Speakers for an Amiga computer
When I got my Amiga, I thought it would be nice to find some other original Commodore peripherals for it. Some time ago I bought a well-preserved Commodore 1084S-D2. It is stereo and sounds nicely retro, but for the sake of appearance it would still be nice to have a pair of separate speakers on the desk. I chose the SP-120 model, which was apparently manufactured under licence by a Chinese factory for several different customers, including Commodore. They occasionally appear at auctions around the world, but the price is usually over EUR 100 and their condition is often not very attractive. One day I came across a seller asking a fairly reasonable price and we agreed on a deal. After I paid the agreed amount, a box arrived containing the coveted speakers in rather miserable condition and also slightly yellowed. So I decided on a complete restoration.
First came the disassembly. It was obvious that somebody had already attempted it, and in a rather brutal way. As a result, a piece of plastic along the edge where the front and rear halves meet had been broken off and was completely missing. After a while I worked out that the front protective grille had to be removed. That too had suffered badly at the hands of the previous owner. The grille was dented in several places, was beginning to rust, and one corner had been completely mangled by an attempt to get inside with a screwdriver. Yet all that was needed was a thin piece of wire, threaded through the grille and back out at two corners, and then used as a grip to pull the grille out slowly. The grille is held in place partly by tension and additionally by flexible black adhesive, which eventually released.
Removing the grille revealed a dreadful sight. The centre dust cap of the speaker cone had been pushed in, there were coffee stains, and there was a huge amount of dust and dirt. I removed all the electronics and thoroughly washed the plastic parts in warm water with washing-up liquid. Cleaning revealed further scars. The speakers had apparently spent time in some sort of workshop, because one of the plastic housings had obvious burn marks on the side, as though from sparks produced by welding or grinding. I managed to polish these out partially with the finest abrasive paper to a very acceptable condition, and could then proceed with whitening in a peroxide bath. The rear speaker housings are quite bulky, so fully submerging them was not easy and required more water than usual. Because the proportion of peroxide in the solution was lower, I left the plastic parts in the bath for almost two full days.
The whitening was successful and I could move on to the next stage of the restoration. This time I tackled the front wire grilles. I refused to settle for simply straightening all the dents, so I had the exact colour mixed in a spray can according to the RAL colour chart. A light coat worked wonders.
Using a vacuum cleaner, I pulled the centre dust cap of the speaker cone back into its original position and slowly began reassembling everything. I replaced the power cable with a new white one. Once everything had been fitted together, I only had to stick round felt pads to the underside of the speaker cabinets. The work was done. The speakers now look enormously better and are a pleasure to look at. Finally, I tested them by connecting them to a Technics RS-B755 cassette deck. They sound quite nice and are perfectly adequate for the Amiga.
I still need to clean/lubricate the potentiometers, because adjusting the volume produces scratchy noises. The original label was also cracked, and in my impatience I unfortunately touched it with thinner while cleaning it, smearing the lettering. I already have a solution — see the photos. The material is identical to the original; I am just looking for someone who can produce an absolutely sharp print. We will see. In any case, the whole process took about three months depending on how much free time I had, but it was definitely worth it 🙂
