Help! Anyone replace cracked surrounds on Revel Ultima Salon 1s?

kennethwthompson9355

Well-Known Member
Jan 22, 2018
5
0
106
SLC, UT
Hi all,

I purchased some Salon 1s, Voice and Embrace speakers. I knew there was a crack in one of the Salon 8"drivers, but did NOT know there were cracks in some of the rubber or butyl surrounds. I know, these are old. That said, I have B&W 802 S3 Matrix Speakers and Genesis 400s (Arnie Nudell's Genesis out of Vail, CO) which are about the same age and they do not have any issues. They sound great.

Revel's senior engineer told me on the phone that the crack can be repaired with epoxy and it will be fine as the drivers are meant to be stiff and they are for bass..

I am determined to restore the Salons as much as possible. Has anyone replaced the surrounds on these? I have been trying to remove the drivers and it is like breaking into a bank vault. They do not want to come out!! Revel told me this morning they have a "gas seal" and are not meant to be removed.

In addition, does anyone know of replacement rubber or butyl surrounds that will work well on these? Revel keeps telling me I should not have purchased these and, to their credit, they told me that at the beginning before I purchased them. I cannot afford speakers that list for $22,000 or for that matter, $14,400 or so which was about the original price for just the Salons.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Ken
 

Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
2,235
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http://www.speakerrepairpros.com/about.html

Call these guys, when Orange County Speaker changed names and became GLS Audio their head speaker tech took the speaker repair part of the business and opened up his own shop. Have bought speaker repair parts there for decades, see if they can help.
Looks like he is more of a repair only facility now more than parts resale, but a phone call could not hurt. The worse thing that can happen is he will say he cant help.
 

kennethwthompson9355

Well-Known Member
Jan 22, 2018
5
0
106
SLC, UT
Thanks!

http://www.speakerrepairpros.com/about.html

"Call these guys, when Orange County Speaker changed names and became GLS Audio their head speaker tech took the speaker repair part of the business and opened up his own shop. Have bought speaker repair parts there for decades, see if they can help.
Looks like he is more of a repair only facility now more than parts resale, but a phone call could not hurt. The worse thing that can happen is he will say he cant help.
"

Thanks so much for this advice. I also purchased some surround kits from Orange County a while back.

I will give the new company a call.

Revel will not even tell me how to remove drivers! They are stuck as though they are super glued. I ordered two new mid-ranges and other parts for about $714. I need to remove a good mid-range driver in order to install the new one. They said that I am on my own due to their liability and reminded me how old these speakers are. Their customer service was great until then!

Ken
 

steve59

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2018
356
110
150
I emailed revel inquiring about replacement drivers for the salon 1 speakers and they replied they had plenty of replacements with the exception of the rear tweeter. I got a listen to the salon 2 yesterday and as transparent as they are I prefer the midrange coming out of the originals.
 

kennethwthompson9355

Well-Known Member
Jan 22, 2018
5
0
106
SLC, UT
Thanks Steve

I emailed revel inquiring about replacement drivers for the salon 1 speakers and they replied they had plenty of replacements with the exception of the rear tweeter. I got a listen to the salon 2 yesterday and as transparent as they are I prefer the midrange coming out of the originals.

Thanks Steve59!

I have spoken with Revel Technical and Parts many times via calls and emails. I have been told repeatedly that the 8" woofers are no longer available.

In addition, I have 6 Ultima Embraces. Of 12 mid-ranges 6 are bad. I have told Revel technical support a number of times that this is the worst failure rate I have seen from any Audio company in the many years I have been into this. A number of them kept saying that there were no problems with the mid-range and that someone had abused them with too much power from amplifiers. I said that it was hard for me to believe that people who can pay $5000 for a pair of them would not have good amps! Finally, one of the best of them told me that they did indeed have a batch of 8 Ohm mid-ranges that had a high failure rate and did not last as long as new ones. Also, one of the Salon mid-ranges was missing, and I presume that it was also bad. It is a 4 ohm mid-range that looks identical to the 8 Ohm mid-range in the Embraces.

I have asked a number of times if Revel could give me the specs for the 8 Ohm mid-range or a suggestion for a replacement, but they will not share either with me. In addition, I have called George Meyer in Los Angeles and they said the same thing.

Finally, I have told Revel that of 4 newer Embraces, 5 of 8 mid-ranges are bad and I cannot comprehend throwing them out since I cannot get new mid-ranges or find replacements that might work.

If you or anyone can make recommendations for replacements for the mid-range driver for the Ultima Embraces, I would be so thankful!

Sorry for the novel here!
 

steve59

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2018
356
110
150
Hi Steve,

Thanks for writing and choosing our products.

We have no plans to stop providing technical support for any of our products. As for the availability of any of the replacement drivers unfortunately I could not say how long any of these components will be available. I can say that they very likely will be more difficult to get as years go by.

We've had new replacement drivers made for this speaker and we currently have plenty of them in stock. I have also checked with our parts dept and they've confirmed that all the other drivers are in stock except for the rear tweeter.

Please let us know if you need anything.



I hope this helps.



Best regards,



Tom Pfister

Field Support Engineer

Harman Luxury Audio Group



8500 Balboa Blvd

Northridge, CA 91329

Phone: +1 888-691-4171
 

steve59

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2018
356
110
150
that was 2/2/2017 so maybe they all got bought up in the last year. I hope this helps and if not let us know.
 

edz

New Member
Jul 7, 2019
2
0
1
24
Hi,

I also have an issue with both left and right 4 inch drivers sounding scratchy when playing vocal/piano content on my Revel Ultima Salon 1. When being moved they have resistance so recoiling them could resolve it (if not, replacement)
I have taken out the screws but the drivers won't budge. Could you please give advice on how to take out the driver?

Thanks in advance

Ed
 

aceg1

New Member
Aug 11, 2019
1
0
1
53
Unfortunately the driver has to be destroyed to remove it. I personally spoke to Kevin Voecks (the designer)regarding this issue. He said the surround has to be cut and the cone removed. This will expose the rear metal basket. He said then grab the basket to remove the entire driver assembly. I tried this method on a voice midrange driver and it worked. The driver assembly will take a little effort to remove and in my case, the speaker cabinet was not damaged in any way but the driver was destroyed. After removing the driver this way, I don't believe it would have been possible to remove the driver any other way (it is very well attached to the cabinet).
 

edz

New Member
Jul 7, 2019
2
0
1
24
Hi, thanks for the reply. I have since resolved this issue. According to Revel the compound can harden and get kinda hard which makes it hard to remove. With nothing to lose, as instructed by them I put a screwdriver in between the edge of the driver and the casing and put on a couple of taps with a hammer from 3 different sides, upon which it came loose. I was then able to remove the driver (it is soldered) and send it for a recoil. These are 225-500 each so it was worth a try.
 

Leon402

New Member
Apr 6, 2020
1
0
1
55
Hi, edz, Where did you have your mid range driver recoil? My Salon 1 have exact same problem like yours. scratchy when playing vocal/piano content. Email Revel and they don't have the 4" driver part for Salon 1 any more. Repair is the only option Thanks
 

amhifi

Well-Known Member
May 11, 2012
4
0
906
Winnipeg, Canada
Well, I successfully removed the Revel Voice Midrange as follows:
1. Remove all the mounting screws
2. Using a flat blade screwdriver, insert it into the recessed part of the mounting hole at a 45 degree plus angle.
3. Tap firmly, but not excessively hard, on the screwdriver with a hammer.
4. Repeat step 3 in several of the mounting holes until the seal is broken.
5. Insert a large screw into one mounting hole and turn until tight - it must be larger than the mounting hole in order to grab the frame of the driver.
6. Use a vice grip or pliers to pull on the screw - the driver will come out in undamaged.
Make sure that the large screw tip does not extend too far in, as then it will catch the threaded insert and you will be trying to pull it out of the cabinet material. This procedure probably also work with the woofers and other drivers.
 

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