Tweeter Repairs

[walterwhite]

Hi all - anyone here know of anyone offering a tweeter repair service? One of the tweeters in my Royd RR2's has bit the dust, and the company I was relying on to repair it says they don't do tweeters.

I'd really like to get it sorted, as they're my favourite listen at the moment, and they're so rare I'd hate to see them shoved into the attic and forgotten.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It is impossible to repair tweeters, when they have gone they have gone, you have to replace.

[Daniel Quinn]

according to DIY audio it is a vifa d26nc-15-06 .

google suggests these are no longer available . The square mounting makes it difficult to suggest alternatives . The crossover point is 4.8khz which is high so this may expand the available choice .

[jammy395]

I feel your loss Walt.....
Never good when a pair of Royds give up the ghost.....
You can fix em though, but alas they will never be the same again......

Personally I would have been tempted to post this in the Obits thread........

[walterwhite]

Thanks for that DQ. An internet search seems to show that the vifa d26nc-15-06 is indeed discontinued. Does anyone know enough to say whether either of these would be suitable replacements? They're the only ones I can find with that particular rectangular form factor. This one d26nc-55-06 looks identical, but may be just as hard to actually get hold of, whereas this one appears to be available BC25SC55-04 1 It's the same dimensions, and would fit the hole in the cabinet, but I'm not sure if the tech. specs. would be a match.

[walterwhite]

I feel your loss Walt.....
Never good when a pair of Royds give up the ghost.....
You can fix em though, but alas they will never be the same again......

Personally I would have been tempted to post this in the Obits thread........

Jammy, I was so sure that I could get the tweeter repaired I hadn't actually lost any sleep over it... until today when I emailed the speaker company and was told the bad news... absolutely gutted TBH.

[Lazmo]

Walter may i suggest phoning/e mailing wilmslow audio for a chat with them about your replacement issue i had occasion to do the same with them a little while ago about a replacement driver for a friend rega ela's they where very helpful it would at least possibly widen your options

[walterwhite]

Thanks Lazmo - I'll give that a go.

[Daniel Quinn]

The first one is not available . try buying it , you just get thrown to isolation website.

a Mr Brown of Audio Chews has this to say

"Revelation speakers are a worry to maintain. When Joe Ackroyd closed Royd, he sold all the Royd spares to Phonography, a dealer in Hampshire - but the Revelation spares are now long gone (they still have a little Royd spares from other ranges).

As I understand it, Revelation bass drivers are somewhat unique, either being modified (from what I don't know - does anyone have an idea?), or custom made. The tweeters, though, are Vifa units. Having dismantled one, I can't see it being modified in any way ( although Joe did modify other tweeters he used).

The original tweeter is this: Vifa D26NC - 15 - 06. It is a 6 ohm unit, and also has the following numbers on it: 27022002 (probably manufacturing date - 27 feb, 2002).

There is a very useful page here, explaining how to understand the Vifa codes. It seems that the '15' element of the code is a customer code, so the manufacturer 'customised' the tweeter for clients. The only thing that seems to change is the face-plate.

I have been in touch with the manufacturer (Vifa has been bought by Scanspeak), who directed me to their main distributor. There I was told there are no D26NC-15-06 left now.

Some research has revealed that this particular tweeter was replaced by another variant, the D26NC - 55 - 06.

This tweeter has slightly different specification, but appears to be an improved version of the Revelation tweeter, release a little later. Look at the two PDF data sheets, here: •D26NC - 15 - 06. (Old)

•D26NC - 55 - 06. (New)




It seems every electrical and mechanical measurement is identical between the two tweeters. More interestingly, look at the freq plots. The later tweeter (DN26-55-06) has a slightly smoother response; the peak around 14 - 16khz is flatter.




It seems reasonable to conclude the newer Vifa is a better choice, and Royd may very well have fitted them had they been available (or cheaper?) at the time the Revelation series was designed.




Sadly, the Vifa D26-55-06 is also out of production now. After Vifa stopped making it in house, it was produced under license in China, as far as I can tell. It had the exact same specifications, and one assumes Vifa kept tight quality control over their design.




There are a number (78, as of today) of new, Chinese manufactured Vifa D26NC-55-06 available from Solen, in Canada. I bought a pair myself, and they arrived at reasonable cost (just under £50GBP).




I have compared them with the very last D26-15-06 from the factory (I bought that as well - sorry!), and they seem identical so far. I shall measure them again shortly, they have been running for several weeks now.




One last thing - a slight hitch: The circular heatsink of the Chinese made D26-55-06 is slightly larger that the square one of the in-house Vifa units. The inner hole, behind the faceplate rebate, on the RR3 cabinet is slightly too small to insert the D26-55-06. I enlarged mine carefully with a sharp Stanley knife, carving away the corners. Also, the faceplate is a little tight, but can be 'persuaded' to fit without surgery. All is now well, and I have brand new tweeters in my RR3."

[jammy395]

Man up Walt, and dont despair...........Think........mmmmmh

"THE PHOENIX"

And I do hope it aint the name of your local.......