How remove grill in 20 year old Paradigm Atoms?

They have developed a rumble/distortion in the bass. I assume I need to redo the foam on the woofer. But I can not figure out how to get the grill off. On the back there are six screws. I would rather not remove the screws unless I have to.

I got the pair off craiglist a year ago. They say "Reference Series" on the front. I believe they are the Atom model since they are very small, maybe 8" tall.

 

I have a pair that I just dumpstered because the woofer surround in one finally went; mine were about the same age as yours. The only way to do it is to remove the back and remove the woofers from the rear. Given their age and the trouble involved it didn't seem worth it to me (at 20 years for an inexpensive speaker they didn't owe me anything) but YMMV.

John K.

 

My Titans are about the same age as your Atoms and the design is similar, non-removable grill and 6 screws in back to access the drivers which, like you, I had to refoam the woofers. I still use them with my old Marantz receiver. It's worth it to redo the foam. $25 for a kit from Simply Speakers if you so desire to fix them.

Edit. I missed the part about Reference on the grill. The Atoms weren't in the Reference line of Paradigm speakers.

 

Thanks, I removed the six screws on the back but can't pull the back cover off. It seems pressfit . I tried using a small screw driver to wedge it out, but the outer cabinet started to crack. So I stopped that. Any other ideas? Here's a picture I found :

 

I found a thrift pair of Atoms (v.1) with rotten foam surrounds, using a putty knife to carefully pry the back off. My first re-foaming job with new foam from Simply Speakers, it was pretty easy and very rewarding.

 

Atom’s were my first speakers that didn’t come boxed with a receiver. The grill isn’t meant to be removable.

 

Yup, that's your only access point. I can't remember if my backs were glued or not.

John K.

 

I tried using a plastic putty knife but these backs seem firmly in place. I have already damaged the thin outer case . I am tempted to throw in the towel and buy another pair off Craigslist or ebay. Seems there are newer versions of these model. Do they sound better than V1 which I have? I really like their sound. I have compared them to NHT Superone, PSB Alpha and they are by far the winner. I nice bright sound that I like.

 

They're not glued. Try grasping the port hole as a "handle" and smack around the rear/back of the cabinet with the palm of your other hand. I have a lot of speakers and I kept these after I refoamed them because they sound great. I bought them new when I was a Paradigm sales agent back in the 90's.

 

Maybe bend a coat hanger at the tip and put in the port till you hook the back and pull.

 

I have given up on these and bought a pair for $60 ( inc. shipping ) off ebay! I'll keep my broken speaker for parts I guess.

 

Nice! As long as the surrounds are good, you're golden!

 

I have a Sawzall you can borrow

[Bonus answer #2: Pull. Pull harder. Now pull EVEN HARDER.
Glad to be of help to you!

 

Never underestimate the power of a sawzall.

 

Yup, they were refoamed! Here's the message from the seller:

Glad you like the speakers! I'm glad that Paradigm went with removable speaker grills in later revisions, because it was not easy to refoam these. I think they were worth the effort though. Hope you enjoy.

 

For anyone in the future, here's a page that describes how to refoam them ( scroll to bottom ):

Which Paradigm Atoms are these?

 

I have a vintage pair of Atoms. I blew out one of the woofers a few years ago and boxed them up and stored them away. Bought them in 1996. Fine little speakers that lasted me 20+ years. I considered replacing the woofer, but figured it would lead to another nightmare so I put them on a back burner.

 

Those v1's were my first near-field monitors for my office system (mounted toed-down, right above the cubby-hole in my desk unit where my 21" monitor sat. Powered with a Denon AVR that frequently took some "re-learning" to make beautiful output once I hooked it to the Echo Gina output of my compyooter. Aaaaand, once that thunderous "POW!!" blared forth deep into the night down in my laboratory, I determined the remaining speaker ( ) would instead become a makeshift center-channel driver...once Dumb Ol' Me, again "re-learned" how to work my dumb ol' Denon.

And so it sits, on the tippy-toppermost shelf in the closet, awaiting the right project and lead-time, to pair it with my replacement Polk TSi-100's.

Loved those Atoms!

 

I recently replaced a woofer in a circa 1998 Titan (one step up from atom) and it was really easy. Took about 15 minutes, and I'd never done anything like it before. Worth the effort to repair such a wonderful speaker (using as a surround with same-aged MiniMonitors as mains in my living room setup).

-mike