Fischer Audio Anthaeus Aktiv Turbo Repair
30/08/2015
The day I brought them from Germany. At this point, I had no idea what state they were in.
For anypone who is unfamiliar with them, this is how the rear panel looks like on the Anthaeus:
For anypone who is unfamiliar with them, this is how the rear panel looks like on the Anthaeus:
17/09/2015
I was listening to them for a few days and the sound was questionable to say the least. The bass was completely muddy, it was thundering on one frequency and nonexistent on all others. At least four of the eight front-facing planars were irregularly turning off and on while playing music, as well as various scratching noises were coming from both bottom mid-bass and both midrange drivers. There obviously was a lot wrong with them. I blamed 'cold contacts' for most of the issues + whatever could have been wrong with any of the electronics inside. I had their SPL measured by a friend of mine and since we found quite some oddities, we started disassembling them for even further measurements. Preparation for the impedance measurement of the bottom-left mid-bass:
All driver chambers were absolutely packed with old wool (probably mineral-based) and covered with an extra sheet of new wool (similar to Monacor MDM-2).
Finished disassembly of all front drivers.
At this point, all four woofers have newly-installed, top-mounted rubber surrounds because the old polyurethane ones had desintegrated. This needs fixing. Anyone has any idea what PU woofer surrounds to install? My best guess is the ones for Isophon PSL 320/400 as the Anthaeus custom woofers were built on the base of that Isophon woofer. Once I buy the surrounds, I'll have them glued from the bottom of the membrane as they should be.
All woofer chambers were also packed with wool. The amount of damping was such that it lifted the 7 kg-heavy woofers and pushed them out of the enclosure once screws were loosened.
Finished disassembly of all drivers.
All driver chambers were absolutely packed with old wool (probably mineral-based) and covered with an extra sheet of new wool (similar to Monacor MDM-2).
Finished disassembly of all front drivers.
At this point, all four woofers have newly-installed, top-mounted rubber surrounds because the old polyurethane ones had desintegrated. This needs fixing. Anyone has any idea what PU woofer surrounds to install? My best guess is the ones for Isophon PSL 320/400 as the Anthaeus custom woofers were built on the base of that Isophon woofer. Once I buy the surrounds, I'll have them glued from the bottom of the membrane as they should be.
All woofer chambers were also packed with wool. The amount of damping was such that it lifted the 7 kg-heavy woofers and pushed them out of the enclosure once screws were loosened.
Finished disassembly of all drivers.
22/09/2015
A few days have passed. I started taking out the all the wool.
Wool out.
Taking out the electronics (left speaker, SN 132).
Once again, the bass chambers were full of old wool (the extra new sheet already removed). Walter Fuchs commented on this saying that "the bandpass looks completely stupid (this is the typical result of a "free" rebuilder and a self-made Anthaeus specialist)." I guess he meant they were overdampened.
Wool out.
All damping material removed, it's in those bags.
Left speaker (SN 132) detail:
Left midrange section detail; note how the opening was crudely enlarged at the bottom-left after finishing the polish of the speakers (probably to fit the driver in).
Right speaker (SN 137) detail:
Right midrange section detail; note how the opening was enlarged on the top after finishing the enclosure again. I completely suspect Fischer Audio of old for doing this. Also, there are no seals anywhere.
Damping material in bags.
More bags.
All drivers annotated and out.
Back side of the FS41RP:
Back side of the FT7RP:
Wool out.
Taking out the electronics (left speaker, SN 132).
Once again, the bass chambers were full of old wool (the extra new sheet already removed). Walter Fuchs commented on this saying that "the bandpass looks completely stupid (this is the typical result of a "free" rebuilder and a self-made Anthaeus specialist)." I guess he meant they were overdampened.
Wool out.
All damping material removed, it's in those bags.
Left speaker (SN 132) detail:
Left midrange section detail; note how the opening was crudely enlarged at the bottom-left after finishing the polish of the speakers (probably to fit the driver in).
Right speaker (SN 137) detail:
Right midrange section detail; note how the opening was enlarged on the top after finishing the enclosure again. I completely suspect Fischer Audio of old for doing this. Also, there are no seals anywhere.
Damping material in bags.
More bags.
All drivers annotated and out.
Back side of the FS41RP:
Back side of the FT7RP: