Well it finally happened

[Tim Smith]

Glad to help Michael!

The speaker I rebuilt was from a Toyota Avalon. The sub woofer in those cars has a strange wattage and was mucho buchos to replace.

This company had the parts. The one thing I really appreciated was they offered both a foam and a cloth replacement for my speaker. I ordered the cloth and couldn't be happier with the results. Watching the how to video helped me a lot.

I noticed they had some parts for studio monitors. Another company might have more. 

I have a set of M audio BX8 monitors. One of the tweeters started making a tinny noise. Parts were unavailable for it, so I found a close match. I wouldn't use them as my main speakers any more. They are buried in my garage somewhere because I couldn't throw them away. Those are the only monitors I have ever attempted to repair. I guess companies such as Adam and Tannoy probably have parts available. I dunno.

[Rain]

10 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

I have a set of M audio BX8 monitors. One of the tweeters started making a tinny noise. Parts were unavailable for it, so I found a close match. I wouldn't use them as my main speakers any more. They are buried in my garage somewhere because I couldn't throw them away. Those are the only monitors I have ever attempted to repair. I guess companies such as Adam and Tannoy probably have parts available. I dunno.

I still have my old M-Audio Studiophiles which I got 21 years ago - quite a few notches cheaper thank yours, though.  But you got to start somehwere and these were my first monitors - quite an improvement from my previous setup, actually. I've not plugged them in in over 10 years, although I'm sure listening to music on them would bring back tons of memories. Even just the sound they made when I powered them on. I wrote so much music on them, I can't bring myself to get rid of them. I like to see them there, in the background, as part of my musical history I suppose. Fortunately, they're quite small.

 

I am still thankful for M-Audio - these guys made affordable, reliable gear. I think everything in my humble studio was made by them - interface, monitors, keyboard, drum pads, preamp... Heck, I still have the old lanyward, too.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Rain

[Tim Smith]

Hi Rain,

Good to see you around!  

I guess M-audio and Alesis were the working man's monitors for the longest time.

At that time Mackie and Adam were out of touch for me.  I bought a whole bunch of odd stuff to record besides  because I didn't really know anything about what I was doing. Not that the M-audio BX8s were bad monitors. They had their own sound I had to work around to get a decent mix. The BX8s were not  distinct compared to higher end monitors. Not bad but not wonderful either. I learned the hard way that 8" woofers really didn't work very well in a small studio. I now use a set of monitors that are 5" and I use ARC 3.  I am often getting my base mix on headphones with Sonarworks.

Similar to you maybe I hate to part with some of my history. 

8 hours ago, Rain said:

I am still thankful for M-Audio - these guys made affordable, reliable gear. I think everything in my humble studio was made by them - interface, monitors, keyboard, drum pads, preamp... Heck, I still have the old lanyward, too.

 👍

I still have an old 88 key m-audio controller. I sometimes use it still to this day.

[Shane_B.]

8 hours ago, Rain said:

I am still thankful for M-Audio - these guys made affordable, reliable gear. I think everything in my humble studio was made by them - interface, monitors, keyboard, drum pads, preamp... Heck, I still have the old lanyward, too.

I still have my Fast Track Ultra. That was a great audio interface. Shockingly low latency. The rubbery knobs on it have turned to a tacky goo now but otherwise it's like new. I still have it in the original box with all the original paperwork. I think there's a big blue M-Audio sticker in the box too that came with it. The only reason I stopped using it was they refused to write a 64bit driver when XP reached the end of it's life and we had to upgrade Windows. I lost faith in them when they refused to release a driver for it and I stopped using their gear then. The vast majority of my music was done through this. I didn't switch over to new hardware until, well, my Amazon order history tells me March 8, 2016. That's when I got my Presonus Firewire Studio. But I've only done a handful of recordings since then. I'm kind of winding down on the whole recording thing. I never thought in my life I would ever say that. But, I replaced the Firewire with the Studio 1810c in January because I thought the Firewire died but it turned out it wasn't the problem. By the time I figured out it was still ok it was too late to return the Studio 1810c. But, that 1810c is an incredible unit. I absolutely love it. It has some quirks to setting it up but once I got it figured out it works flawlessly, when I do use it.

[Tim Smith]

A lot of good hardware went away with OS and driver changes.

This was my first serious audio interface. An Aardvark. The 1/4" phono plugs give it away as the pinnacle of quality it was *cough*

It was actually ok for what it was. It had a card the went in the PC and a breakout box. It helped keep the ants away too....I think.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Tim Smith

[Bapu]

On my non-DAW I have a pair of Alesis Point Seven monitors powered by a AudioSource AMP102 amplifier. IIRC I bought these in 90s.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Bapu

[Tim Smith]

Was this before you got the Alembic?

[Shane_B.]

@Tim Smith

My first was an EMU-0404. It was a great card. It really hurt to let that one go but I recycled it along with a dead Sony DAT, Sony PS3 Fatboy, and a dead ART rack effects unit. It was the first one they made. The Mach II iirc? I tried to send it to them to get it repaired but they said they didn't do board level repairs and they didn't have any more boards laying around for it. I still have the box for the EMU somewhere I think.

[Bapu]

33 minutes ago, Tim Smith said:

Was this before you got the Alembic?

Nope, the Alembic was acquired in 1977.

[Tim Smith]

Not familiar with the EMU. 

I need to recycle a few things. Most people around here wouldn't know what to do with most of it.

I had an ART reverb. I don't remember what happened to it. I once had a rack with a bunch of gear in it. Most of it wasn't worth as much as the rack. I still have the Pro MPA II. I wanted to get the mod for it. 

Remember the Sonic Maximizer? I still have one of those. We had a 6 page thread on the old forum once arguing the benefits of using one. Some people call it an exciter. Aurally it has that effect, but it's supposed to align the frequencies coming from your speakers. Either that or it was a line they invented to sell it. Actually sounded pretty good on the front end of some electric guitar setups. Pushing in that power button gave me the same rush I would get when I pushed the power button on that 200 watt amp I put in my car stereo. I guess it didn't take much to please me back then. A decent car with a decent stereo, a girlfriend and I was good to go. At least I had the car. 

My second interface was a MOTU MK 3. They may still make drivers for it.

 

 

[Tim Smith]

1 minute ago, Bapu said:

Nope, the Alembic was acquired in 1977.

To hear everyone talk I though you were born with it.

[craigb]

56 minutes ago, Tim Smith said:

Was this before you got the Alembic?

Wasn't that the ship that hit an iceberg and sank? 🤔

😜

[chulaivet1966]

On 3/28/2022 at 3:19 PM, Bapu said:

I've dumped my very first pair of studio monitors in the trash.  Man were they heavy for not powered monitors.

 

 

Well howdy Bapu.....

I haven't checked in here in quite a while so here I am.

Wow....those muthers are huge.    Ha.....they do appear quite massive.   It looks like a small refrigerator.  Hope you didn't slip a vertebrae during the give away.

(See you on the BIAB forums....is the "Come On Down To My House" party still happenin'?  )

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by chulaivet1966

[57Gregy]

6 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

EMU-0404.

Still using mine.
Well, I would be if I ever fired up the DAW.

[Rain]

17 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

Hi Rain,

Good to see you around!  

I guess M-audio and Alesis were the working man's monitors for the longest time.

At that time Mackie and Adam were out of touch for me.  I bought a whole bunch of odd stuff to record besides  because I didn't really know anything about what I was doing. Not that the M-audio BX8s were bad monitors. They had their own sound I had to work around to get a decent mix. The BX8s were not  distinct compared to higher end monitors. Not bad but not wonderful either. I learned the hard way that 8" woofers really didn't work very well in a small studio. I now use a set of monitors that are 5" and I use ARC 3.  I am often getting my base mix on headphones with Sonarworks.

Similar to you maybe I hate to part with some of my history. 

 👍

I still have an old 88 key m-audio controller. I sometimes use it still to this day.

Great to hear from you as well, Tim.

I hear you on the Mackies and Adams - and serious gear in general. I was starting from scratch and completely broke, so a friend bought the M-Audio monitors and a little Samson mixer for me so that I could work on a gig that was coming my way, and I repaid him afterwards. This adds some value to them, too.

Funny you mention Alesis - I also keep a pair of inexpensive ones that I bought in NY when I needed something portable. Although they don't have the "sentimental value" of the old M-Audio, I figured I would keep them to play music downstairs. Since they're poewered and flexible in terms of connectivity, they still have their use for casual listening. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Rain

[Rain]

17 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

I still have my Fast Track Ultra. That was a great audio interface. Shockingly low latency. The rubbery knobs on it have turned to a tacky goo now but otherwise it's like new. I still have it in the original box with all the original paperwork. I think there's a big blue M-Audio sticker in the box too that came with it. The only reason I stopped using it was they refused to write a 64bit driver when XP reached the end of it's life and we had to upgrade Windows. I lost faith in them when they refused to release a driver for it and I stopped using their gear then. The vast majority of my music was done through this. I didn't switch over to new hardware until, well, my Amazon order history tells me March 8, 2016. That's when I got my Presonus Firewire Studio. But I've only done a handful of recordings since then. I'm kind of winding down on the whole recording thing. I never thought in my life I would ever say that. But, I replaced the Firewire with the Studio 1810c in January because I thought the Firewire died but it turned out it wasn't the problem. By the time I figured out it was still ok it was too late to return the Studio 1810c. But, that 1810c is an incredible unit. I absolutely love it. It has some quirks to setting it up but once I got it figured out it works flawlessly, when I do use it.

They had surpsingly low latency for their interfaces, even the inexpensive one. I had a uber cheap Fast Track for my travel rig and it worked surprisingly well, although purists would probably snear at the converters and such. I bought it as an alternative to my trusty old Delta 44 with its breakout box, but never got another computer with a PCI slot, so the 44 was history.

[Tim Smith]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:14 AM, Rain said:

I also keep a pair of inexpensive ones that I bought in NY when I needed something portable.

I remember Alesis M1s being one of the most popular monitors during those years.  Hopefully you have a regular place to keep your gear instead of being in transition. I am in between studios with a remodel going on and a relocation, so I'm set up in my dining room temporarily. Temporarily could end up being a few years.  We never eat in there because we use the eat in kitchen. Surprisingly my mixes are sounding better.

When I buy most things I do a lot of research first. I remember reading up on all the monitors in the poor man's price range and for me the BX 8 won. None of the mixes I made on them were much good. That problem was not the monitors.

[Rain]

Was cleaning up the room last nigt and decided to plug them in. Well, they still work. And yeah, that did bring back a lot of memories. They really don't sound as bad as I thought they would, but it was amusing to listen to some of my newer mixes on them, too,

Oddly enough, I also stumbled upon the invoice for them.  I have no idea how it ended up following down here in Vegas when so much of my stuff and most of my papers are still in storage in Quebec. Not like I even intended to keep it, much less carry it with me down here. Oh well.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Rain