Pioneer DSS9 in the house!

DSS9 in the house!

That is simply amazing that they have never been hooked up in over 30 years. :jawdrop:

I am sure that Copa will give them all of the attention they deserve.
:music: Yeah I know it sounds strange, but sometimes Real Life over-rules your plans. I wouldn't change a thing!
Still after talking with Copa, his man cave with the DSS 9's will certainly trump my tin ear.:sing:
 
:music: Yeah I know it sounds strange, but sometimes Real Life over-rules your plans. I wouldn't change a thing!
Still after talking with Copa, his man cave with the DSS 9's will certainly trump my tin ear.:sing:
LOL. When I told my friend these were likely my last speakers he laughed and said "yeah right".
 
:music: Yeah I know it sounds strange, but sometimes Real Life over-rules your plans. I wouldn't change a thing!
Still after talking with Copa, his man cave with the DSS 9's will certainly trump my tin ear.:sing:

Yes, life does change and often alters our plans. I am now 54 years old and make less money than when I was 16 years old, unbelievable hey. My life has changed drastically over the years but at least I have my health, knock on wood. I wonder what the break down of age groups is for AK members. I have my system from the early 80's when I was in Okinawa Japan and it is rarely used, but I think I should break out my Onkyo D-77 speakers to compare them to my other 30 plus sets. Nice to see that you could pass your Pioneer's on to a member that will appreciate them. :thmbsp:
 
Yes, life does change and often alters our plans. I am now 54 years old and make less money than when I was 16 years old, unbelievable hey. My life has changed drastically over the years but at least I have my health, knock on wood. I wonder what the break down of age groups is for AK members. I have my system from the early 80's when I was in Okinawa Japan and it is rarely used, but I think I should break out my Onkyo D-77 speakers to compare them to my other 30 plus sets. Nice to see that you could pass your Pioneer's on to a member that will appreciate them. :thmbsp:
If my equipment hadn't been stolen I'm confident I'd still have my Kenwood KA-3500 and KT-3500 tuner, Dual 1237 (which I found a replacement a year or so ago) and maybe my Ultralinear 225W speakers. My oldest receiver is, I believe, my STA-2000, then my Fisher RS-1080 and my Sansui 9090DB. Only receiver I have that I bought new is my STA-2500 which needs a new volume pot. That bugger has served me very well and would like to get her up and running again. Oldest speakers is a tie between my AR3a and Bose 901 (first gen). Both late 60's.

I'll be working on the DSS9 today, prepping the woofers and taking nude images to post here. They are in a good home, well not quite yet. Have them at my shop where I have the space and tools to get the job done. After that they get moved to the house.
 
Nudies part-1

This is going to require a couple posts.

First set of images are the L-pads. The Q-tip just shows the crud that came off the contact surface. Wasn't bad, but still dirty.

I cleaned the shafts as well which made a huge difference in turning, in other words much easier to turn now. Smoother too.
 

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This is going to require a couple posts.

First set of images are the L-pads. The Q-tip just shows the crud that came off the contact surface. Wasn't bad, but still dirty.

I cleaned the shafts as well which made a huge difference in turning, in other words much easier to turn now. Smoother too.
I should add the first image is taken with a mirror so that it can be seen how the "plate" is held in place. It might not be apparent but there is a foam seal. There are only three screws holding this in place, which is likely sufficient since this isn't an air-tight cabinet (being ported).
 
More nudies

Not everyone knows this but the DSS speakers, I believe this includes the 5,7 and 9, have multiple networks due to the woofers having dual voice coils. One network is for the tweeter and mid and the "B" network (fed by the "A" network) provides the different frequencies to the separate voice coils.

I'll scan the owner manual (big thanks to Dave for finding this and including it) which has a more detailed explanation of the network system.

As you can see, this is not a simple network. Pioneer clearly was serious about these speakers. I didn't notice any "poly" caps, but not concerned at the moment. If I recap, likely I'll find a spare set of networks and mod those.
 

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Last nudies for today

I've still got to clean up the woofers. Prep them for the new surrounds.

Next group of images is the tweeter, showing the part number and the mid from one cabinet. Note the mess. Looks like something got spilled on it, but minor. Didn't get on the cone, just the frame. The screen wasn't simple to remove, but did come off with some gentle coaxing. Looks good after cleaning up. I'm likely going to have to glue the screen back in place, which I suspect is how it was held in place in the first place.

The rear of the midrange shows the part number. I'll have to do a side by side with the HPM midrange. This mid easily dwarfs the HPM, and the hpm is no slouch for a midrange.
 
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Nudies, third times a charm?

I've still got to clean up the woofers. Prep them for the new surrounds.

Next group of images is the tweeter, showing the part number and the mid from one cabinet. Note the mess. Looks like something got spilled on it, but minor. Didn't get on the cone, just the frame. The screen wasn't simple to remove, but did come off with some gentle coaxing. Looks good after cleaning up. I'm likely going to have to glue the screen back in place, which I suspect is how it was held in place in the first place.

The rear of the midrange shows the part number. I'll have to do a side by side with the HPM midrange. This mid easily dwarfs the HPM, and the hpm is no slouch for a midrange.
 

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Woofer, woofers, woofers

Here is a comparison of the DSS and S speaker woofers.

The first image is the DSS9 and S-910, the other is with the S-710. Note the magnet sizes. The S-710 and DSS9 are pretty close in thickness.

The cones are all the same, with the only difference being the VC size. Likely Pioneer figured out making the necessary changes in the frame dimensions and simply trimming the cone, where the VC goes, would permit manufacturing a single cone. The plus to this is making reproduction cones, which I'll have to pass along to my supplier. This is very convenient. I'd sure like to know how close in dimension these are to the other PG cones, like HPM-500/700/900, etc.
 

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Bad karma

Got the second speaker up on the operating table to start clean up and removing the woofer and discovered a crack. This speaker is the one that had the damaged grill. The box that it came in wasn't damaged, but must have hit hard enough to jolt the cone. I'm going to file a claim and see how it goes, but means little really since the woofers are unobtanium.

I'll go ahead and order surrounds anyway, but this certainly is a bit of a setback.

I repaired my S-910 woofer, and it's holding up will, but this crack is longer. I don't believe it extends to the cap, hard to tell as the cone is still dusty.

Will keep people posted.
 
Oh man, that really stinks. I have to visit my buddy who does this stuff for a living, he may have some suggestions for replacing the cones, I will let you know if I get any good information.
 
Got the second speaker up on the operating table to start clean up and removing the woofer and discovered a crack. This speaker is the one that had the damaged grill. The box that it came in wasn't damaged, but must have hit hard enough to jolt the cone. I'm going to file a claim and see how it goes, but means little really since the woofers are unobtanium.

I'll go ahead and order surrounds anyway, but this certainly is a bit of a setback.

I repaired my S-910 woofer, and it's holding up will, but this crack is longer. I don't believe it extends to the cap, hard to tell as the cone is still dusty.

Will keep people posted.
If things weren't bad enough, doing some research there were two woofers used in the DSS9 speakers. One was the DSS9 (30-786a) running $363, and then the DSS9e (30-784a) costing $592 and also being used in the DSS10E. Luck be a lady I have the latter. Damn! So replacement just got more complicated.

I'll sit tight till postal processes the claim, just submitted a few minutes ago. If they do I'll hang tight and find a replacement (yeah right). But, I'll also attempt to fix the one I have. I did so successfully with my S-910 which has an identical cone. It's still working flawlessly after months of use.
 
Oh man, that really stinks. I have to visit my buddy who does this stuff for a living, he may have some suggestions for replacing the cones, I will let you know if I get any good information.
Appreciate it. I think I can repair the crack. Pluses? The crack isn't behind a rib and it doesn't extend to the dust cap. There are 6 ribs counting in from the edge and the crack stops at the 5th rib. That's roughly 1-1/2" from the dust cap.

The 910 I used a combination of super glue, to stabilize the crack, and then gorilla glue to strengthen.

Do let me know what you find out.

Appreciate it.
 
Im actually astonished those cones didnt crack all to hell in transit without foam surrounds holding cones in place:scratch2: One of my dds9 cones developed a crack and coffee filter to the backside of cone did the trick!
I've been thinking about that, not the coffee filter, but something along those lines. Look forward to more ideas. Definitely want to keep it light, little "mass" as possible. Not interested in debates over how much is too much, just wish to keep it light. I would like to ensure that the crack doesn't spread. Bye the way, what did you use to secure it? Adhesive? Epoxy? 2-part Epoxy? Inquiring minds want/need to know.

I will post whatever solution I attempt in hopes it will help others with PG style cones.
 
Cracker-jack

Got the second speaker up on the operating table to start clean up and removing the woofer and discovered a crack. This speaker is the one that had the damaged grill. The box that it came in wasn't damaged, but must have hit hard enough to jolt the cone. I'm going to file a claim and see how it goes, but means little really since the woofers are unobtanium.

I'll go ahead and order surrounds anyway, but this certainly is a bit of a setback.

I repaired my S-910 woofer, and it's holding up will, but this crack is longer. I don't believe it extends to the cap, hard to tell as the cone is still dusty.

Will keep people posted.

So here is what the crack looks like. Obviously it doesn't "look" bad, but anyone that knows these PG cones knows it's not good. I'm, of course, optimistic I can fix it, but I'll always be concerned about it cracking again.

I have fiberglass weave at home and was thinking of cutting a section, taking the weave apart and using just the strands laid in the back side of the cone ribs, with either 2-part epoxy or Gorilla glue. The latter is far easier to work with and is holding up just fine with the S-910 (which I just checked last night).

Thoughts?
 

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Interesting...

I just too DCR off the good woofer, which is still out, and the "blue" side VC reads 5.1 and the red side reads 2.7. So thinking one VC is 8-ohm and the other is 4-ohm.

I'll have to check the schematic to figure out which is the "regular" bass and which is the "sub" bass VC.
 
Received a letter Monday from the PO asking me to take the speakers and packaging to the nearest PO. I'll be doing this today. Hoping they'll honor my claim. Hoping I can eventually find a good replacement.

After they've done they're thing, and assuming I keep the speakers (not entirely sure how this works), I'll move forward with repairing the crack.

Any advice on how best to work with the PO would be appreciated. I don't want to cause issues for myself, and if I can help my case.

I've printed out pages for sites that had the drivers and what the retail price was for it. I've printed out a spec sheet. I've made note of the fact that both were packaged in the same manner with the same care and yet only one was damaged.

I hope they also take into consideration that my claim is only for one speaker and that the claim is less than the actual "street" value of the driver.
 
Update, post postal inspection...

The Postmaster said that if I had asked for the full $500 (which is what they were insured for each) he would have OKed it. So good news from the postal side of things.:banana:

The search continues for a replacement woofer, however, in the mean time I'll service the cone, install the new surrounds and hopefully audition them by this weekend. I'm not going to rush due to the fact these cones are a challenge to work with. Having done 4 PG cones I'm more comfortable, but still nervous due to the rarity of these.
 
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