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Need help restoring a Madison 810

punkrockmike

punkrockmike

Mar 16, 2011
239
3
Minneapolis, MN
www.facebook.com
#1
Just picked up an old madison 810 off craigslist for $200. I saw it and decided it'd be a good place to start trying my hand at cab restoration/building. I have barely any knowledge about wiring speakers, but i can tell there's a lot wrong inside the cab. one of the tweeters is disconnected from its housing and rolling around in the bottom of the cab. the jack plate is barely hanging on to the cabinet, and the two 1/4" jacks are about to fall out of the jack plate, although they still work. havent tried either of the speakon jacks yet. six of the eight speakers sound great, but the row of two above the bottom speakers dont seem to put out very much high frequencies at all. Not sure if thats a problem with the wiring or the speakers themselves, but every other sound seems to come out of them. im gonna see if one of my tech friends will come take a look at it with me. i guess im asking for links to good sites where i can find tolex or carpet, metal corners, casters, a jack plate, jacks, stuff like that. also, if the two speakers in question are bad, i was wondering if anybody knew where to find 10" madison knight drivers or know a speaker that is similar that i could replace them with? ill be posting pics of the cab as i work on it. not sure if im gonna spray it with bed liner or retolex it or put on some rat fur. if anybody has any advise i'd love to hear it. this is the first of hopefully many projects. ive been thinking a lot about pursuing a career in speaker cab/amplifier building or being a tech. really excited to finally have something to work on.
 
#2
If you're doing this as a project to learn, I would start by tackling one problem at a time rather than aggressively attack everything at once. Get it fixed for sound and structure first. Research each individual problem as you tackle it and don't worry about the more long range cosmetic stuff until you get it working right. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it since it's not exactly the holy grail of bass cabs, but it would be fun to practice cab finishing skills and stuff like that.
 
#6
The drivers you say "aren't putting out any highs" might be blown and just moving in sympathy with the ones that do work. Plug a speaker cable in it, and touch a 9V battery to the tip and sleeve of the end you'd normally plug in the amp. All the cones should jump in or out together depending on which way you flip the battery. The ones that don't move are bad.
 
#8
#9
the two speakers in question are in fact blown (thanks for the tip on how to test em, will33). i think i might just get all new speakers. dont really like the idea of having six original and two that are completely different. unless somebody has a suggestion as to what would go well with the madison speakers. from what ive read, they arent the best anyways.
 
#10
New speakers are going to cost at least $500 if you want something decent. Eminence Legend B810 is the 32 ohm 10" Eminence makes as a replacement for 810's. I'd buy two and stick them in the top row of the cab, and leave the rest.
 
#11
JimmyM said:
New speakers are going to cost at least $500 if you want something decent. Eminence Legend B810 is the 32 ohm 10" Eminence makes as a replacement for 810's. I'd buy two and stick them in the top row of the cab, and leave the rest.
Click to expand...

I'd say this is a better, and more affordable suggestion for now. ^^

Find out what impedance the madison drivers are. If they're 8 ohms instead of 32, a pair of eminence alpha10's might be a solution. Is this cab sealed or ported? Is it divided into separate 210 compartments inside like an ampeg or one big open space? Another option for a more grit-n-grind rock cab is putting a pair of jensen mod50 guitar speakers in the top slots with a capacitor in front of them to block the deep bass and use your good 6 in the rest of the cab. In any case, it's a budget cab, not worth a lot of money. That'd make it a good learning tool but I wouldn't drop the money for 8 new drivers for it. You'll learn at least as much just getting 2 to get it working.
 
#12
I was told by the guys at Madison when they stopped making bass cabs that the Eminence delta was the closest to the Madison knight in terms of wattage and frequency response.I have a Madison mab412 and It's one of the best sounding cabs I've ever owned.
 
#13
This site has some pretty easy to understand, entry level type reading on speaker impedance, series/parallel wiring, making your own cables, basic crossover networks, etc.

Shavano Music Online - Do It Yourself Construction Articles

This one goes a little more in depth, but still presented in a way that's easier to comprehend.

DIY Audio & Video - FAQs, Tutorials, and Calculators for Speaker Boxes, Crossovers, Filters, Wiring and more

This one has even more info and is pretty much a must read for speaker design.


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And of course, the diy/techtalk sticky at the top of the page here has tons of great info and links.......happy reading.
 
#14
thanks for all the suggestions guys. to will33, it's slot ported at the bottom, has three madison compression drivers going right down the middle, one of which was rolling around at the bottom of the cab so im not sure if it's still functional. i do like the idea of just getting two more speakers instead of eight. $500 is definitely out of my price range. if the compression driver is garbage, what would you guys think about taking the other two out and turning the three holes in the baffle where they currently are into ports? or sealing them up? how can i test the compression driver to see if it's still functional?
 
#18
will33 said:
Probably at least as good as what's in there. I'd shelf them off into their own 210 subchamber. Your three tweeters are likely piezo's. Cheap and don't require a whole crossover.
Click to expand...

it'd be kind of difficult to build them their separate chamber since the tweeters are right in between the rows of speakers, where another piece of wood would theoretically go. is the chamber necessary?
 

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