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What would you do??

I currently own a set of ProAc Super Towers that are about twelve years old. They sounded terrific when I purchased them but the sound has really degraded with the subsequent destruction of the speaker surrounds by my cats. I have already replaced two of the four drivers and three are currently in sad shape right now. The cabinets are not too bad but they are not perfect. My question is would you go to the expense of replacing all the drivers or just go buy set of new speakers. The drivers are about $200 Can. a peice.It has been a few years since they have sounded really nice but I know that my wife would never let me spend the kind of dollars that those size ProAc's would fetch today so its either cheap replacement speakers or refurbish what I got. What would you do?
pricha00
dredster
34 posts
 
I had the same problem. I had a great pair of full range floorstanders, very old JBL's . I liked them but so did the cat and dog and the kids. Eventually I replaced all the drivers and kid proofed them with metal covers over each driver. This worked so well that I refinished the cabinets and then sold them to a friend who was having the same problem with dogs and kids. The speakers are still standing and sound better with driver covers than with dents and holes. After that I learned that in my house all electronics need to be inside a cabinet. All speakers are now wall mounted monitor type. All subwoofers are are downfiring type. And most important the Joule Electra monoblocks are on waist high stands with French doors protecting them. Best of both, the cat is cool.
fuente
17 posts
 
Keep the speakers, they have wonderfuld crossovers which are typically more expensive than the drivers in high end speakers. Replace the drivers with Dynaudio. Get rid of the cats. Buy a dog.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Pricha why not have the original woofers refoamed or even reconed? The surrounds can be economically replaced alone, provided that the cones are still in decent shape, or the whole voicecoil/spider cone/surround can be replaced in the original baskets. Contact Bob at Van L Speakerworks:
http://www.vanlspeakerworks.com/
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,545 posts
 
AKA (cats)A this time, I would suggest moving to stand mounted speakers. Sprays and such have never been effective on our cats and DE-clawing is out of the question (they have already had the ultimate alteration). My wife did not care much for "stands" in the living room until I picked up a pair of Target HR70's which match (balance) well with the JMR Twin's that I use. Never thought that she would actually like them, but she does, and they look much better than "catified" (AKA "ratified":-) speaker grills and cabinets. They soon gave up attempting to damage the powder coated finish and when they occasionally "leak" on the stands, it is easily cleaned up. Maybe time for a change?
dbw1
173 posts
 
Have some leads surgically installed into your cats (one cat per channel), then attach some speaker cable (the fur behind the neck works best), and allow your amp to vibrate the cats. This method of transduction produces a modicum of extraneous noise, and the bass reproduction isn't as good as the treble, however the soundstaging is remarkable.
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