Gale 401a restoration

[Terry]

I'm restoring a pair of Gales - black/chrome version. Work's progressing well and I'm recording the process as I go along. They were in awful condition so it's particularly satisfying to see them shape up. Didn't someone else on here save a pair? Could do with some input on the crossover.

Regards and many thanks.

Terry

[JAW]

I'm restoring a pair of Gales - black/chrome version. Work's progressing well and I'm recording the process as I go along. They were in awful condition so it's particularly satisfying to see them shape up. Didn't someone else on here save a pair? Could do with some input on the crossover.

Regards and many thanks.

Terry

Hi Terry. I pm'd you, but in case you didn't get it just to say I can send you a few links to help you along and let you know what I came across when I restored mine. I restored 401C's, the ones with the curved front (not chrome ends), but I believe the components are identical.

[Terry]

Cheers Johnny... will check and get back to you.

Terry

[Terry]

Here's how they looked when picked up last week!

No sound, fuse missing on one, binding post missing on the other, rusting chrome end caps on both and tatty speaker cloth. Glass half full though!

[Terry]

So down to work. It was clear by the impact marks on the end caps that they had been off before... or at least a concerted attempt made to remove them. Not at all easy as they are a very tight fit and were secured originally with a couple of blobs of hot melt glue. With a block of timber and a rubber mallet I managed to remove all four. Not for the feint hearted. With caps removed the speaker cloth needed to come off. This is held across the top and bottom of the back surface by vinyl strips hammered into two routed grooves. Easy to remove with a blunt screwdriver. The cloth is also held left and right around all surfaces by staples - again easily removed by said screwdriver. And then the scary moment! What would be uncovered? The original, unmolested, albeit knackered drivers? Or something more modern!!!

To my delight (and relief) the first driver to reveal itself was the Celestion HF2000 super tweeter. And it looked to be in great shape too. Onwards and downwards and the state of the bass units became apparent. Original units thankfully (CTS 8" woofers). The cones looked good but the foam surrounds were totally shot. As indeed were the surrounds on the Peerless KO40 Mids (around which Johnny informs me the other drivers were selected). Same applied to both speakers. Upside... all original and fixable.

[JAW]

Those looks pretty much exactly like mine did when I got the grills off. I bought the surrounds from these guys and found them very good to deal with.

http://www.speaker-repairs.co.uk/shop/refoam/gale.html

I found a circuit schematic for the crossover I saved when I was doing mine. Do you want me to PM it to you?

Also, here's a link to a guy who did a brilliant job on a pait of chrome end speakers.

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/show ... hp?t=69080

[Terry]

Thanks Johnny. I saw the job 'Mr. Tibbs' did on pinkfish. Great work but thankfully my tweeters and mids won't need the same input. I got the replacement surround kit from Greg at speaker-repairs and some speaker cloth from Falcon. I was in touch with Dave Smith at Vintage Gale and he was a great help regarding the crossover. They both (crossovers) look really tidy and in good condition and my gut feel would be to leave well alone if they test and work well. Dave recommended disassembling the pots and giving them a good clean. Will know more this evening... all the drivers have been repaired and will test.

[JAW]

Hi Terry, Nice job on the surrounds. It seems you've gone to the same resources and sources that I did. Just on the crossover, I cleaned the pots and they're fine now. I was going to change the capacitors because of their age, but before I went to this trouble I put everything back together to check that the speakers were ok. Everything worked and I liked the sound. I disassembled them again to change the caps and damaged one of the resistors in the process, which I replaced. Before I got around to changing the caps I was talking to Cybot who mentioned that the caps were part of the sound, so if I liked it why change them? So, to cut a long story short, I didn't and they've worked fine ever since.

[Terry]

That's reassuring about the crossovers Johnny.

The replacement foam surround kits supplied by http://www.speaker-repairs.co.uk/shop/refoam/gale came with very easy-to-follow instructions. The rotten surrounds were carefully removed with fingers and scalpel and the stripped surfaces given a rub of fine grit sandpaper. The glue (supplied) was applied to the circumference of the cone and the corresponding surface of the surround - allowed to go tacky and then bonded. This was left overnight. In the meantime I worked on the cabinets - simple repairs using wood filler to make good, a light sanding and finally a coat of 'blackboard' matt black. The cabs themselves are well made and internally braced laterally and front to back. David at Vintage Gale noted that mine were English made and somewhat better than those produced in the States! Should mention that the cabs are damped with fibreglass - not pleasant to work with so gloves and face mask are advised.

There are two vertical strips of wall board faced with a foam membrane on the left and right extremes of the front baffle. These obscure the bass drivers by a good 2cm. They were missing on one of the speakers so I made four new ones using heavy card (1.5mm) faced with black 'Funky Foam' (seriously!). Used the glue that came with the speaker kit - looks and behaves like regular pva adhesive.

[cybot]

Ah lads I'm thoroughly enjoying this! This is what 'real' hi fi is all about :) May the luck continue to be with you Terry.....