Check out these old Paradigm cabinets I got for free :D

[Viperoni]

A pair of empty, in-need-of-refinishing, Paradigm 5SE cabinets!

I got them from my schools AV tech who cleared out a speaker repair shop, he got a few raw drivers (including a pair of Altec lansing 12 or 15inch Coax PA drivers...hmmm...), a few cabinets, 6 bass bins, a ton of lighting stuff, and other stuff as well.
Anyhoo he has absolutely no use for anything this small, so he said I could have 'em.
And who am I to say no?

The port is a pathetic 1-7/8inches wide, and only 3inches deep...pretty high tuning frequency (no deep bass).
I'll probably have to substitute a 2-2.5inch port, just so there's no port noise. The woofer must have been pretty crappy to have such a small port.
I'll have to strip all the old finish off, and probably use some of that truck bedliner spray as a finish, it looks pretty nice, and it's easy, cheap, and covers up any small dings easily!

The tweet is definetely a Vifa, numbered d25tg-55-06, Tweet Label pic, plastic dome, with a support "grid" behind the dome (so it can't be dented in).
The crossover, is INREDIBLY cheap and low quality in design.
Pic of crappy crossover

For drivers, I'm gonna pop in my Vifa h26tg-45-06 from my current towers, and probably grab a pair of Dayton 8inch woofers.
I'll obviously have to build a new passive crossover.

Front pic
Inside-downwards pic
Back pic
Tweet Front

It should be a fun project to build, and I can't help but wonder; $250 for one of these speakers, that uses $25 tweets, $5 crossovers, probably $25 woofers. But hey, Paradigm's gotta make cash too

 

[N8Magic]

How is the build quality? I've only ever had my old PS1000 sub opened up, and the materials inside seemed OK....

 

[tweakmm]

whoa... I think i could make a better cross over with some chewing gum and batteries

 

[Viperoni]

Build Quality....

well, they are pretty old speakers (I'm guessing 5-8 years), but they're still only made from 5/8th inch particle board (MDF is a much better material).

The brace (wooden beam from front to back inside the cabinet) can barely be called a "brace", and it doesn't do anything to tie in to the side walls, but it does help a bit. Anything helps a bit
The ports are plastic ended with cardboard extensions....and very small for any sort of truly capable woofer.

The wire terminals aren't fitting for such an expensive speaker...I'd really expect to see at least banana termianls....
Obviously the crossover in general is very poor. I don't doubt that if it was upgraded (to one with high quality parts costing say $30 per speaker) it would sound a WORLD better. Even enough to keep up with lower end B&W's, no doubts at all about that.

The tweeter itself is pretty decent, I'm not very keen on plastic domes, but it is made by a very good manufacturer (Vifa/Scan Speak, now joined with Peerless to form "Danish Sound Technology"), the same people that made the parts for Soundstream car component kits, and the same people that make the $75 tweets in these Polk $3k towers)...
I can't comment on the woofer as these things didn't have woofers in them at any point since my teach got them.

 

[Beau]

hehe... I have the 10" woofer of that model at home. I think they still work, but not sure.

 

[Viperoni]

<< whoa... I think i could make a better cross over with some chewing gum and batteries >>



gum and batteries, or a few dollars, same difference

The coil is made out of 20-22g wire...very thin, and high resistance.
The capacitor, low voltage, and probably distorts when there's a lot of power reaching the speaker. It doesn't give the tweeter much protection either.
The resistor (sand cast) probably made for gritty, harsh sound.....which MANY people mistake for "sparkling" or "clear" highs.

Also note the thin 18g hookup wires (that connect the crossover from the termianls to the drivers)....
no point in getting a thick 12g speaker cable when you have this low end stuff inside the cabinet.

 

[N8Magic]

Note to self: Next stereo upgrade, consult Viperoni.

 

[Viperoni]

Hehe, I only do DIY speakers now.
I've only built my own cabinets, but there's quite a few kits that you can buy with premade cabinets, or you can buy precut wood to make the cabinets from, or even prefinished cabinets all together. But they're not very cheap :Q

Beau, *eek* there's very few 10inchers that can go up that high to mate with the tweet.....that can put out true bass at the same time that is

 

[Viperoni]

<< I have to admit I don't quite like the way these two things look, sorry. I wouldn't take em even if they paid me. >>



They obviously looked much better new, and with the Paradigm's original silver/clear woofers in them.

Can't complain about free though

 

[yakko]

They look more like old and abused the crappy. Paradigms always sounded good to me.

 

[Viperoni]

<< They look more like old and abused the crappy. Paradigms always sounded good to me. >>



But have you heard a speaker with a proper, and using high quality components, crossover?
A proper crossover costs comparatively little of the speaker scosts, but makes such a difference....

No doubt they obviously need a lot of TLC, but 5/8inch fibreboard on a pair of $500 speakers? I dunno about that one....