i know i'm not supposed to, but i reaaaaally want to remove the grilles on my 30.2's. Just to see. But they won't come off! (And I don't want to force anything. My P3ESR grilles fit snugly, but I could get them out no problem.) Anyone have a foolproof technique to remove the grilles that doesn't damage either the grille fabric or the surrounding wood frame?
yeah, i have a stack of those really strong disc (neodymium?) magnets, and I did try that. But no go. I think if I had a skinny (1.5mm?) allen wrench with a handle on it (and bent the end), I might be able to get behind the frame and pull it out. But yeah, I don't want to damage anything.
Interesting. I came across this 'SKY MAG-Puller' Scroll down a little. accessories - Skylan - stands KP
The tube amp casually tossed off to the side on top of some speaker boxes really completes the effect.
press inward with your fingertips, right hand in a claw shape, press inward while pulling outward on the side of the grille frame about 4 inches from the top right corner. keep trying, this should work. if not, unfold a thick gauge paperclip, bend a small 1/8 inch hook at one end gently slide in and twist to get behind the grille, pull straight out gently.
Slide it in at a corner, twist so the hook grabs the frill frame, and pull gently. I also tried with magnets and got no movement.
I just use something like a paper clip. Bend it out. The end is rounded. Pry from a corner so the grille starts to come out then use the tips of your fingers to pry from one corner to the other. It’s not difficult.
I get the physics and, like I said, the grilles on my pair of P3ESR's are no problem. I've done it before. But these 30.2 grilles are in there rock solid. A paper clip would bend like a leaf in the wind.
My P3 grills come off fairly easy, a magnet would do it easily. My C7s though, man they took a some real strength.
The small tube amp is a Decware Mini Torii. A 3.9 Watt, dual mono, single ended pentode. It uses 6V6GT power tubes and is tube rectified and tube voltage regulated on both the input and the output. It is a particularly excellent sounding amplifier. It is currently powering the Altec Lansing vintage A7's. I actually have only one Decco, the original Decco 65, when Peachtree first moved to class D. I bought it because I got a good deal on it through eBay and I was curious as to how their newly introduced class D integrated's sounded like. Never had an original Decco, but have several of their musicBox, Nova and iNova integrated's in addition to different pairs of their "Design" series speakers. I will note, that none of my Peachtree gear, as well as the majority of my other gear was purchased used, refurbished, demo or on close out. I'm guessing that maybe the other Decco box was used to ship one of the other Peachtree units.
Most of my gear has all of the original factory shipping cartons. This little Decware amp did not and was among the last amps that was in use when the systems were being taken down and packed up. I never had its original box and was unsure what box it came to me in. Originally, all the gear was moved to another facility, which was in two storage units half the size of this one and at twice the price, so after two months, things were brought by my mover to the current facility. Outside of a single sofa and a few personal items, the entire storage unit is filled with audio gear. This little gem of an amp was carefully placed, where it is sitting in the photo, due to it not being in a box.
That’s a beautiful little amp. I’ve been very curious about them, and I keep eyeing their phono stage as an alternative to the Aries Magnum I’m planning on getting fairly soon. I feel tempted to say I should thin out some gear before I get anything new, but look who I’m talking to! Are the A7’s the same as “voice of the theater” speakers? I imagine big horns sound fantastic with that amp. I’ve got one of Peachtree’s Nova 300 units that I’ve been very happy with. That box is in the rafters above the garage.
I’ve had success removing grilles with a sacrificial plastic ID card/credit card. I use my expired Costco membership card since it doesn’t have any raised portions. You want a card that is flexible but also thicker than the average driver’s license. Insert the narrow side of the card at a corner between the grille and baffle edge/cabinet eave. Then bend the card upwards and toward the rear of the speaker. When the card is bent almost to a U-shape toward the rear of the speaker, and just when you think the card has reached its bending limit, the grille corner will pop forward. Then you can gently work the rest free with your fingers. This method might not work so well with the Harbeth baffle designs but works great for more traditional BBC-type grilles like Spendors and Stirlings. The card will develop a crease but will still work for subsequent removals, you only need flip the card over. I’ve yet to damage any veneer or grille using this method.
I like that idea in old school criminal terms you would be 'loiding the grille. Yes I used to read lots of 87th precinct novels.
I use a Decware ZP3 tube phono-pre, with NOS tubes. Yes, they are... This is the larger RTiA9. When it arrived. Of course, it is still in the box, but you can see it is a very big box, next to the Altec A7 Voice of the Theater cabinet, which are fairly large speakers. This pair is highly modified. Yes, I invite both of you to visit my forum information page. After the equipment listing, I put together a tour of my former audio room as it appeared before I retired. It has both photos and descriptive information.
Very curious how Harbeth would sound compared to my Spendor BC1 speakers. The Harbeth Super HL5 or Compact 7ES 3. What can i expect? How much of an upgrade is it, is it an upgrade? I love my Spendor's but also love the looks of those Harbeths. Those are older models i can get for a reasonable price from an ex dealer.
