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Cizek HTA "High Tech Aspirin" Model AR11


JKent

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The Cizek line seems to have gone through a few iterations. The first Cizeks were built in Bloomington IN, the more well-known of these relatively unknown speakers came from Andover and Newton, MA and the last gasp seems to have been in Torrance, CA. Here's a site dedicated to Roy Cizek and his speakers: http://cizekspeaker.weebly.com/

I've written previously about the beautiful and enigmatic KA-1 (from Newton) http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7521

The California-built and oddly-named "High Tech Aspirin" is relatively rare. Here's the brochure: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/cizek_2/cizek_brochures/

I wrote about replacing the tweeter VC here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=6021

Now a more drastic mod:

I have 3 HTA AR11 satellites (and one matching sub). The satellites are great as surround speakers because they are so small--14"x9" by just 2" deep. The frames are beautiful solid oak. The problem is that among my 3 sats I had 1 bad tweeter and 2 bad woofers. I had sent 2 woofers to Bill LeGall to refoam and one was beyond repair while the other was a real PITA to refoam. Bill wrote:

"I have never seen such a close-tolerance coil fit, on the outside of the coil. Simply shimming them did not work! They could only be made not to rub, by aligning them with a signal generator. One took me about 45 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating. I rarely see a problem like this."

Glad I didn't try to refoam them myself! So what to do with these? I was able to build one good original but for the other two I replaced both tweeter VCs and both woofers. So these are no longer real HTAs but they sound fine. Maybe someone far more knowledgeable than I could design a new XO.

The original tweeters are SEAS units and are no longer available but SEAS recommended a replacement and I took a chance and just used the replacement model's VC. Worked fine but looked different so I replaced both VCs. Just had to truncate the flange and buy some new M4 x 6mm socket cap head machine screws

I searched for an appropriate woofer and it was pretty tough given the 4 ohm impedance and the very shallow cabinet (1.5"). I ended up ordering a pair of Wavecor FR090WA01 3 1/2" Full Range Neodymium Aluminum Cone 4 ohm Drivers from an ebay seller (edit 2019: These are now available from PE for $48 each).  I had never heard of Wavecor but apparently it's a new company started by some former Vifa employees who now produce "high end" drivers in China. They are virtual drop-ins. The mounting screw diameter is just slightly smaller than the originals but still grabbed the baffle.

I listened to the completely original Cizek HTA and a modded one side by side and although the mod sounded good the original had a slightly "fuller" sound that was a bit nicer to my ears. I'm sure a xo mod would be in order for my modified speakers but they work very well in their role as rear surrounds in an 11.1 HT setup.

Here are some photos. The last pic shows the original drivers. Any volunteers to rework the crossovers?

-Kent

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  • 8 months later...

Follow-up to this thread: The High Tech Aspirin series included 3 subwoofers:

  • Model 117 8” dual voice coil sub

  • Model 232 12 inch dual voice coil sub

  • Model 234 12 inch dual voice coil active/passive sub

You can read the brochure in our Library here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/cizek_2/cizek_brochures/

None of the subs include an amp but the "active/passive" one is set up for bi-amping.

I have the Model 117. Like the sats it is solid oak. Gotta love Cizek! And like all Cizek speakers it has a a sophisticated crossover. This one is an LCR with 100uF and 280uF caps, 4 ohm resistors and unknown value inductors. The 4 ohm long-throw woofer has dual voice coils. Foam on this one seems good, even though the "woofers" on the sats had foam rot.

 

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