[PTurney]

Hi,

At Kutztown I bought a very nice Philco 118X. At the time of purchase I noticed that the loudspeaker had been fitted such that it was suspended through the cut-out in the inclined sounding board (with the speaker's perimeter screwed to the front of the ISB), rather than being mounted to it from the rear in the normal way. As a result, the grille cloth was noticeably stretched out a bit over the front of the speaker.

Once at home, I removed the speaker (which is the correct one for this model) to install it correctly. I installed four bolts through existing holes in the baffle, with heads flush-mounted to the front of the baffle, securing them using nuts from the rear. I then assumed the speaker would mount on these bolts and be secured using a second set of nuts. All was well except the first set of four nuts prevent the front rim of the speaker from fitting flush against the rear of the baffle.

Before I delve into dismantling some other set that I have, I thought I'd ask here about resolving this. Should there be a gasket between the front of the speaker and the baffle to fill this gap? Certainly on other sets I've seen what perhaps is such a thing. I don't think the first set of 4 nuts should be countersunk, as this would weaken the attachment and I see no evidence of this having been done originally. Also, I'm sure the first set of nuts MUST be present, otherwise the bolts would soon end up poking through the grille cloth.

I'm leaning towards the gasket approach, but was wondering what others may have encountered here. Also, is the cloth attached directly to the wooden baffle, or should the cloth be attached to a sheet of cardboard?

Regards,
Paul

[PTurney]

Hi,

I found my answer, so I'll bother you guys no more.

Paul

[Ron Ramirez]

Sorry Paul,

I do not have a 118X and what you were describing did not sound familiar.

Also, I was gone all weekend.

Could you share with us your findings, please?

Sorry that no-one else chimed in.

[PTurney]

Hi,

Hello Ron, I did what I should have done in the first place and that was to have not pestered others with something I could have found my own answer to within a few minutes - that was to remove the screen from the back of another set and take a look there! However, I'll gladly share what I found.

One other set I checked (a 14MX) has the loudspeaker supported by a cross member (which the 118X does not have). Its speaker doesn't fit flush against the baffle and a felt gasket fills the slight gap. Coming to think of it, I've seen these bushy felt rings many times in the past without thinking too much about them. I presume the 118X was similar, though the felt from mine has long gone - I'll just trim some thick cardboard and use that. I guess I was expecting a tight fit on the speakers with these old sets, much like the modern units, but of course that's not how they were designed.

Also, other sets I checked all mount the grille cloth directly to the wood, so that's what I'll do with the 118X. When I got the set the cloth had been mounted to a sheet of card placed in front of the baffle, which is what had made me wonder in the first place. It has to be redone, as the cloth was was badly mis-shapen from being stretched over the front of the loudspeaker.

Not sure why the loudspeaker was mounted from the front when I got my unit, as everything looks to go back the correct way without any issues. It'll remain a mystery..

Hope you're doing well, Ron.

Best Regards,
Paul