Refurbishing Infinity Reference 2000.4 Floor-standing Speakers
I have had a pair of Infinity Reference 2000.4 tower speakers since they were new in the late 90's. I vaguely remember my dad saying a couple pairs "fell off a truck"... Meaning he bought them from some guy in a parking lot or something like that.
After ~20 years or so, a run-in with a careless house painter, and a child who like to poke things... They are in need of a bit of TLC.
I started by removing the damaged dust cap from one of the speakers. The speaker itself is in great condition, but the dust cap is certainly in need of replacement after my little one got curious and poked it. At least it wasn't the tweeter. I wasn't able to find dustcaps that match the original plastic 1-7/8" part, but i was able to find some nice looking felt dustcaps of that size. I guess both are getting replaced.
https://www.simplyspeakers.com/
While i'm at it, i might as well replace the cloth covering the pho-grill on the bottom half of the speaker. They came with acoustic cloth there, but since its just covering MDF, any nice looking stretchy cloth will do.
Im feeling a bit lazy, so i will probably just get some black acoustic cloth from simplyspeakers along with the dustcap and adhesive. 1 yard is more than enough to cover both speakers. On second thought, red cloth might look pretty good... Chris says red... We might have to take a trip to Michaels to see what they have.
Next i dismantled the entire speaker. The lower cloth covered grill pops off easily once you get it started, i use a butter knife as a pry bar.
The upper "waveguide" facia has 4 phillips head screws and some double sided tape behind it. It takes a bit of pulling to get it off the tape, so be careful not to crack it. Once its off, two more screws removes the tweeter. From there i headed to the kitchen and gave it a good wash in the sink.
4 more screws removes the midrange driver from the cabinet, once it was out of the box it was easy to clean the contacts with Deoxit, and blow out any dust that worked its way in over the years.
Next, i turned the cabinet over, removed the screws in the base, and pulled it out along with the crossover and baffle. While the crossover is out of the box, its a good idea to make sure the electrolytic capacitors are still in good shape. To test them properly they need to be removed from the circuit.
Now that the box is empty. Time to clean it. As i mentioned earlier, a careless painter (me) managed to get a bunch of white overspray on the black cabinet. A little 409 and some elbow-grease got most of it off. Unfortunately some of it is in the "grain" of the black laminate, and getting it out risks polishing away the grain, so i decided good enough is good enough.
Now that the cabinet is clean, time to condition it. My favorite product for this type of finish (vinyl laminate) is Turtle Wax Trim Restorer. The process is simple, rub it on with a rag, wait about 15 min and buff it off, repeat if necessary. The only downside to this product is that the cabinet can feel a bit oily for a couple days, and attract dust. If that becomes a problem, endust wipes come in handy.
Putting it all back tougether is quick and easy.
All thats left now is to wait for the parts to arrive (dust caps, adhesive, and grill cloth), glue it all up, and once dry the speakers will look as good as they did 15 years ago, and work as well as the day I got them.
Next up... Listening Notes.
To be continued...
After ~20 years or so, a run-in with a careless house painter, and a child who like to poke things... They are in need of a bit of TLC.
I started by removing the damaged dust cap from one of the speakers. The speaker itself is in great condition, but the dust cap is certainly in need of replacement after my little one got curious and poked it. At least it wasn't the tweeter. I wasn't able to find dustcaps that match the original plastic 1-7/8" part, but i was able to find some nice looking felt dustcaps of that size. I guess both are getting replaced.
https://www.simplyspeakers.com/
While i'm at it, i might as well replace the cloth covering the pho-grill on the bottom half of the speaker. They came with acoustic cloth there, but since its just covering MDF, any nice looking stretchy cloth will do.
Im feeling a bit lazy, so i will probably just get some black acoustic cloth from simplyspeakers along with the dustcap and adhesive. 1 yard is more than enough to cover both speakers. On second thought, red cloth might look pretty good... Chris says red... We might have to take a trip to Michaels to see what they have.
Next i dismantled the entire speaker. The lower cloth covered grill pops off easily once you get it started, i use a butter knife as a pry bar.
The upper "waveguide" facia has 4 phillips head screws and some double sided tape behind it. It takes a bit of pulling to get it off the tape, so be careful not to crack it. Once its off, two more screws removes the tweeter. From there i headed to the kitchen and gave it a good wash in the sink.
4 more screws removes the midrange driver from the cabinet, once it was out of the box it was easy to clean the contacts with Deoxit, and blow out any dust that worked its way in over the years.
Next, i turned the cabinet over, removed the screws in the base, and pulled it out along with the crossover and baffle. While the crossover is out of the box, its a good idea to make sure the electrolytic capacitors are still in good shape. To test them properly they need to be removed from the circuit.
Now that the box is empty. Time to clean it. As i mentioned earlier, a careless painter (me) managed to get a bunch of white overspray on the black cabinet. A little 409 and some elbow-grease got most of it off. Unfortunately some of it is in the "grain" of the black laminate, and getting it out risks polishing away the grain, so i decided good enough is good enough.
Now that the cabinet is clean, time to condition it. My favorite product for this type of finish (vinyl laminate) is Turtle Wax Trim Restorer. The process is simple, rub it on with a rag, wait about 15 min and buff it off, repeat if necessary. The only downside to this product is that the cabinet can feel a bit oily for a couple days, and attract dust. If that becomes a problem, endust wipes come in handy.
Putting it all back tougether is quick and easy.
All thats left now is to wait for the parts to arrive (dust caps, adhesive, and grill cloth), glue it all up, and once dry the speakers will look as good as they did 15 years ago, and work as well as the day I got them.
Next up... Listening Notes.
To be continued...
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