McIntosh ML-1C Speakers Re-foam or not?

[mgard]

Back in 1974 or 75, I purchased my first McIntosh system which centered around a MA6100 and a pair of ML-1C speakers. After a few years I passed them on to my dad and moved on to other speakers. My dad will be 85 this year and hasn't listen to them in a long time. He gave me to OK to bring them back home. The cabinets are in very good condition. I still have a real soft spot for the ML-1C's as they were my first pair of speakers. After using some Old English to make a couple of small scratches disappear, I pulled off the grills and what do you think I found? The foam on the woofers were completely gone and the mid range speakers were disintegrating too. The tweeters look OK. My question is, do you think it would be worth it to get them re-foamed? I am not sure what shape the crossovers would be in. I don't think they could compete with my Sonus Faber Guarneri mementos or Magnepan 3.7i's speakers but it would be nice to have them able to play music again just for old times sake. What are your thoughts? Do you think this might be a whole lot bigger project than just getting the speakers re-foamed?

Thank you,

~Mike

[crwilli]

AC sells them in B1 (quite good) condition for $399 each. The refoaming kits if available, should not be very expensive. If they are generally in otherwise good shape, it would seem worthwhile on that basis. However, if I had the same memories with them that you have had, I wouldn't hesitate to refoam them and find a place for them.

I suspect AC will help you find the foam surrounds and with other troubleshooting if needed.

[Gravity1]

Those cabinets look great!

[jameslrock]

Take the woofers and the mid range speakers from each L&R and bolt them together face to face, package them, and send them to Audio Classics. You may also want to send the crossovers. Open up through the woofers and access using gloves due to the material inside. They will re-foam them and check the crossovers and you can then re-install and enjoy them again. Suggest you locate a McIntosh MQ101 or 102 so the bass drivers are operating to spec. http://www.roger-russell.com/ml1cpg.htm

[GaryProtein]

25 years ago, I sent my Mc 12" woofers and 8" midranges to Mc to be re-foamed.

The new foams are much better than the original and they are still in almost mint condition despite being re-foamed 25 years ago.

Like jameslrock said, try to get a hold of one of the MQ series equalizer. The MQ104-MQ107 are much more adjustable than the MQ101 or MQ102. I use the MQ107 and the improvement is tremendous.

[mgard]

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate all your helpful information. That is a good tip about the MQ equalizers.

Thanks again,

~Mike

[crwilli]

Originally Posted by jameslrock

Take the woofers and the mid range speakers from each L&R and bolt them together face to face, package them, and send them to Audio Classics. You may also want to send the crossovers. Open up through the woofers and access using gloves due to the material inside. They will re-foam them and check the crossovers and you can then re-install and enjoy them again. Suggest you locate a McIntosh MQ101 or 102 so the bass drivers are operating to spec. http://www.roger-russell.com/ml1cpg.htm

I love reading the articles on Roger's site. He was such a geek! Wonderful stuff.

[John Jordan]

Originally Posted by crwilli

I love reading the articles on Roger's site. He was such a geek! Wonderful stuff.

+1!

[mgard]

jameslrock,

Good tip on bolting the speakers together to keep them safe in shipping. I emailed Ryan at Audio Classics and have pricing for the repair. I took the drivers out of the cabinets last night. Ryan said normally the crossovers are OK, just the surrounds need to be replaced. Hopefully I can have them ready to ship out next week. I also have 3 grill clips on the cabinets that are cracked that should be replaced. The plastic is a little brittle after all those years.

~Mike

[jameslrock]

If you figure out a way to replace the four clips that hold the front to the cabinet please share. Thanks, Jim