Meadowlark Kestrel: Model Number of Woofer?


Hello,

I am considering buying some used Meadowlark Kestrels (Hot Rod version), and changing the woofers. A speaker builder friend once told me that Vifa made (and hopefully still does) a paper version of the Vifa polypropylene woofer used in the Kestrels, with nearly identical specs. (In my limited experience, paper drivers tend to sound more natural to me than polypropylene). However, I do not know if this woofer is still made, and I want to make sure before I purchase the Kestrels.

For those of you who have a pair of Kestrels, I would be very grateful if someone would unscrew the woofer and give me the model number of the Vifa woofer used on the Kestrels. (The woofers are the same in the regular and Hot Rod versions). This way I could find out if the paper equivalent is still made.

Also, I do not have experience modifying speakers, but, again, I think the paper Vifa woofer has almost identical specs to the polypropylene version. If I recall correctly, the new woofer may be a tad less sensitive. If, for example, I need to change the resistors on the tweeter to make the tweeter quieter, what would be a good forum for tips on how to do the modification?

Many thanks.
ripple7
This late in the game - yes its as close as your going to get, the woofer has been discontinued for 15 years or more :-), The stock one the P17 was very popular way back when which is why ScanSpeak still makes it. It was the woofer I used in my first commercial product, the Montana 2.

www.pbnaudio.com

Best of luck

Peter
Pbnaudio:
Do you know if the woofer available on the eBay link is as close to the stock woofer as I’m going to get? $55 with shipping isn’t much, but I’m hesitant to buy when I’ve not even bought the Kestrels yet. I had planned to ask about paper equivalent woofers to the stock woofer on some speaker builder forum, but you seem to have experience building or at least heavily modifying speakers.

Timrhu:
Thanks for your reply. Sorry for the belated response, but I didn’t get an e-mail when you replied :) What other forums would you suggest I check out. Doesn’t seem like there’s much activity here.
BTW, does anyone know how to set up preferences so that I am e-mailed when someone replies to a my thread?

Thanks,
Chris
Ripple7

Sorry, not happenin on this forum. I've been using this forum for more than 10 years and have to say it is the least user friendly forum I hang out on. Shame really as it used to be one of the best.
Vifa and ScanSpeak was the same company way back when, ScanSpeak today resides in the same buildings that Vifa occupied. They have all the tools etc to make the old standards by Vifa many of the folks that worked a Vifa back when it was a a Danish Company works for ScanSpeak today.

You can try to swap the drivers out, they will foot in the cutouts, sound will of course change maybe you will like it, maybe not, but what the heck its only $35 for a fun interesting experiment

Best of Luck

Peter
Not one to discourage experimentation...but the Kestral was "voiced" with the original driver...might seem marginal...but that was the intent of the original design...like I mentioned...I wouldn't mess with a good thing unless the original driver needs replacement...I wouldn't get too hung up on paper vs poly...there are good and bad examples of both ...hope this helps.
Pbnaudio:
Thanks for the info. I’m not sure why I thought the woofer was made by Vifa. Maybe the speaker builder friend I knew at the time was referring to a paper woofer made by Vifa that had specs similar to the Kestrel’s ScanSpeak. Do you think the woofer on eBay is as similar to the stock Kestrel woofer as I am going to find? I really don’t know what I’m doing, and had thought I would take some time to educate myself a bit and get the help of folks on some speaker builder forum before going forward with buying the speakers and changing the drivers.

Timrhu: Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think I need pictures of the crossovers yet. If I cannot get the paper driver to integrate with the tweeter and crossovers, the most I’m willing to do is change the resisters. If it needs a change in the crossover point, I would just scratch the project.

Phasecorrect: Thanks for the advice. I’m prepared to scratch the project and reinstall the stock woofers if the paper woofer sounds worse.

BTW, does anyone know how to set up preferences so that I am e-mailed when someone replies to a my thread?

Thanks,
Chris
Just did an ebay search, Hurry on this one, there is a pair of the Shielded Version available for $ 35 + shipping

Vifa M17

Best of luck

Peter
The Woofer in the Meadowlark is the ScanSpeak P17WJ-00

P17

I cannot recall any paper version made by Vifa in this basket and with the J magnet system, they made one with the smaller G magnet system but I don't think you will be able to find that anywhere

M17

Best of Luck

Peter
Have to agree...both the original and Hotrod Kestrals were extremely musical with exceptional bass...they also were a great value...personally, changing drivers may interupt the cohesion the speaker is known for.
I have owned 3 pairs of the Meadowlark Kestrels, the first pair was the Hot Rod version. I once started to remove one of the woofers, can't remember why, but I gave up as it seemed stuck to the baffle and I wasn't ambitious enough to rip it out.
If you are looking for a "natural" speaker, you should definitely check the Kestrels out. They are one of the most natural sounding speakers I have heard. I suggest you buy them, check them out, you may or may not feel a need to change the driver.
send me an email and I can send some pics of the crossovers, both hot rod and standard.