Here's a how-to on recapping a set of IMF RSPM Mk IV. Done on request. The capacitor part kit for these speakers (and other IMF speakers) are available here: www.falconacous...
I have a good friend who is an amazing audio setup guy who has recapped his RSPM VIIs twice. The first time he used expensive tweek caps and they ruined the exquisite balance of the speakers. He later used caps resembling the original ones and, bingo, all was well again. The legendary John Wright did an exceptional job voicing the IMF speakers and your chances of bettering his work are about zilch. Nice video.. you made the right call, buddy. Now I need to do my vintage 1983 Professional Monitors ( the TLS 80 descendants based on the RSPM VIIs).
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
Yes, exactly. There are a lot of capacitors on those boards and the costs add up quickly, so the kits from Falcon are convenient and reasonably priced. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
Hey Phillip. Thanks! Great pick-up, these are hard to find speakers. I can get you a parts list if needed - that's not a problem. I ordered the kit from Falcon myself, reason being the Elcap capacitors original to IMFs are the descendent of Alcaps supplied in the kits by Falcon. You could go another way and use a different brand, but the price of the kit is very good even including shipping out of the UK. As for 2% yes, I think so. The original poly caps are fine so not exactly necessary.
@socksumi
4 жыл бұрын
Buy polypropylene caps especially for mid and treble filter sections. They have superior dialectric properties and you can hear the difference. Especially stay away from electrolytic caps; they are the worst sounding of all types.
@peterofenbaeck405
5 жыл бұрын
In the early 1980s, I built two replica pairs of these speakers. 1st pair was very close to the original enclosure design whereas the second looked a bit more modern style where as technically they were the same. The crossovers I built without any electrolytic capacitors, so they were a lot bigger than the originals. I built them their own cabinet in the base of the speakers, which also contained castors for moving the speakers. The loudspeakers sounded very airy and achieved a very deep bass, but they were not very loud and needed a lot of amplifier power.
@jeffcats88
10 жыл бұрын
Hi sweetsweatyfeet, I would agree with you that polypropylene capacitors are indeed a superior part for the job. However, the reason I suggest to use electrolytics is because that is what was used originally in the crossover and will best represent what the speaker sounded when fresh from the factory. I think it is important to have a frame of reference for what a speaker sounds like when you are planning to upgrade the crossover or change parts around, because without that, you don't really know if you are really improving the sound or just changing it. The original sonic signature of the speaker, with electrolytics, is what is best remembered, so that is why I suggest to first recap with electrolytics (that, and it is very cost effective).
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
My B&Ws don't have any electrolytic caps. Just the non-electrolytic film capacitors. About 6 per board. I've yet to replace mine in these, but I think the difference in sound will be huge. But then again, it's also a safety precaution.
@DrAvrington
12 жыл бұрын
Very good and thanks for the education. Keep up the good work..
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
I'll be replacing them as soon as I find the proper film caps in terms of size and values, Film capacitors do last longer than electrolytic capacitors, but they age differently, so you wouldn't compare them as you would compare different brands of electrolytic caps. Films capacitors definitely do age in speakers, and I'm almost entirely sure replacing them will make a nice difference in your IMFs.
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
I'd replace all the capacitors. My B&W DM4s don't even have electrolytic capacitors, and the difference in sound is huge when replacing the caps. Leaving them in their original state can even kill your tweeters as soon as you turn on your amp. Not sure how it is for these IMFs, though. Great speakers, hope to come across a pair myself some time in the future.
@socksumi
4 жыл бұрын
In 1978 the IMF RSPM mk IV listed for $2400 US a pair in the Stereo / hifi consumers buying guide. Within two years their price jumped up to over $3000 pr and much higher in other countries. Something similar today, expect a price closer to $50,000 because it's become common practice in audio when legacy products are reintroduced. Combination of very high markups and limited production to a tiny niche market..
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
It's a fact that after 10 to 15 years film capacitors on the crossover filters need to be replaced. After such an amount of time, the capacitors will let more electricity through, and this can blow up your tweeters at a higher volume. Especially tweeters such as those in your beautiful IMFs. One of the Celestion HF1300 tweeters in my B&Ws already blew up, which is why I won't use them anymore until the capacitors are replaced.
@elroehrentin7550
2 ай бұрын
film capacitors can work over 50 years
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
That's interesting - so your B&W's had film caps in them? The IMF's have about, 9 film caps per board. I may have to try replacing them to see if it makes a difference.
@mrGoesto11
10 жыл бұрын
Don't forget to make sure the cap + and - are replaced the same.
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
Yes I do. I ordered them when I ordered the capacitor kit for the IMFs. Just curious, where are you getting your information from?
@wsissons1
7 жыл бұрын
Hey Jeff bought a pair of IMF pro monitors mk1 turns out you did the caps on these they are on my never to sell list .....Have you to thank the day I heard your RSPMs I new I had to get a set of IMFs ...........Buy the way guys his RSPMs sound unreal my opinion but liked them much more then the Kef 107s he had ......................WES......................
@jeffcats88
7 жыл бұрын
Hey cool! I'm surprised he finally sold them. He bought those in 2012 as I recall. They were from a gentleman around Red Deer area who owned them since new. Yep, the caps were done by me, after he bought them the sound was not that great. So I suggested replacing the caps and I helped him out as he wasn't familiar with doing that kind of work. They made a night and day difference afterwards and I think they're still working 100% now. They're pretty cool, because they're the first big transmission line IMF made. I'm sure you'll enjoy them :-)
@shermanwebers4786
10 жыл бұрын
okay, I have read a little further on this and I see that there is a notion that all lytics need to be replaced after 10-15 years. That is not always true and more common in power amp supplies. In speakers, the lytics can last for a lifetime due to the low to no heat and high quality build of caps from yester-year. If you have to go for electrolytics, use ELNA Cerafine, Black Gates or something like that. Of course the price goes up quickly when you go for those higher end caps.
@nigelmoore7038
8 жыл бұрын
Very nice speakers however I would of fitted high quality polypropylene audio grade capacitors for a more detailed & natural sound, the only point of changing the existing electrolytics would be to improve & better the already good speakers otherwise it's kind of pointless I'm afraid. Good video anyway.
@shermanwebers4786
10 жыл бұрын
Hello, I know this is an old video, but I wanted to make a comment about the soldering instruction. Heating just the wire is NOT the way to make a good connection. The key to any good solder joint is to get both sections of your work hot at the same time. You put your solder tip on both the PCB land (the board eyelet) and then apply your solder. No offense, but the way you described will cause a "cold" solder joint and lots of problems. I agree with the others here that commented on using better non-electrolytic caps if you can find the correct rating. A place in Candada called PartsConnexion used to be the best for caps and such, but there are others. Using small film and foil bypass caps in parallel to the lytics can yeild positive effects as well. And finally, as he others have commented, be sure to put the caps back in in the correct polarity, unless you are replacing non-polarized lytcis. There is someone in DC trying to sell a set of these speakers and I was just doing some research on them and came across this video.
@ruftytufty11
11 жыл бұрын
Hi Jeff - Nice video! Just got a pair of these, from original owner, no work done on them so far. So I need to replace the caps. Do you have a parts list, and where did you get them? Or is it best to just order the kit from Falcon in the UK? (I'm in the US). Do you think it's worth upgrading to the higher spec (2%) caps + Polyester caps?
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
Oh I see so you haven't done it yet then. Well, from what I understand film capacitors last much longer than electrolytic capacitors do. I'm not sure what the life expectency is like on them, everywhere I've read about them being tested shows that they test within spec every time. I'd be interested to hear if replacing them in your B&W's does indeed make a difference in the sound.
@jeffcats88
12 жыл бұрын
Trust me if I can do it, you can definitely do it. :) In fact, it's easy enough that I enjoy doing the work. My first set of speakers I ever did a capacitor change were on a set of IMF TLS 80's, and those were more challenging than these RSPM's. Go figure, huh?
@flyxator
6 жыл бұрын
Cool vidéo. thanx!
@plbond007
8 жыл бұрын
Hi Jeff I sold two paire of these IMF pro MK speakers at Sonax 1973ltd in Montreal QC, it was 4,000$ a pair in the years 1974 1975 very nice wood construction and quality sound. Jeff Can you or you should make a new video démo with smouth jazz music or classic 4 seasons song. Good memory produc. Thank's Pierre
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
Hey Jeff, how'd you experience the sound before and after replacing the caps?
@jeffcats88
11 жыл бұрын
Interesting. Well, there's nothing to lose, so I'll replace the film caps in one of my IMF's tonight and I will do an A/B comparison and report back.
@thomashudnut1995
10 жыл бұрын
These were 2500 in 1978 retail.
@elroehrentin7550
2 ай бұрын
a nice description of destroying one of the best speaker on this planet. Have you been thinking of direction of this caps ? the old ones arent they still good ? Soldering is not the first problem, looking and hearing to the thing and understanding the thing seems to be the problem for most people. To be clear, the problem is, people open things and see things and they understand what they see, but they dont see what they do not understand. they only see what they know and this isn't the real thing
@jeffcats88
2 ай бұрын
No. The old caps are not good anymore. They lose their chemical potency over the years and no longer work like they should. If anything, leaving the old caps is "destroying one of the best speaker on this planet" because by doing that you're not letting the crossovers operate at their factory specs, which makes them sound completely different (and wrong) to how they should. Also I use capacitors made by the same company that made the originals. I don't deviate from the original design whenever I possibly can, I simply restore them to how they should sound when new.
@ruftytufty11
11 жыл бұрын
If you think the price for the kit is good, then not really any reason to go with something else. Thanks!
@michaelconrad438
6 жыл бұрын
I have those exact same speakers, and I've had them for years. I never knew that they were expensive is anybody out here trying to buy a pair of IMF electronics speakers?
@AbeWWII
11 жыл бұрын
Ah, so you have them lying around already? I'll be interested in what improvement you will hear. If you won't hear it, it'll still be a great investment, knowing that your tweeters are now safe. It's not even at high volume, just turning on your amp can kill them at this point. That's what happened to mine.
@johannlbond
11 жыл бұрын
Linda je hebt geen B&W auto xd.
@k20aa
12 жыл бұрын
Nice job there I need to do mine just got to get some balls lol
@sweetsweatyfeet
10 жыл бұрын
Do yourself a favour and DON'T use cheap electrolytic capacitors. Use a higher grade like polypropylene or polystyrene at the least. The sound will be much better and the speakers deserve it. While you're at it replace the cheap thin internal wiring with up to date stuff.
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