Fisher XP-5A

I'm moving over here from the Fisher Forum for advice on what to do with my SA find.

When I got home I hooked em up to my 800c and there was sound. Immediately tho it became apparent that at least one woofer was shot. It took a while but I finally opened up the one that sounded crappy and found the surround on the woofer gonzo. Also the tweeter's foam cap seems to have had better days.

Now the cabinets and the badges on these things are quite nice. So, in the interest of mating them with a Fisher receiver, should I embark on restoring them? I'd rather not buy new drivers as I don't think I could come close to justifying the final cost. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind "refoaming" and recapping them.

Ya know, as I'm typing this I realized that I've decided to give them a shot :thmbsp: To that end, I would appreciate suggestions on the surround as well as what caps to use. (I'm not necessarily married to what Fisher liked in terms of voice.) The current sandcast resistor could be replaced as well if that makes sense. So, any/all advice would be greatly appreciated

First of all, the woofers. Looks like foam surrounds. Lots of folks will be able to advise you on whom to get them from, but they're easy to do and worth doing, IMHO.

Then, the tweeters. Those are some unusual dustcaps, I have not seen any like that. Hopefully someone can offer some advice in that arena.

As to the crossovers, it's pretty well established that Avery Fisher liked to 'voice' his speakers himself, and he tended to prefer a rolled-off high-end. I've even heard it said that his engineers were driven crazy by his preferences. In any case, it's been my experience that Fisher XP series speakers do indeed have a rolled-off top end, which many people tend to not like these days (me included).

You may find that the tweeter has both a capacitor and a resistor in series; if so, that means that the resister is meant to pad down the volume of the tweeter a bit. You can simply replace the caps on your crossover and leave everything stock, or you can take that resistor out of the signal, which will boost the volume of the tweeter. Whether or not you want to do that is up to you, depends on what you like when you're done with the refoam and re-dustcap and then recap the crossovers.

As to what brands of crossover caps, lots of people have lots of suggestions. A good middle-of-the road suggestion that tends not to rub too many people the wrong way are Dayton brand from Parts Express. I personally can't afford even the cheapest of the 'good' caps, so I go with generic non-polarized caps from Parts Express for 20 or 30 cents each and I'm happy with the results thus far. YMMV.

Good luck, I'd love to see some photos of the whole speaker with cabinets and all!

Wig: Below are some before pics I put up over at Fisher. There's not gonna be much change in the external after pics since the cabs are really, really nice

As far as the surround is concerned, I'm pretty sure they're cloth. Really finely meshed and frayed when handled unlike foam which turns to dust. And the tweeters: I'll wait to see if anyone else has any suggestions on how to handle them.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=385210&d=1351116188

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=385211&d=1351116188

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=385212&d=1351116188

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!!!