Monitor 7 rebuild ?

[dkg999]

I picked up a set of Monitor 7's (Labelled on back as Monitor Series 2 and a "M7" preceding the serial #) that are in great shape as far as SQ, and seem to be pretty low mileage. They have the SL2500 tweeter (foam ring). I was cruising a flea market in Rockford IL and the guy had just hauled these in from a storage unit auction and I grabbed them for a price that was less than I usually spend at McDonalds to feed me and my three daughters! Now the problem, the cabinets have lots of moisture damage on the outside, bubbling the MDF and cratering the oak veneer covering, and also pushing open the miter joints. Other than a little surface rust on the driver mounting screws, the front and rear panels are mint. This looks like a pretty simple job (and I have lots of woodworking experience) to separate the fronts and backs from the MDF sides and build and veneer new MDF side panels to match the design of the originals. The grill fronts are in mint shape except for one hole in the grill cloth. Has anyone ever taken a set of these apart? Any advice on getting the front and rear panels separated from the sides?

And ..... I have these running now, powered by a restored Marantz 2265 and they sound fantastic!

[nadams]

I can't really give you advice on the woodworking (though there are plenty on here that should be able to), but considering the Monitor 7 is a sealed cabinet design, they should sound much better when there's not all that open airspace around the edges!

[VR3]

A Chisel...

Actually...if the joints are already coming loose...

Take a hammer out and takes the drivers off and just beat them out (from the inside)...wouldnt take long!

Not like it is going to take the front panel with it!

[F1nut]

I'm pretty sure Polk uses a interlocking joint on the panels, so exercise great caution trying to get them apart.

[dkg999]

Vr3MxStyler2k3 - silly me! I just got out the duct tape and wrapped the outside of the cabinets with it. You can't even tell there was any damage, and the tape really sealed up all the air leaks. Pretty soon I'll have the exact formula for the number of dirty socks I have to pack in behind the mid/woofer to get these to sound right.

[VR3]

duct tape eh?

Thats a new one...

You must be from the South! :D

[dkg999]

This is going to be a fun project! I did a little exploratory surgery and getting the front panels out is no problem. The back panels seem to be glued to all 4 side panels, so I will probably have to trim the remains of the side panels off of them. Making new side panels and assembling them using the original joinery with the front panels is no problem. I'll use oak veneer over the MDF with new front trim pieces made out of cherry to match the angled fronts. This will save me needing to use a vacuum press to get the veneer to lay down on the angled fronts, and look pretty good. I'll cut some 1/8th inch steel plates, drilled and tapped for speaker spikes from Parts Express, and mount to the bottom to add a little weight. The neighbor does powder coating so I'll have the steel plates powder coated satin black. Yeah, they're only Monitor 7's, but I have needed a good audio project!

I have been running these, air leaks and all, beside my SDA 2A's, Monitor 10B's, RTi70's, RTi6's, RTi38's, Klipsch KG3.5's, and Spendor S5e's. These are just a sweet sounding bookshelf speaker. Definetely are able to hold their own! Are there any cross-over upgrades or anything I should consider while I am rebuilding these?