Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

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tomblackford
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Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by tomblackford »

I picked up a pair of Royd Sorcerers on Ebay the other day which had been described as having 'off-centre' drivers and so not working 100%... I was tempted to take a punt because in case turning them 180 degrees worked...

Especially, as I'd noticed that some Sorcerers were even badged for use with the tweeters at the bottom (mine were not)...

Image

so... have had them sat that way for a week now, and I have to say these things are fantastic.

One seems to be working perfectly but the other is definitely low on bass at low volumes, which changes into some distortion at certain low frequencies with the volume up.

Anyhow - with the drivers 'upside down' I can see very clearly that the issue with this speaker is a textbook case of what I now understand to be a common problem with Royds - the drivers getting gummed up... see http://www.roydaudio.org/articles/repai ... p-drivers/ for a brilliant description.. on my 'broken' one there is very clearly a big splurge of black goo on the pole-piece.

So - I'm going to need to do some surgery... I can see there's quite a lot of goo on the pole piece, and my concern is pushing the driver back by hand (and how far I dare push them)... would it not possible to expose the pole piece using a battery attached to the speaker inputs (presumably 'in reverse') or would this burn out the tweeters?

Has anybody here every 'degummed' a Royd driver?

At the price I paid, there's not too much to lose, but it would be a shame to knacker them...(I might well buy some more even if I did)

tomblackford
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by tomblackford »

Well...blow me down.

The technique illustrated on the Royd (fan) site (see link above) has worked absolutely perfectly!

The speaker I doctored now sounds identical to the other, and seemingly no fattiness at higher volumes either. Hopefully the very sparing application of nail polish remover to the sides of the pole piece won't have any other side effects - I don't think I slopped any around anywhere else.

Now to enjoy these little beauties...

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karatestu
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by karatestu »

Well done Tom. Nice to hear of a happy ending and you have the satisfaction of fixing it yourself and getting a bargain to boot

:clap: :dance: :guiness;
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tomblackford
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by tomblackford »

Thanks Karatestu,

Extremely pleased with myself at present.

These are certainly the finest speakers i have ever owned and amongst the finest i have ever heard.

..unlike my little Spendors, which you kinda have to cencertedly listen to for a bit to get ‘into their world’, these badboys just grab you within seconds...

I think they’re probably a better complement for my Denon cart too, as that sometimes lacks a touch of airiness IMO.

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jayman67
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by jayman67 »

did you get the pioneer fixed tom?
Yamaha NS1000M speakers,Pioneer PLC-590 turntable,,Alphason HR-100S-MCS/Zeta tonearms,Denon 103sa cartridge ,Sony 700ES Amp,Sony X555ES CD Player, Nakamichi ca5 pre amp.

tomblackford
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by tomblackford »

Hey Jamie,

My brother took it to Audio Gold in North London, which worked out a bit more convenient than your guy would have been (my brother lives a couple of miles away).

Not heard back yet... when i took a look, the behaviour seemed to be:

33rpm - it was just about stable but slightly slow, if you tried to increase speed it started doing an odd thing of slowing right down and speeding up alternately

45rpm - doing the slowing / speeding thing all the time

Really hoping its just a simple fix as i would imagine it would be impossible (or impossibly expensive) to replace the motor...

Also a little concerned about what Audio Gold might charge given the prices of vintage gear in their shop... they have some nice stuff but at somewhat steep prices (3x ebay price)...

Ill let you know..

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jayman67
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by jayman67 »

if they cant do anything take it to tim.
Yamaha NS1000M speakers,Pioneer PLC-590 turntable,,Alphason HR-100S-MCS/Zeta tonearms,Denon 103sa cartridge ,Sony 700ES Amp,Sony X555ES CD Player, Nakamichi ca5 pre amp.

tomblackford
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Re: Degumming Royd mid/bass drivers

Unread post by tomblackford »

Yep - thats the backup plan!

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