A
Audio Addict
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I purchased a pair of Merak M4 speakers at a thrift shop for $9.99. I really liked the enclosure style. I know little of the speaker manufacturer but web searches revealed they were made in Canada. Tower type speaker 40 " high but tapers 15" up from the bottom to the top on the front. It appears to be a 2-way system with an additional port opening
The foam surround in the speaker in both enclosures in the tapered top half are gone revealing an almost clear speaker in both. The diameter of the clear plastic speaker minus the foam surround is 7 1/2". I suspect speaker is poor quality. However behind those almost clear speakers are a reddish speaker regular type material about the same diameter. The enclosures are very heavy, very sound, very tight, braced, ¾” high-density particleboard covered with thick veneer as good as quality as my Altec Lansing Sevens. I guestimate the speakers are late seventies vintage. Hard to tell what size the tweeters are being behind a steel facing ...3 1/2 inches between screws. There has to be a very strong magnet in those tweeters judging by the way it grabs my steel ruler tape.
1. Suggestions as to what quality speakers I should replace the existing woofer speakers with .i.e. Infinity Kappa Perfects, JBL's, Tannoys, etc. and what diameter size of speakers I would use. The diameter of the clear plastic speaker minus the foam surround is 7 1/2". The diameter of the speaker port, which houses the woofer speaker, is 9". 2. The woofer speaker is above the open port described in 2 below.
2. There is an existing empty port only on the front of each speaker on the lower section below the woofer of which is 8.5" in diameter. A round speaker grill of which diameter is 12” covers this port. This grill is removable, protrudes out to easily allow a speaker to be set into that port. I would like to turn this port into an active speaker. I should mention also there is an exit port at the back exact plane, which is in 8 1/2" diameter. I would close this back port in after the speaker rebuild. The appearance of that speaker grill over that port gives the illusion that there is a speaker there as well. Can I install speakers as well in the ports? If so what do you recommend and diameter? Would I wire parallel/series to the new upper speakers?
3. The speaker enclosure design is trapezoidal when viewed sideways.
Dimensions of the speaker enclosure side view are
11" depth (width) at the bottom. This stays 11" depth from the bottom until it is 15" high from the bottom where it angles in ward toward the top away from the speaker front side...beveled towards the back of the speaker. At the side view top the depth or width on the side view is 4.5" The tweeter is up near the speaker top.
Enclosure is 40 " height ...it is straight up at the backside
Each speaker enclosure is 13" wide when viewed from the front.
The speaker density board thickness is 3/4". So the interior dimensions is the outer dimensions less 3/4".
Hope this helps. A quick sketch on paper will easily show its design.
The foam surround in the speaker in both enclosures in the tapered top half are gone revealing an almost clear speaker in both. The diameter of the clear plastic speaker minus the foam surround is 7 1/2". I suspect speaker is poor quality. However behind those almost clear speakers are a reddish speaker regular type material about the same diameter. The enclosures are very heavy, very sound, very tight, braced, ¾” high-density particleboard covered with thick veneer as good as quality as my Altec Lansing Sevens. I guestimate the speakers are late seventies vintage. Hard to tell what size the tweeters are being behind a steel facing ...3 1/2 inches between screws. There has to be a very strong magnet in those tweeters judging by the way it grabs my steel ruler tape.
1. Suggestions as to what quality speakers I should replace the existing woofer speakers with .i.e. Infinity Kappa Perfects, JBL's, Tannoys, etc. and what diameter size of speakers I would use. The diameter of the clear plastic speaker minus the foam surround is 7 1/2". The diameter of the speaker port, which houses the woofer speaker, is 9". 2. The woofer speaker is above the open port described in 2 below.
2. There is an existing empty port only on the front of each speaker on the lower section below the woofer of which is 8.5" in diameter. A round speaker grill of which diameter is 12” covers this port. This grill is removable, protrudes out to easily allow a speaker to be set into that port. I would like to turn this port into an active speaker. I should mention also there is an exit port at the back exact plane, which is in 8 1/2" diameter. I would close this back port in after the speaker rebuild. The appearance of that speaker grill over that port gives the illusion that there is a speaker there as well. Can I install speakers as well in the ports? If so what do you recommend and diameter? Would I wire parallel/series to the new upper speakers?
3. The speaker enclosure design is trapezoidal when viewed sideways.
Dimensions of the speaker enclosure side view are
11" depth (width) at the bottom. This stays 11" depth from the bottom until it is 15" high from the bottom where it angles in ward toward the top away from the speaker front side...beveled towards the back of the speaker. At the side view top the depth or width on the side view is 4.5" The tweeter is up near the speaker top.
Enclosure is 40 " height ...it is straight up at the backside
Each speaker enclosure is 13" wide when viewed from the front.
The speaker density board thickness is 3/4". So the interior dimensions is the outer dimensions less 3/4".
Hope this helps. A quick sketch on paper will easily show its design.
