AppleDesign Powered Speakers

[Ike]

Never thought I would see them for sale up in The Netherlands, but I did!

Came with the original power supply and stereo RCA-RCA cables for hooking them up to a CD-player.



I was a bit scared when the left speaker didn't make any noise when testing the unit...

Turned out that was a completely busted speaker, the channel itself is okay ^^



Paid: €11,75 Shipped to my doorstep

Ordered two new drivers, fingers crossed that they will fit...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nice! You'll love 'em once they're up and running. :approve:

A gift-back/conquest from my son brought a set back into the fold. I'd bought UG-Connection re-furbs for him as a present for the Q630/TV/CD/ AV/HomeworkStation in his room back in the day.

 

[LCGuy]

Very nice, I have a set myself, but they are blown. I'd love to know where replacement drivers for these can be found.

 

[uniserver]

do these guys sound pretty good?

 

[insaneboy]

refoam them! not that hard to do.

 

[beachycove]

Excellent speakers.

I needed to spray some contact cleaner in the volume control of mine to deal with the static. Good as new afterwards.

 

[Ike]

I was very surprised myself to find my volume and balance potmeters to be completely clean :O no noise at all!

I try to order all the replacement parts locally here, because the shipping all over the country is generally €6,75 for packages up to 10kg,

but I ordered them here:

http://www.elektronicawereld.nl/categorie/luidsprekers_losse_speakers/breedband_luidsprekers/product/9988/mcgee_full_range_speaker/details

Just cheap no-name replacements... the right fit is very hard to find since some list it as a 4 inch speaker (diagonally) and some people take the 3.3inch diameter of the cone itself. From the image and specs I THINK(hope) they will fit... I'll let you know ^^

Refoaming was not an option on mine because one of them is -aside from the missing foam- completely shot, I measured '∞ ohm' over the terminals, so i think the coil is just burnt up or something.

 

[Ike]

in the meantime... has anyone ever tried taking off the metal grills without breaking everything apart?

Tried pulling them with a bent pin in one of the holes in the mesh... but it won't really give.

Tips anyone?

 

[Ike]

Too bad, the replacement drivers are too big!



However, I did some more research:

The 8.7cm (3,5inch-ish) size is a standard size for European small car speakers (maybe that is why they sound quite good).

Most of the replacement speakers in that size will be expensive high wattage car-audio speakers, but I asked around on my local 'craigslist' and some guy still had some good looking, basic JBL drivers that should fit!

I'm also curious what kind of passive subwoofer could be attached to the port on the back... (how big, wattage, etc).

 

[John_A]

A few things I have learned after bulding/repairing several hifi loudspeakers over the years:

1. Measure the depth of the driver you are going to replace. Its very common that you order a replacement driver based on the diaphragm size and

mounting hole pattern, just to find out that the magnet is too deep when you try to fit it in the enclosure.

2. Check if you can find any info about the driver impedance. Its usually printed on the back measured in ohm. Car speakers typically are 4-ohm, hifi 8 ohm or in rare cases 16. Try to find replacement drivers that match this number.

3. Speaker sensitivity. Its measured in dB, and typically indicates how "loud" the driver plays audio at a given amplification. A speakerdriver with 84 db sensitivity, usually needs 1W of power to play at 84 dB measured from a 1 meter distance. At 2W it will play at 85db, and so on. Why does this matter? Every amplifier has distortion, the distortion levels increase dramatically as you push it towards its power limit. The built-in amp in computerspeakers only produce one or a few watts , wich means that a low speaker sensitivity is a tough load.

60 dB is the level of a normal conversation

70 dB a washing machine

75 dB the recommended loudspeaker calibration level according to THX

80 dB Phone dial tone

Hope this helps/John

 

[Ike]

Tadaaaa

They sound great for their size and price

The new speakers:



The insides:





And the component that does the hard work, the black metal backplate is actually a big heat sink for that component, it gets a little warm on heavy use, not hot