avsjerry, What kind of misinformation are you speaking of here? Some of your points are simply wrong, including that the "gook" inside will destroy the cone if you try to remove it, and that the surround would have to be hand made. Wrong, and wrong! Replacement parts (not OEM, and HHR has reserved its right to not sell new parts for such repairs; I don't argue with that; he's protecting his sales) for both the spider and surround are in stock. You're talking as though it's a lost cause without moving to the full restoration. That is flat out wrong.
This particular set of F speakers did not give up, far from it. The "gook" did not destroy the cone, the recon was successful by Midwest Speaker Repair. They were able to remove the old ferrofluid and get the speaker back into great operating condition! Kudos! Good on them, and they had 3 other sets to work on when I went to pick up mine.
COST? $400! GLORIOUS SUCCESS!
So, why am I still being told that I could have done better by pursuing a full restoration? No one here can tell me that I would prefer to have spent another $7K on this. I happen to be working with an extreme hybrid speaker right now, and I did drop money on it. You want the unvarnished truth? I have heard the HHR prior, and it was not sufficiently impressive for me to chase the full restoration. OUCH! You guys keep pushing, as though you know better, but you seemingly think that I need to be schooled, as though I'm going to be enlightened on it. I simply do not consider this particular design to be worth that much in light of the fact that I have several other speakers for reference. So, let's settle down on the advice that I'm somehow messing up if I don't throw a bunch more money into it.
YOU think this design is all that? YOU think it's the ultimate? YOU would not dream of the cheap fix? Great, for you! I do not happen to have an iron clad adherence to omni, nor to this design. It's a variant, an option for me, another flavor. Let's put it this way; I would not have pursued full range omni had these speakers not been brought to me. Clear enough?
I don't have a dilemma, and I don't have a problem. I never had a problem with this, only options. If it didn't work, I could throw them out. You guys all say you would do this or that; well, be my guest! Go ahead and put your money where your comments are. If this is SO fabulous, SO important, why don't YOU act on it, get the cabinet, get the full bore redo? It's rather easy to tell someone else what to do in terms of a restoration when it's not your money, and you have a completely different set of circumstances. The fact is that a restoration would be a very poor investment in this speaker. Return on it would be very low, and I can get a lot more from the hybrid I'm buying.
No one who is doing a refurbish is obligated to put big money into it. Some fans of particular speakers and companies cannot tolerate the idea that someone just doesn't care enough to spend what is considered by myself to be a serious chunk of money in order to get an unknown quantity, that is, a non-comparable result to the original. Comments keep coming to the effect that I made a poorer choice. What nonsense! No one here can tell me that I made a poor choice, given that seemingly no one here has an original F and another, newer model - aside from Dale, and he is, as excepted, as a party with vested interests (no issue with that). Especially since I saved the speaker by redoing the foam in the cabinet, I scored a BIG win on this. I have no desire whatsoever to spend a bunch more on it, for it's now performing remarkably well for a tired vintage speaker.
Let's be clear on this as well; as a reviewer, I have no obligation to support vintage products with a potential for sales of newer ones. I do not need to support HHR and spend $7K simply because I'm a reviewer and am supposed to pursue every option as though the world will end if I elect to do the inexpensive one. As can be seen, I push back on that tacit idea. Does Dale need the business? Sorry, but not my problem, as this is unrelated to my reviewing.
This reminds me of the fanaticism that Maggie fans display. As if there is some moral obligation to spend more, to "do right" by an old set, to attempt to recapture the glory of the old unit. Sorry, guys, but this is pathetic, the paternalizing (like "good luck and cheer up") in regards to what has been a particular success. You guys just need to accept that these speakers are just not that important to me, and that I have what I consider holistically more impressive speaker tech at my disposal. :)
