is one of the best 8" 2 way design speakers ever made. Pure joy to listen to them.

 

Noresco NE 561 Speakers

A great find came my way in this pair of Noresco NE 561 speakers, these are Canadian made with a well revered Isophon PH2132E dual concentric Alnico 8"X12" woofer with a 3" tweeter center mounted.

This pair of speakers has a beautiful walnut veneer cabinet that was a little sun bleached but a few nice coats of Circa 1856 Naturoil brought out the best in the cabinets.

I have swapped to this oil versus Minwax as the Minwax off gasses for 48 hours and this product is all natural.

I opted to upgrade the internal speaker wire to 16 gauge and replace the tired caps with Solen Fast Caps and it has completely opened up these speakers.

It looks t me like Noresco built these speakers to Isophon specs according to the data sheet.

So how do they sound, absolutely amazing on the Single Ended tube amp. They need a little bump up in the bass region but the mid range imaging is incredible. The cone tweeter is nice and smooth without any paper harshness, almost horn like. The dual concentric driver really shines in placement of instruments and musicians, the sound from one origin source is a real joy to listen to, no wonder the Isophon PH2132 drivers are well sought after.

The efficiency is pretty high of at least 95db at one watt, which suits the tube amp perfectly.

I have become a real fan of well designed speakers that use natural roll offs and a single capacitor in the crossover, it means that the drivers were designed to work together and they are not off the shelf  drivers.

Speakers that do this the best are EPI 100's, AR 18B's these Isophon drivers, the Tannoy Oxford Gold's and the Sound Dynamic Concert 500's all have a 1st order crossover and they all sound best on a tube amp.

These Noresco'c image incredibly well as if they are a window into the music. If you are a tube aficionado these speakers should be on your list of must hear speakers. 

EPI 100V crossover upgrade

The EPI 100V is a wonderful speaker that has graced this blog an multiple occasions and this latest pair is another example of how a simple internal wiring and capacitor upgrade brings out the best in this speaker.

Once again the latest pair that I picked up got the royal treatment. One thing I did notice is that the woofer had been refoamed already with the distinct signature of Vancouver Audio Speaker Clinic all over it.

The old really thin speaker wire was replaced with proper thick copper wiring along with a Solen Metalized Polyester cap. I also like to add proper binding post to accept banana plugs.

This simple upgrade is a night and day difference and always worth doing.

EPI 100V Speakers

Another wonderful pair of EPI 100V speakers arrived yesterday, following the EPI C70 that arrived a few days earlier.

Any reader of this blog knows that I am a fan of the EPI 100V speaker. These speakers are very musical and do just about everything right. Lucky for me both pairs have been re foamed already, I will open them up and replace the 10uf capacitor with a Solen metal polyester type along with adding banana plug terminals and upgrading the internal wiring..

I spent time with the EPI A70 and the EPI 100V stacked last night and all I can say is WOW!, not often does one get a chance to listen to these speakers in this configuration. One can not put it into words.

I have been powering it through the wonderful Noresco 2570 receiver which I find it to be an absolute gem of a receiver. I have a new agenda to keep my eyes open for more Noresco receivers or Rotel receivers of this vintage, these are worth picking up, believe me.

EPI A70 Speakers

The second time I have had this wonderful little speaker from EPI, the EPI A70. The first pair I had was a earlier version of this speaker the EPI 70C. 

This pair was pretty mint for its' vintage and had been re foamed already by Peter at A-Tech Electronics locally. This is the last in the line up of the inverted dome EPI speakers before they went to the Time/Energy series.

I will replace the original 10uf cap inside with a Solen cap along with upgrading the internal speaker wire and I will add 5 way binding posts.

As with all EPI products before the T/E series, these are well built with matching woofer tweeter combination that requires very little in the crossover design. These EPI's along with the 100's are among my favorite bookshelf speakers.

Current vintage audio stuff for sale in Vancouver

My collection is pretty good and deep right now and I need to sell a few gems.

Speakers for sale from  my collection:

EPI 100V, Classic old school speaker fully refurbished with Solen caps, how they should have made it originally.
Absolute pristine condition. $150.00. Stands not included.

SOLD

Celestion Ditton DM110, Great British loudspeaker, made even better with new Solen Caps. Excellent sound stage made even better post upgrade. Stands not included $120.00. Grills in perfect condition.

Camber 2.5 Speakers, A well made Canadian classic that can rival an Energy 22. Super deep bass for a 7 inch woofer and a perfect sound stage image. Mirror imaged and an exceptional build quality. $120.00 stand not included. Grill in perfect condition.

SOLD

Well matched Rotel RX-830 receiver with a pair re capped Mission 700 Leading Edge speakers with Solen caps. I can not say enough about these two pieces together, you would swear the musicians are right in front of you. $200.00 gets you on the road to great vintage sound.

Aurex SA-5000, Same as the Toshiba SA-5000. 50 watts per channel of Direct Coupled goodness. Seriously well built amp from when Toshiba was at their best in home audio/visual. Toshiba is not as well known but made exceptional products in the 80's. $120.00

JVC R-S33 Receiver, second from the top of the line, this JVC receiver is a strong 40 watts per channel that runs "Class A" amp with "Class B", like a hybrid. The best in design and aesthetics from JVC in the 80's. $120.00

Local cash sales in Vancouver only.

Contact me through the Blog at psdave@gmail.com

Braun L830 crossover upgrade

I spent the better part of 4 hours recapping two pairs of Braun L830 speakers with a swap of woofers thrown into the mix.

The white pair of Braun's got a full compliment of Solen polypropylene 5% caps and the better aesthetics woofer while the veneer speakers got the other woofers and full compliment of Solen metalized polyester 5% caps.

Let's see what I am dealing with..

 Patients on the operating table....

 Before the re cap..

 After the re cap, those 47uf caps barely fit.

Second white Braun....

The veneer Braun's before they go back together.

Both pair of speakers are now burning in the caps at low volume.

Hanging out in a good crowd, EPI 100V's that just got a make over and the Tannoy Oxford Gold that got a cap upgrade.



Never has the collection been so deep, diverse and exciting.

EPI 100V speakers complete rebuild

Along with the Marantz SR1000 I picked up last week also came a mint pair of EPI 100V speakers.

This pair was in incredible shape besides the rotted foams, I decided that it was worth spending the $50.00 in decent Solen Caps, 12 gauge speaker wire, proper replacement foams and gold plated banana terminals.

If one speaker that I regularly come across and is worth the effort in re building it is EPI speakers. these speakers are really simple but with a few tweaks sound absolutely amazing.

First off here is the speaker upon arrival.

Here is the parts laid out for the rebuild, I have already glued one edge of the foams to the woofer.

 
The original caps ans whimpy speaker wire. These have to go as this is the weakest part of the system.

The original spring clips were bypassed with new gold plated banana plugs.

Inside I have the new Solen 10uf caps soldered in and ready to go.

Meanwhile I finished the re foam of the woofers using a 50Hz sine tone method with my iPhone and an amp. This will center the woofer without cutting the dust cap off and shimming.

Before I put everything back together more dampening material was added to help with the back wave from the woofer.

Now put everything back together and enjoy the openness and musicality of these amazing speakers.