CENTAUR MINOR WOOFERS

[Graz]

CENTAUR MINOR WOOFERS VIFA P17WG-00-06

Sorry if this got your hopes up, but the lack of these is the problem. Years ago VIFA came out with these, a 6 ohm drive unit version of a popular 8 or 4 ohm standard cone. It was not perfect, but had good synergy with the 26-6 ribbon as it was so light.

I have been contacted by many over the years but am unable to help them - remember - these cones are from about 20 years ago! The best advice I can give is to have a GOOD repairer restore the cone if or when it fails. Generally the main failure mode is a buzzing that comes from an unattached spider - something that most cone repairers would be able to do.

Since VIFA has been gobbled up by TYMPHANY a lot of parts saw deletion, this and other classic Apogee cones seem to be casualties of their downsizing...

Specs for the Woofer;-

Nominal Impedance 6 ohms
Nom power 50w
Music power 80w
Freq 35-5000Hz
Sens 87dB
Effective cone area 136cm3
Voice coil (dc) 4ohm
Voice coil inductance 0.4mH
Operating power 8w
Voice coil diameter/height 25mm / 12mm
Air gap height 6mm
Free air resonance 35Hz
Moving mass 11g
Magnet weight 240g
Qms 1.34
Qes 0.58
Qts 0.4
Vas 49.4L

I wonder;-

Has anybody had these repaired to their satisfaction? If so - please share your story!

Has anybody found a cone they feel blends better?


Curious - Graz

[rick]

Hi Graz
Did apogee use the same driver in their other 26-6 ribbon speakers, cepheus, slant, columns?

Rick

[Jure Damic]

Hi,

There is a great substitute, Audax AP170Z0, try search on the old forum section.

http://www.audax.com/archives/ap170z0.pdf

regards,

[jperel]

I replaced the Vifa cones on my C Minor with a pair of Dynaudio 17W75-6 without any crossover parts modifications and I'd say after living for some years with this configuration that I'm still very happy I've made that swap. Except the very small recess to enlarge (probably less than 2 mm) and the different screw holes (6 instead of 4), nothing much to do.
I kept the Vifas just in case, they're still working well (normally I guess), but the Dyns blow them in all parameters. Bass extension, slam, power handling, SPL, and even the very sweet transition to the MRT ribbon which seems as good as the original.
For me, definitely a move to try and keep.
At disposal if any information needed. I'll post pictures soon.