Snell K/2 question.

So a friend gave me his old pair of K/2 Snell speakers. They’re nice, the oak ones not the common black ash. I even got the Snell stands! Sand included.

The woofers had been replaced in 2005 with then available replacements from Snell. Well, the foam has expired.

AN makes what seems to be the best replacement surrounds for them.

Atomic insists on selling replacements to keep within the +-.5%.

Does AN sell a drop in woofer which would work in this cabinet?

What’s best?
 
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If you don't want to buy new woofers then Simply Speakers in St. Pete has been selling Snell replacement surround kits for decades. Not likely that AN is going to sell you a driver for less than Atomic plus you will have shipping from the UK.
 
So a friend gave me his old pair of K/2 Snell speakers. They’re nice, the oak ones not the common black ash. I even got the Snell stands! Sand included.

The woofers had been replaced in 2005 with then available replacements from Snell. Well, the foam has expired.

AN makes what seems to be the best replacement surrounds for them.

Atomic insists on selling replacements to keep within the +-.5%.

Does AN sell a drop in woofer which would work in this cabinet?

What’s best?
Is that real Snell sand? You could likely upgrade it by buying AudioNote sand to replace it. :)
 
If you don't want to buy new woofers then Simply Speakers in St. Pete has been selling Snell replacement surround kits for decades. Not likely that AN is going to sell you a driver for less than Atomic plus you will have shipping from the UK.
The woofers were never close to abused, I see no reason to pony up $190 for new ones when he did then, also replacing the chokes and coil.
I like the looks of the simply s kits, I’ll have the driver out to see which was supplied to him then. They otherwise still look new.
My AN curiosity is whether a better driver is available which would essentially be a drop in. I’m not concerned if it was more $ if there was an improvement.
 
The woofers were never close to abused, I see no reason to pony up $190 for new ones when he did then, also replacing the chokes and coil.
I like the looks of the simply s kits, I’ll have the driver out to see which was supplied to him then. They otherwise still look new.
My AN curiosity is whether a better driver is available which would essentially be a drop in. I’m not concerned if it was more $ if there was an improvement.
A Snell K upgrade to an Audio Note K would be interesting. I think the Snell K and AN K/D remain closest in terms of design between the two brands because they're a sealed design and the D cabinets are similar to the Snell.

Here are the drivers and prices from Hi-Fi Collective.

The Audio Note K woofer and tweeter are from Scanspeak but it appears they are only made for Audio Note as I could find neither driver on Scanspeak's website. No reason to replace the driver unless they're broken. Though a new driver would come with new foam so it takes a bit of the sting out of the price of new woofers. This is a handy guide to replacing the foam yourself.

 
A Snell K upgrade to an Audio Note K would be interesting. I think the Snell K and AN K/D remain closest in terms of design between the two brands because they're a sealed design and the D cabinets are similar to the Snell.

Here are the drivers and prices from Hi-Fi Collective.

The Audio Note K woofer and tweeter are from Scanspeak but it appears they are only made for Audio Note as I could find neither driver on Scanspeak's website. No reason to replace the driver unless they're broken. Though a new driver would come with new foam so it takes a bit of the sting out of the price of new woofers. This is a handy guide to replacing the foam yourself.


I have the Peerless drivers, they are the 2005 replacement. The frame is less substantial than the old Radio Shack 8” 16oz woofs I used to buy as a high school DIY’er. They would need damping if I keep them, which I suppose I will. They’re in fine shape otherwise. I do wonder if the Atomic or AN would end me up with a better speaker tho. The Atomic is likely something much like the Peerless. I’ll send off an email to them.
The cut into the baffle for the woofer flush Mount ring leaves little of the cheap particle board to bite into, all holes are useless. I’ll use T-nuts and panel screws for that, no matter the woofer used. There’s no way to get a good seal with that tid bit of glued dust.
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Well went for Simply Speakers set for the K/2 specifically. These woofs are what they were supposed to have so I’ll go original.
The other options were costly for a free pair of speakers with stripped holes. Once done, they should be good. I also see 8 holes, I’ll try to find stock images and orient the woofer to the pic, then dowel the other holes.
Makes me wonder how many had air leaks from the lack of ability to apply torque on the woof? Perhaps the poor bass was tied to this...
Truly that mount lip is S$%!
 
All done. Not the neatest job with the fast set glue. I’ll tweeze some of the extra tomorrow when the glue is set. It’s still a bit rubbery for a week. It’s accurate though and is centered nicely. 30hz tone.
 
They are a good speaker, good for the size and really good for receivers and integrated amps. No they aren’t high end, but they were a really good choice for the four hundred and change they cost new. I have no issue with the tweeters and no real issue with the bass. I do think the new surrounds are a better match than the stiff and a little too restrictive ones the Peerless woofers originally had. They rendered it more of a mid bass, but the suspension has more travel to use. Simply Speakers is a better match, the speaker seems to have better low end than it did back when my friend replaced the woofer. What do I know tho?
 
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They are very good on this, but that does beg the question of what it takes to make these really do the job. They’re ok on a Tandberg and on another pretty good integrated. But the ML 432 and 38S and they’re off to the much nicer side of the showroom.
I’m not sure that it’s a compliment. A $450 speaker shouldn’t need a $15k front end to get the most out of it.
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