Need some help/advice with my OA-116...

[dsmudger]

Hi All,

been away form CP for a while since doing some DIY renovation on a pair of OA-116, but back now as I just bought a pair of restored and upgraded OD11 on eBay.

These new OD11 have the CT62 tweeters (and binding posts in place of the DIN), and I have to say, they sound amazing, and although I've enjoyed using my DIY restored 116 for some time now, the OD11 just sound so much better!

The bass is fuller, and switching A/B on the same amp, the treble is just so much smoother from the CT62. I'd even say switching A/B on the same amp/source combo, the 116's treble sounds very harsh and grainy/distorted. The 116 do go just a touch lower in the bass, but it's not nearly as much as you'd expect given it has a dedicated bass speaker, and I have to use the EQ to get decent bass with them (or maybe it's that I'm trying to EQ out the harsh treble? I usually have the bass set on 0 and treble at -1 to get the best sound), whereas I can use the bypass button on my amp with the OD11 and there's plenty of nice warm bass..

Now I'm in a bit of a pickle - what to do about my 116 - they should surely sound a lot better, and presumably have the potential to sound amazing, so what should I do?

A few options I could think of:

• 1) I see Per is selling some renovated SC165 drivers - maybe my DIY re-foaming is the problem, so maybe I should get these
  
  2) I've seen some posts talking about Silver Flute drivers as replacement for SC165 - these are cheap, and posts on here say they measure and sound better than original SC165 - could be worth a try..?
  
  3a) tweeters - my OA-116 has one tweeter not working, I could replace it, but given my listening impressions with the CT62, maybe I should replace the whole set with the new model, these may be rather hard to find in sufficient quantity though..

but it seems at least possible this may be the only thing I need to do, since maybe it's only the harsh/distorted treble and one broken tweeter that's causing all the problems and maybe the SC165 are actually ok?

and of course given it may be difficult to find 12x CT62, there is:

• 3b) 12 x t22-oa = $$$ (but I suppose it's a possibility if it's really worth it..?)

One other thing I have to say, the main reason I'm posting this really, is that my overall impression of my particular OA-116 is that they don't seem to do that 'magic Sonab thing', as I've heard with other Sonabs, they just sound like regular vintage speakers with the sound coming from where the speakers are. Strangely enough (because there's only one tweeter), the new OD11s do have that amazing 3D spatial quality provided they're pointed into the wall - do my 116 not do this most likely because of the one broken tweeter? or a placement issue? are all 116 just like that because of the higher number of direct-pointed tweeter elements? something else? :\

Any advice much appreciated!

oh and just for fun, (because everybody likes to see some pictures ) my new OD11: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0388737683

[Martin Dellstig]

Hi

Regarding mid- and low frequencies the things to check are if:
- Are the boxes air-tight?
- Drivers correctly re-foamed?
- Drivers in correct phase?

Regarding the old tweeters it might be worth a try to fix them.
One of the major problems is the glue fixing the cone to the basket.
It ages and sometimes(often) the cone is not perfectly connected to the basket resulting in a lot of distorsion.
Just remove the cloth in front of the speakers and use a tiny amount of a glue that remains flexible and glue the cone back to the basket. The glue goes into the tiny groove around the cone. I'm sure someone can find you a picture of it.

Depending on the age different tweeters were used, in the firs series the Peerless MT20HFC was used, in the later series the MT24HFC was used, finding a replacement driver should be possible, just search among vintige stuff, they were made in huge quantities.

Good luck

Martin