OK here's the scope. I have very old (over 20yrs old) AKAI SR-LA301 3-way speakers. they feature 100mm midranges, the speakers as a whole are 8 ohms.
The speaker on the left's midrange has become unattached from the metal mounting plate. If I replace one, i should replace the other for the sake of the speakers sounding the same.
Are there any speaker builders that might be able to point me in the right direction of good midrange drivers? I see a lot at the parts express store.
I haven't called them. Is there a way to go about finding what impedance these midranges are? i think that's about the only piece of information that I really need besides the mounting measurements.
Probably but I wouldn't have the foggiest. Often the impedence is written on the driver. Give Parts Express a call and/or join Audiokarma...they lov ethe oldr gear and are pretty knowledgeable about it.
Pull the driver out of the cabinet, the impedance is usually marked on the back of the magnet assembly. You'll also need to know the electrical sensitivity of the driver or else the new driver will play at a different volume level than the rest of the drivers. You should know the crossover frequecies for the midrange - both high pass and low pass and the filter order - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. or else the new drivers will not match the cut of of the old system.
You'll also need to tell PE the driver dimensions and depth along with the screw hole dimensions and pattern. Now you're trying to find a driver that fits the cabinet without rigging the system and that comes close to matching a twenty year old midrange. The chances of any new speaker matching the old system are pretty slim.
Any new drivers probably won't sound very much like the old midranges. You are unlikely to get the old speaker's sound back when you start exchanging new drivers into an old system.
Why not just step up to new speakers? Twenty year old Akia's can easily be topped by most speakers out there today.
I appreciate the advice, Jan. My akai tweeters have already been replaced, and the tweeters happened to fit quite nicely. I was hoping the same for the mid-range drivers, maybe there is a standard for mounting dimensions? I could go buy a completely different speaker, but I am very pleased with these speakers, they really do match with my ears. I realize that replacing the mid-range is in a sense replacing the heart of the speaker, but I think I would rather take that risk than to completely lose the [in my opinion] good setup that these speakers have to offer.