FR 12 Speaker or Horn Upgrade

Before I start ham-handing it, what is the easiest way to get the FR-12 front grill off?

My Celestion drivers came in yesterday, my V3 preamps are out for delivery as I type this.

Going to be a glorious weekend!
 
Domct203 said:
Before I start ham-handing it, what is the easiest way to get the FR-12 front grill off?

My Celestion drivers came in yesterday, my V3 preamps are out for delivery as I type this.

Going to be a glorious weekend!
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They are held with Velcro. I pry them out with a plastic spudger tool. A screwdriver can mar up the vinyl.
 
WKSmith said:
They are held with Velcro. I pry them out with a plastic spudger tool. A screwdriver can mar up the vinyl.
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Thanks.

That was pretty much the plan, I noticed the Velcro strips in many of the pics from those who have come before me.

I have a whole set of those plastic tools, I’ve installed a lot of dash cams LOL.
 
I can not get my grill to budge, tried every tool I have. It lifts a bit in one corner but just snaps back down.

Any tips?

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Serious question: you guys are changing the tweeter, changing the preamp in this thing, why even use it if it needs all these replacements? There must be something that’s better than other options to go through all this hassle - what is it?
 
vangrieg said:
Serious question: you guys are changing the tweeter, changing the preamp in this thing, why even use it if it needs all these replacements? There must be something that’s better than other options to go through all this hassle - what is it?
Click to expand...
Because we can!

But seriously, while the cabs were very good as is, like anything else there was room for improvements. The build quality of the Celestion high freq driver over the stock one is ridiculous, and a worthwhile change. Of all the swaps I’ve read about here only one person liked the stock driver better. To me it was a worthwhile investment.

The V3 preamp upgrade is really optional, it’s not needed unless there is extreme hiss. I really like the addition of all the detents on the controls, and the clip light should have been there from the factory. The improved EQ response is just icing on the cake.

I think of that like when I had my Mesa Roadster modded, great amp got even better.

Hoping for the same experience here.
 
Done! Just from a quick play test I can definitely hear a change for the better in the high-mids/low-treble and I actually turned down the cut a bit from where I had it and it’s much clearer.

Biggest issue I had is getting that damn grill off and with one of the cabs two of the original holes were close to where I had to drill new holes. I filled the original holes with toothpicks and glue and gave it 30 mins. If you zoom in you’ll see the pencil marks for the new holes on the right are real close. A 5/64” drill was perfect for the new pilot holes.

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I went the pigtail route for the connectors and added some heat shrink to keep the connections together.

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I had some gasket tape left over from a speaker project, worked perfect here.

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All in all an easy swap.

The mailman just dropped off the new preamps, going to take a short break and right after dinner they are going in.
 
The V3 preamp works fine in the Hypersonic BUT the bass and treble controls are swapped. Now I know why they put that sticker on the preamp board.

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I just relabeled my Hypersonics, it’s not perfect but close enough for Rock & Roll.

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As far as the horn swap goes, when I get the cabs up around 90dB in the room the highs seem much clearer but also a little brittle with high gain, but man the sparkle in the cleans are phenomenal, probably more from the increased headroom in the preamp than just the horn. I ended up with the Cut around 10:00-10:30 for now, I’m sure that will change with the room.

Overall I’m happy with both the preamp and horn swaps, the Hypersonics seem noticeably louder and clearer.
 
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