I won’t go into details as to how, but I have just acquired the above complete with a set of terminated NACA5 cables for nothing! Effectively saved them from being taken to the tip.
It will be interesting to set them up and compare to my Dynaudio Audience 50’s which are of a similar vintage. Will be pairing with a SN1 and HCDR. Watch this space.
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Your opening phrase makes you sound like a burglar! I’m sure that’s not the case.
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Not that bad, they were offered free on a local FB group together with a Denon TT. I asked for more details only to be told that they had already been taken. This morning I find that a friend of mine beat me to it, but only wanted the TT, so he delivered the speakers to me at lunchtime.
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I have owned Intros and Audience 50s and 60s, but on the end of different systems.
The Dynaudios are the better speakers but are tough to drive well. I recently heard my old Audience 60s on the end of a Nova - not that impressive, although the Dynaudios have been through a lot.
It will be interesting to hear your findings.
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Discovered that all six “PIPs” are missing. They are still available from Tom Tom at a serious price. Not wanting to invest too much into this unplanned project. I have ordered one to get the dimensions and will turn up the others on my lathe.
Interesting, I didn’t realise that really small stuff (say 5mm) could be turned on a lathe.
I once turned aluminium masts for racing dinghies, putting the taper in.
Hope it works out for you.
5mm isn’t that small. It does depend on the lathe, but generally you can turn smaller stuff on a larger lathe and not the other way round. I have a 1963 Colchester Chipmaster and have made parts with 1/16 inch (1.6mm) diameter before. Smaller than that you are into watchmaker lathe territory, where you can work much finer.
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I spent a bit of time in the workshop yesterday and got the new PIPs made up. The Intro’s were then installed into my main system and I spent a bit of time listening to favourite tracks. They sound pretty good with the following comments
- Treble is sweeter and clearer with the Audience 50’s, which I guess is down to the Dynaudio silk dome tweeters. For example, the percussion on Barb Jungr’s wonderful cover of Whichita Lineman is nowhere near as clear.
- Bass extension seems better on the Intros (maybe because they are floorstanders and/or larger drivers 165mm vs 140mm?)
- Vocal definition, I feel is just lacking “something” on the Intro’s.
- The Intro’s have a lower sensitivity than the Dynaudio’s and need another notch or two of volume to make them sing.
So my vote goes with what I am used to, the Dynaudio’s. Interesting comparison of two very different speakers from the same vintage at around the same price point. I could live with the Intro’s, they are still a fine speaker. It also has validated that floorstanders are an option for future upgrades with the Financial Controller as she says they look fine 
I am keeping the Intros installed for a few days before swapping back the the Dyn’s
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I can print you some pips if you are in the uk
Thanks for the offer Gary, but I made them up old school. Turned from brass on a lathe.
I believe that the original PIPs were made from a black anodised aluminium. With the boxes mated on a knife edge.
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The one I got from Tom Tom to use as a pattern was of a plastic material. The knife edge wasn’t that sharp, but I needed to make a custom tool to get the profile. I will post photo of original and my reproduction when I decommission the speakers.
Cool, I wish I had the skills I love watching machining on youtube.
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I went back to the Dynaudio’s last night and realised what I had been missing.
Some of it may be familiarity, but I agree with NigelB the Dyns are superior by quite a margin.
Onto the PIPs. The one on the left is the one purchased from Tom Tom, with my brass replacements.
Also the custom tool I made up from Silver Steel to produce the counterbore.
The only reason I chose brass was that I had a piece of the right diameter in my material stock and its easy to machine. Purists may say that its not right, but given that this was just an experiment to try out the Intros, I didn’t want to put any more money into the project.
P.S. Hoping that these “modifications” don’t fall foul of the Forum rules
If there was any doubt that it was a British design, the PIPs give a gap of exactly 1/8 inch between the cabinet boxes.
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