bobbly_bob Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 My father about 30 odd years ago bought a pair of 12" Goodmans and made the cabinets for them himself. About 15 years ago he bought a pair of 15" tannoy golds and the Goodmans went into the garge, never to come out again. My mother, always hating that the living room had two cabinets the size of small fridges in the living room has finally won her battle and the Tannoys have been moved out recently. I'm planning on having the Goodmans reconed and new surrounds, since they have been eaten by roaches while in storage, and getting some new cabinets made for them since my father always complained about his own poor handywork in building the original ones. I've never had cabinets made before, or bought cabinets. I've had a bit of a google, but I was hoping for some advice on this. 1) what type of cabinets would best suit these speakers? 2) where would be a reasonabe place to buy them? 3) what kind of prices am I looking at? 4) Is there anything in particular that I should be concerned about / know with regard to getting these speakers reconed? Any other general advice on the plan welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanArn Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 The Goodmans 12" speakers if they are of the early 70's period when distributed by AWA/Thorn in Australia can possibly be reconditioned via Gary Cawsey (03 94844555) in Melbourne,as there are still a small stock of original cones held by his specialist repairer.The models that I recall (and I assume we are referring to the twin cone units) are the Axiom 201,301 and 401.These used a black p.v.c. roll surround.Earlier models used a plastic coated corrugated paper outer suspension. You can ask him to have the Thiele-Small parameters measured after repair so that a valid decision can be made concerning an appropriate cabinet.It is a long time since I had a pair of 401's repaired and modified for bass use in a 3 way system.Longer coils were fitted for an increased Xmax and the pvc surround replaced with a sealed "Lycra" roll surround.The enclosure was 180 L internal volume and tuned for an Fb of 25 Hz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbly_bob Posted November 15, 2009 Author Share Posted November 15, 2009 Wow, thanks for all the info, this is what I love about these forums. I'd take the speaker cabinet apart and get you an exact model number but I'm procrastinating studying for my med exams as it is. I did however notice that a tweeter has been placed in each box; is this a common move with these speakers? Are they particularly lacking in the upper frequencies? More to the point I guess, would it be advisable to replace these as well with the new setup? Thanks again for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanArn Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Bobbly Bob. You have reminded me of why it was necessary to modify the Goodmans Axiom 401 and it was a case of this driver being more sensitive than the mid-range and likewise the DT 3 dome tweeter. I suspect this may be an issue when you tackle a rebuild problem depending on what you find in the old boxes.Good Luck with your studies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ju-no-panda Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 if you take them to mike lenehan he can design and build you an enclosure for your speakers and also hand build you a nice crossover! Just depends on your budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbly_bob Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 we managed to acquire a pair of timewindows that are in great condition. For the moment they are doing the job, possibly as well as the Goodmans will, but I would still prefer to get them repaired rather than leaving them in the garage until they are binned. Thanks for the replies guys. Out of curiosity, what kind of ball park moneys are we looking for for the repairs and how much for cabinets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanArn Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 The cost of speaker repairs,leaving aside the other expense of new cabinets,is subject to what needs to be done to restore or modify them.In your case, I assume the cones and cloth spider have been attacked by ****roaches and hence n.o.s. parts are required.If the 12" units are the Axiom 301 or 401 this is worthwhile given the high flux magnets that were employed, but only the use of an original cone (a highly developed curvilinear paper diaphragm engineered by Goodmans) etc., ensures performance to an original standard.This,I would expect to be expensive but cheap relative to the cost of a replacement driver of this quality. You do need to open up the boxes and check what you have inside them apart from the 'roaches.This subject "The cost of repairs vs replacement speakers" is worthy of further debate as I am sure there are many people who have varied experiences when facing similiar problems;especially blown tweeters.It is often the case that sticking with original drivers avoids fitting problems in regard to the cabinets i.e. hole sizes,clearances and of course, crossover alterations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbly_bob Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 thanks again for your ongoing advice VanArn. The cost-effectiveness, while always a concern, is fortunately a lesser one in this case due to the sentimental value. I would suspect that even should the project not commence immediately, it will always go ahead at some point due to the common interest in vintage audio that my brother and myself hold. Another week and I'll return to having some spare time. I think first thing will be trying out that Luxman RX-103 and the other will be taking out those goodmans and getting them well inspected and photographed to go up on here. Thanks again for the assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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