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One for the Isobarik Experts

Good Morning All,

There's been no interest in the drivers removed from the Briks here so probably time to put them up on eBay.

Took the Isobarik boxes to the cabinetmakers on Monday as scheduled and the donor boxes went to the recycling centre yesterday.

Just need to sit back and wait for the boxes to be machined.

Regards

Richard
 
Good Afternoon All,

Dragged the No.1 reserve Briks in to play last night. It didn't take very long to determine that the Hiquphon tweeters definitely leave more than a little something to be desired set against the Scan-Speaks.......... like resolution!!!!!!

Regards

Richard
 
Richard Lines said:
It didn't take very long to determine that the Hiquphon tweeters definitely leave more than a little something to be desired set against the Scan-Speaks.......... like resolution!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I prefer them too but they're crazy intolerant of shortcomings upstream.
 
Good Evening All,

OK so tonight's question is which fixing should I use to install the Scan-Speak drivers in the new rebates?

The person who installed in them in the previous cabinet used 4mm socket head drive screws.

An alternative would be to get hold of some 4mm knock in inserts - https://www.fabory.com/en_GB/knock-...mpany.com/steel_knock_in_inserts_for_wood.php

'T' nuts are a non-starter as the flats of the rebates don't really allow for them at 15mm OD.

Views welcome.

Regards

Richard
 
Screw in inserts from the rear, from the face is almost always ok, but safer from the back, fewer issues of the insert spinning when trying to remove the driver in a few years time. And when tightening, the force is pulling the insert further into the pilot hole, rather than trying to pull it out from face side
 
This is a great thread. I'm sorely tempted to dismantle my ancient Briks and see if I can bring them into the 21st Century.

Based on the info upthread - I think doing some preliminary speaker diagnostic checks and then looking at the availability / potential outlay for the various speaker options and alternatives is pretty essential.

Did you ever cost out the rebuilds Richard - or are they more in the 'labour of love' category ?
 
-alan- said:
Did you ever cost out the rebuilds Richard - or are they more in the 'labour of love' category ?
Click to expand...
Alan,

I can, and will, determine the whole cost at some point. I'm not trying to avoid answering you but until I have sold everything I can I won't have a complete figure.

It is also an experiment I wanted to conduct out of curiosity. I am a great believer in the underlying capabilities of the Isobarik. Linn themselves made changes to them throughout the time they manufactured them. There are superior drivers available and some credit has to be given to such as Simon Hamnett for making the use of alternate drivers more well known.

I am firmly convinced of the improvements to the mid and upper range with the Scan-Speak units and have little doubt that replacing the B139's with the Keltik bass drivers will deliver a further improvement.

I have to admit that driving the Scan-Speak tweeters with one half of a NAP250 (as I am) is obviously a strain as the paired drivers are only a 1.5Ω load against the Hiquphon 2.9Ω.

Regards

Richard
 
Alan,

A preliminary list of costs to date is as follows:-

1. No.2 pair of Isobariks - £995 (bought from Huddersfield Hi-Fi)
2. Costs of collecting these at £0.38 per mile - £287 (in fairness this was rolled up into a trip down to Cymbiosis and doesn't include that additional mileage or the stopover in the Premier Inn)
3. No. 3 pair of Isobariks - £1480 (these are the Scan-Speak donor pair)
4. Costs of collecting these - £275
5. Replacement B139's for No.3 Isobariks - £105
6. No.4 pair of Isobariks - £795 (these are the Kustone pair currently being machined)
7. One pair IMF (Elac) 128/ 20's - £250 (still aiming to get a set of these and the TDL 3021/ GT01)
8. 4off Keltik bass drivers - £880

I will, at the end of all this, have the following available for sale:-

1. No.1 pair of Isobariks c/w stands and external crossovers (tweeters still to be replaced)
2. No.2 pair of Isobariks c/w stands and external crossovers
3. 2 pairs of KEF B139 drivers (ex No.3 pair)
4. 2 pairs of KEF B139 drivers (ex No.4 pair) - Depending on results of listening to the Keltik otherwise I might have 2 pairs of Keltik for sale!!
5. 2 pairs of Kustone KEF B110
6. 5off Hiquphon D20-LP-1 tweeters

I have already sold the stands/ crossovers that came with No.3 pair. The stands made £280 on eBay so take off 10% equals £252 'profit'. The crossovers were 'lost' by the French postal system so the £530 they were sold for ended up being refunded to the buyer................ and, of course, I have nothing to show for it..........

The costs for upgrading an existing pair would be:-

1. New Scanspeak units - £1970
2. Keltik bass drivers - £800+ (you might get lucky and buy a complete pair of speakers for circa £600)
3. Machining circa £400

Regards

Richard
 
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The keltik bass drivers are of lower moving mass and greater suspension compliance than B139s.

This results in a more extended lf response but they also lose some of the over damped ‘tightness’

I’ll be interested in what you think to the difference, but I’d wait before letting the B139s go.
 
Richard Lines said:
Alan,

A preliminary list of costs to date is as follows:-

1. No.2 pair of Isobariks - £995 (bought from Huddersfield Hi-Fi)
2. Costs of collecting these at £0.38 per mile - £287 (in fairness this was rolled up into a trip down to Cymbiosis and doesn't include that additional mileage or the stopover in the Premier Inn)
3. No. 3 pair of Isobariks - £1480 (these are the Scan-Speak donor pair)
4. Costs of collecting these - £275
5. Replacement B139's for No.3 Isobariks - £105
6. No.4 pair of Isobariks - £795 (these are the Kustone pair currently being machined)
7. One pair IMF (Elac) 128/ 20's - £250 (still aiming to get a set of these and the TDL 3021/ GT01)
8. 4off Keltik bass drivers - £880

I will, at the end of all this, have the following available for sale:-

1. No.1 pair of Isobariks c/w stands and external crossovers (tweeters still to be replaced)
2. No.2 pair of Isobariks c/w stands and external crossovers
3. 2 pairs of KEF B139 drivers (ex No.3 pair)
4. 2 pairs of KEF B139 drivers (ex No.4 pair)
5. 2 pairs of Kustone KEF B110
6. 1 pair of Hiquphon tweeters

I have already sold the stands/ crossovers that came with No.3 pair. The stands made £280 on eBay so take off 10% equals £252 'profit'. The crossovers were 'lost' by the French postal system so the £530 they were sold for ended up being refunded to the buyer................ and, of course, I have nothing to show for it..........

The costs for upgrading an existing pair would be:-

1. New Scanspeak units - £1970
2. Keltik bass drivers - £800+ (you might get lucky and buy a complete pair of speakers for circa £600)
3. Machining circa £400

Regards

Richard
Click to expand...

Excellent - much appreciated, thanks Richard. That has been a major project - huge degree of respect for taking that on and seeing it through to completion. (Interesting you factored in the cost of collection btw. I live in Ireland where there seems to be a dearth of Briks of any kind around on the island. I'vve looked at s/h pairs at different times on eBay in the past - but the collection/shipping costs have always been ruinous.

I had originally contemplated a 'quick and dirty' fix with 4 of those Scan-speak tweeters to replace the dodgy and damaged ones fitted to my own, but they certainly aren't cheap. Looking at those numbers overall - it comes across that a pair of Linn Isobariks is a bit like a used Aston Martin (or similar). Older ones look very affordable - but you better hope you don't ever end up needing repairs or replacement parts :)

I think I shall go and get the multimeter out and try to see which drivers are working properly and which not, to see what kind of budget these things are going to need before I go much further.
 
David,

The B139's from the Kustone Briks will be held back until the 'improved' Briks have been listened to some.......

Regards

Richard
 
Good Evening All,

I've just bought a pair of TDL 3021/ GT01 woofers.

awkIVHx.jpg


That's 4off Keltik SPKR014/01's, 2off IMF 128/20's and 2off TDL 3021/ GT01's acquired as part of the Isobarik upgrade experiment.

Cabinet machining delayed and work expected to commence on Wednesday............

Regards

Richard
 
Good Afternoon All,

The cabinetmakers were able to re-jig their work schedule so I now have the machined cabinets here at home. That's another £408 + £18 transport cost....

I have to say that a very much better job of machining has been done on this occasion than that done on the donor cabinets.

UbntAc8.jpg


UuwKbqj.jpg


As requested by me, and self-evident to the 'joiner,' there is some extra material taken out for the tweeters (which you can see by the two lower original mounting holes) - this to leave some room for the connecting wire terminals.

I have gone for the maximum amount of material being left behind to facilitate securing the drivers.

I had hoped to have a complete set of Scanspeak gaskets but only half have arrived with Wilmslow from the distributor so far........ Gasket material for the woofers has been ordered.

I now 'own' the jigs made to carry out this work although they have been left with the cabinet makers for now.

Regards

Richard
 
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Good Morning All,

Currently on with scraping old gaskets off the back of the Keltik woofers.........

Ordered some 7mm wooden doweling to fill two of the holes where the B110's were previously mounted as these clash with the mounting holes for the Scanspeak units - is anything ever straightforward?

ueKRiKE.jpg


Regards

Richard
 
Good Morning All,

Last night I stuffed all the acoustic wadding back into the cabinets.

I also discovered that not all Scan-Speak tweeters are created equal................ two fit the holes and two don't (quite).........

This is one of the ones that did;

lREnVVg.jpg


Regards

Richard
 
Good Afternoon All,

As it is kind of raining on and off at the moment I decided to progress fitting drivers to the machined cabinets.

With a bit of judicial filing with a needle file I've persuaded one tweeter to fit the hole machined for it, secured it along with the other one and persuaded a Keltic bass unit into the rear location......

jgXWdsS.jpg


YdhzRqe.jpg


3mDyjnD.jpg


What a fun way to spend the day.....

Regards

Richard
 
Good Afternoon All (again),

Well that's as far as I can go with this cabinet until the dowelling turns up. These pictures show hot glue applied to the bolt heads for the rear woofer and the front woofer in place.

Getting the rear woofer into the the other cabinet will be more challenging due to the Kustone blocks being less than ideally aligned..........

GIp9sUw.jpg


68lQYA9.jpg


Regards

Richard
 
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