Sierra 2EX upgrade kit questions

[SunByrne]

That's strange.

I've done probably more of these than anyone who doesn't actually work at Ascend (I have four pairs of Sierra bookshelves and not a single one of them currently hold the components they shipped with), and I've not really had that level of problem getting the tweeters out. I've had a couple that were a little reluctant, but nothing that couldn't be solved by tilting the speaker forward and either just thumping the cabinet or prying a little on the edge of the faceplate. (Make sure you have a towel or something so the tweeter has a soft landing.)

[racrawford65]

I think we may be tied or may even have you beat, SunByrne.
I believe my count is:
* ELX Tower/Horizon upgrades: 9 drivers & 3 cross-overs
* S2 to S2EXv2: 2 drivers & 2 cross-overs (plus a tweeter swap on 1 that I blew a couple of years prior to the upgrade)
* Duo v2: 1 cross-over


I do agree it's strange. The tweeter (or drivers) should come out with a little finesse.

[Robert]

Yeah....upgrades add up quick. I earned my Ascend upgrade merit badge for the following:

1 pair of Sierra v1 towers to ELX + 1 Horizon v1 to ELX, along with a Horizon ribbon tweeter swap out to send to Dave (it ended up not being torn or having debris in it....just a cosmetic only "wrinkle"), but Dave swapped out the ribbon and it works great. 2 crossovers for the Sierra 2 EX to EX v2, and two crossovers for Luna v1 to v2. Honestly, I liked the Horizon upgrade the best as I could just place it on a table and work at my desk. That one was the most enjoyable for me as soldering was involved AND everything fit perfectly.

Only one tower gave me a ton of grief as it was just big enough to hold the original drivers, let alone the new ELX drivers.....they were stuck in there pretty well. I had one Sierra EX woofer that was also more challenging than the other. The screw method did not work on these like the others, but I used a small dental pick to gently pull on the driver at each screw hole, along with a narrow plastic prying tool used for laptop/mobile repairs in the hole as well. I also had it tilted downwards as I gently "pried" at each screw location to use gravity as my ally.

I had a towel directly underneath the driver to gently catch it when it decided to drop and just in case I got clumsy. My wife helped as an extra set of hands to angle that tower, but the bookshelf speaker was more manageable. A little extra work involved, but not too bad thankfully.

[davef]

I don't know if this is relevant to this thread but I'm trying to rotate my tweeters in my Sierra 2 (nonEX) for horizontal placement. I can't seem to get the tweeter out. I removed the 4 Phillips screws and tried flipping it over and couldn't get them to budge. I even tried putting a stick into the soundport and tapping on the cork backing of the tweeter mount (not the tweeter itself. It just won't budge. Any suggestions?

I shouldn't have to remove the hex screws holding the tweeter itself in right?

Hi Falkon,

Sometimes the gasket in between the phenolic isolator / spacer bonds to the cabinet due to suction (it means it is doing its job). Once you break that seal, it should be quite easy.

I recommend picking up a cheap dental pick like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Care-P...dp/B0C5HWHZCM/

Insert one end of the pick into one of the holes where you removed the screws, get the tip behind the tweeter (you will have to feel it) - wiggle/twist the pick around a bit and pull. If it still doesn't come loose, repeat this in each screw hole. You shouldn't have any issues.