How bad did I mess up my Advent Loudspeakers?

[mhjmhj]

Several years ago, I bought a pair of Advent Loudspeakers for an extra pair to use for parties. In the carelessness of my youth, I left them out in my unheated un-air conditioned carriage house until the next year when I needed to use them again for a party. The day of the party, I hooked up the speakers only to hear that the sound was shot. I removed the cover to see that the surround on one (or both?) pairs was completely deteriorated. Since I needed speakers in a hurry, I rushed to Radio Shack and bought two 12" replacement woofers, which I installed and I tossed the busted woofers.

Anyway, now that I'm becoming more of an audio enthusiast and becoming educated about speakers and components, I now wonder what kind of mistake I made by throwing those old woofers out without thought of repairing the surrounds.

How much loss of sound do I have with the radio shack replacement woofers (I have no specs on them)? To me, they still sound great, but I'm not an audiophile (yet).

BTW, I got the Advents for $50 (US) and I also got a pair of AR 3a for free from an old estate I was doing some work on, so I'm doing OK. If anyone has links to any technical info on these speakers, please share.

Thanks!

[jocko_nc]

I would think you ought to be able to actually improve the sound without spending a ton on money. Are you in the U.S.? "carriage house" makes me wonder... Try Parts Express (www.partsexpress.com), they have a good DIY forum, someone there will know whose drivers were OEM. Otherwise, they will be able to recommend a fine replacement. Also, Madisound (www.madisound.com) carries about every driver made. I have used both and can recommend most highly. You might even swap out some capacitors on the crossover, depending upon what is in there.

Good Luck, sounds like a fun project.

jocko

[mhjmhj]

Thank you jocko, I will look into it.

[mhjmhj]

Oh, yeah, I'm in the U.S. The carriage house is basically an old two-story garage.