SpeakerTalk

[mcandmar]

Hi all,

Since i rebuilt my fathers old Cadenzas a few years back i have been using them daily and really enjoyed them. This was enough to spark my curiosity in the 104 models so i kept an eye on eBay and finally found a pair of Ab's listed from a seller willing to ship internationally. Good news is the price was right, bad news is the packing was a little lacking and they got badly banged up along the way. Attached pic shows the damage to one of the speakers. The other enclosure had the top panel had come apart from an impact so it was time to learn some basic woodworking skills.

Turned out to be an easy fix with a bottle of wood glue, camps and ratchet straps. I also ran a bead of wood glue around every joint to ensure the box was solid and air tight. For the finish i used wood filler to repair the dents and make the corner nice and square on the badly damaged enclosure, then both enclosures were sanded back to bare wood and refinished with multiple coats of satin poly clear coat. The difference in colour alone made it worth all the effort, really happy with how they turned out.

As for the sound of the ab's vs the Cadenzas, i was really surprised how different they are from each other. Needless to say the ab's are better in every single way

I do have a question though, at some point somebody made a frame covered in black grill cloth. They did a really nice job, the frame is better made the covers on the my Cadenzas, but it would be nice to go back to an original style foam cover. Is there any modern equivalent that is easily obtainable?

Cheers,

Mark

[proffski]

Lovely job! You can get the foam but not sculpted like the original.
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-Winston Churchill

[Gary]

I should keep an eye our for a pair.

One day.....
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Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."
-- Charles M. Schulz (as Charlie Brown)

[T.O. Chef]

What a fantastic job on those cabinets! I wish I had your talents for that. I've restored several pairs of the 104aB classics and the cabinet restoration was always the hardest part.

I bought some (very expensive) foam sheets and trimmed to fit on my current pair of 104's. The drawback is they don't have the recessed notches for the contour control knob and T-27 dome and the foam's too thin to notch them. So, I had to build out the velcro strips to add air space behind the foam to clear these obstructions. This is less than ideal. The foam has a wavy look without any support on the back of it.
Best solution (and least expensive) I've found so far is making a thin wooden frame to friction fit and cover with grill cloth using staples to attach. Best to remove the old velcro strips if doing this.
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Music is food for the soul.