This deserves an A/B recording of before and after to let us experience the difference. Think of it as marketing.

Please, keep doing pre 2000 stuff. Speakers from the 1990's, 1980's, and even the 1970's were awesome!! I used to drool over them, when I went into a Good Guys or Circuit city back in the day. Service merchandise & BEST products had a dedicated speaker room, which was awesome to visit!!! I miss those day!!!

Looks like a completely different speaker with the changes made. Amazing.

I love to see the older stuff getting a second chance , well done.

Danny, that frequency response change you did is pure magic. Thank you.

That is the most radical improvement I've ever seen on your channel. Wow!

The frequency response it's... WHOA!!!

i remember having 4 of these driven off a kenwood 9600 receiver at age 18 and thinking this is the best sound i've ever heard! i'm double that now and don't think i could stand them stock for long, learning is fun

Man! My Mom had a pair of these. I grew up listening to them. What a trip to see these guys. What a great job Danny! This was a great one!

What a treat it is having Danny do this service for us. To actually pay someone for there time to do this would be quite expensive I’m sure. I’m in Canada so sending a speaker is not cheap however I did send my crossovers to Danny to throw together a kit of higher quality parts equal value for my CerwinVega! Speakers and the process and results were allot of fun. I highly recommend if able to, to take advantage of this service from GR Reserch and send him your speaker. It’s a fun hobby upgrading! Thanks GR Team!

A typical 1970 Japanese big box speaker with lots of drivers they never sounded that good but looked impressive what Richie did is amazing and well worth spending the upgrade on another fantastic job !

Another great video sir. Using the midrange as a fill is so often rewarding as you have proven. These presentations are so informative and, for lifetime audio nuts like me, downright exciting. I've been experimenting over 60 years, but without your expertise, and I may have to get back into it after learning so much from you. Many thanks for all your hard work.

Glad to see old speakers being kept alive thank you good video

As a kid, I would go over to my buddy's house and listen to jazz on his HPM-40s. It was a fun speaker, but it didn't image well, and certainly changed a lot when going off-axis. For people who have fond memories of the unique sound of these speakers, and want them to be more like an audiophile speaker, this is the ideal upgrade.

Love those speakers and this is one of my favorite videos that you've done. Old speakers have lots of value and upgradeability too! Thanks!!

Very surprising for me that a correction that good is possible on this big speaker. I thought there would be not much to do about the off-axis response. Good job.

Wow! That speaker was a mess. Nice work Danny. 💪🏼

Awesome Transformation! We always put our Speakers up on Cement Blocks with thick Rubber mats and a Towel - Not like Today's Stands but really helped back in the day , when we were under the "effects" LOL

I love that you are tackling these old speakers! Love love it. Vintage JBL's? I particularly would love to see you do the L-222 Disco or L-220. I have a pair and not that far from you. Maybe we can plan a drop off/visit.

That’s one impressive crossover design upgrade. Well done good sir. Well done.

These old speakers have a lot of potential but we must invest a good deal of time and money to make them sound as they should! Thanks for all that engineering knowledge you provide!

I've watched enough of these videos that I can predict some of the off axis response based on the speaker location and cross over points. Soon as I saw it I thought "wow, the worse off axis response I have seen". Anyone, a fun video and an amazing transformation.

Fabulous job of correcting an old thrown together design . Prett impressive what you were able to achieve on this . Nice Job !!

Thank you for picking this speaker and making the video! Everyone seems to love these old HPM-100s so seeing what they put out originally is really interesting! What you have done to them is amazing and I would love to hear the final product! I have a pair of HPM-900s with the graphite drivers that I would love to have reworked by you.

HPM-100 has been reviewed and labled as one of best speakers ever made.Some modern speakers have simulated sound quality .You get headache after extended listening.HPM-100 gives soft deep bass and clear vocals.You may use an equalizer to shape the sound to your taste.I have used this speaker for many years .The enclosed frequency response curve doesn't show variations of your graphs .Maybe some units are faulty.

Yay! I was one of the ones that wrote to you and asked. I'm excited for the upgrades! Thanks to you and whoever sent that in!

Amazing work on the X-over. I tip my hat to you Sir.

Thank you for doing this... Never heard one but I suspected a train wreck response.. Love your stuff man!!

That transformation is just exceptional... Well done Danny!

I like a big box and I cannot lie.

Danny I can see the same joy in your face I have myself when a project comes together.

I just ordered the kit, great work was just in the process of fixing my just bought hpm 100 set. I owned them in the late 80ties and sold them in the 90ties. Got them back but new about the filter problems. Was concidering the mv labs filter but you had some better thinking and experience on it. Cant wait to start building the filters. Also got my hands on hpm900 backplates to keep the org filters original. Will also do the bracing of the box. Will come back with the results.

I never had HPM 100’s but in the 80’s I had set of HPM 900’s. Good speakers overall. I really wanted the HPM 1100 but couldn’t afford them back then lol.

My first set of speakers were Pioneer HPM-40's, the baby brother to these ones. A guy in my dorm had the 100's. I lusted after them, but couldn't afford them. I replaced my 40's many years later with Klipsch Heresy II's. That was a mistake. You did a great job transforming these. If they were mine, i would have even built a new box for them, lining the drivers up properly and mounting them flush, but i understand that's outside the scope of what you do here.

Hey Danny, great video and nice to see you measure these. They sound as they look. I'm curious for all the people asking for A/B's, perhaps prior to redesigning the crossover you could record a short 30 second segment using some royalty free music, and after the redesign is finished record the end result. Changes like this are so huge that even a cell phone recording would resolve the differences. Cheers!

Fantastic video! Fantastic work!

They sound terrific with my 50wpc @ 8 ohms Yamaha amp.

Greatest transformation of an iconic and popular speaker that I always considered unlistenable. Now they look and sound great... like they should have when they were made but didn't.

Thank you for de-mystifying and giving the speakers an honest open eyed evaluation...

Great video, love the vintage fixer uppers.

I know a bit of the history of these HPMs and own almost all the versions that were produced. The 100s were designed to sit very high, well above ear level and I learned this at the time they were new, speaking to Pioneer Australia. They installed 4 sets of these in a record shop, with a ton of their amps, etc and I remember the guys telling me that there were designed to sit very high up, not at ear level. Just putting it out there. Id love to see a set of HPM 150s looked at ot the HPM1100s and even the 100s predecessor, the HPM900. I have them and more, if you would like to come to Australia 😂 Great video and as usual, great info. Thanks

Danny - You speak way above my paygrade ! - But i cant stop watching ( lol ) Thank you Sir

Order this kit: gr-research.com/product/pioneer-hpm-100-upgrade-kit/

you are a scholar and a gentleman Daniel my man

Well done! Hopefully someone will eventually send in an L-100. I’d be interested in trying an overhaul on mine.

Great Danny and Hobbs. So great that Americans dare to send their loved vintage speakers to GR, for a new life, to the next generation. Recycling. But we get to enjoy them for a bit, again. Just imagine how many 70-80 ish speakers there are out there.

Results you achieved were amazing! I wish you could have helped me with my own older circa 80s speakers.

Damn, some nice work here Danny! 👍

Hello. This was a good video. I really like the videos you make where you shed light on a big and common problem when it comes to factory made speakers. I'm talking about the quality of them which is often not that good

I've never been a fan. I tried... twice in fact to give them a chance but in the end, no depth, no subtlety, no sound stage and they shriek and fatigue when the music gets busy. The HPM 100 is basically a two way speaker with three overlapping tweeters. And tweeters all interfere with each other resulting in a terrible lobiness and off axis frequency response. The midrange driver with it's single 4 mf cap as high pass filter actually cuts in a frequency typical of a tweeter. Most of the midrange is produced by the 12 inch woofer. Worst of all it's hard to cure the gobs of stored energy (and resulting peaks and ringing) in the upper mid and treble ranges. But they're, bright, go loud and have lots of bass so your average rocker will love them.

I was gonna say almost word for word what you said about the response! That is completely awful. I've been pouring over response graphs for the last couple months looking for new muds for vehicle so seeing this was almost a shock! 😂

Truly one of your greatest achievements… And I’ve watched All the upgrades, at least once

This is my first time watching your channel. It was very interesting to hear your take on those older speakers. I think it's pretty obvious the older speakers just don't have the build quality and modern performance features. This technology has come a long way, I think the older speakers have the "Vintage Sound," which in today's speak is not great.

Wow. This is pretty amazing.

I find the test results hilarious, people worship these speakers!

It’s interesting to see how this responded with these old school drivers when you compare it to the ones you had recently that were virtually not worth the effort and you almost scrapped them. Good job on these.

Totally agree about upgrading these vintage speakers, even rebuilding them ( most were made with chip ( particle) board yuks ) Unfortunately its the then sound of the models that people get attached to. Upgrade them like the HPM-100 but you will lose the sound that they think is great. No doubt the sound will change for the better but I love the sound the way it is !!! that's what your up against. Hopefully after this video, more people with vintage speakers eg: JBL's will make the jump.

I want one soon as I get some more play money available! Thank you Danny!

You are a speaker magician. 👍

Well done. Have been fooling with speakers since this was a new product. Worked at GRT/Chess/Janus Records and had access to their studio monitors (KLH). Learned from their engineers and been rebuilding the odd speaker pair ever since. This run down was what we all needed back in the day 😊 OBTW - Soviet radar caps make good audio caps, when you can find them ... 🙃

Danny, you never cease to amaze me. Old speaker better than a new Klipsch. Well done.

Talk about lipstick on a pig. The cabinets are particle board and usually have big water rings from plants. Like the L100 they were designed to “replace”, their time has long passed.

Perfect shirt for this video. Nice work Danny and team!

That's why people bought EQ's back in the day right. LOL

Very cool. Working with vintage mass market speakers myself, I can definitely appreciate what you did in this project/kit and the $800 plus some work to get those to another level without cabinet mods or changing drivers is amazing. Personally I like the sound of the phenolic ring cone tweeters. Very smooth and big enough to effortlessly deliver the treble. I was kind of surprised how poor the Woofer response was. I wonder if they're just worn out or materials degraded with age. The stock Woofers I've pulled from old mass market speakers usually have better frequency responses than the aftermarkets I replace them with. But... the majority of them I've pulled were from speakers that seemed hardly used and despite some cabinets being a little rough, the drivers are usually quite nice. The majority of wire I've pulled seemed really thin, like maybe 20 to 24 gauge and the caps, (and coils if they have any), are usually super tiny, so it looks like those crossovers were very nice for old speakers and if the wire was 18 gauge that's impressive. Plus, if I heard correctly these had insulation on the side panels which is a rare thing, usually there's either not insulation, or a small sheet on the back, or small fiberglass pads tossed in. You didn't mention how thick the cabinet was, but most of them are 1/2", so if that was thicker, that's a big deal too. It's nice to see you having fun with the big old speakers. I love em. They sound... well... BIG 😊

Thanks a lot Danny!!!

I had pioneer 4 ways back in 80, awesum sound w KR6030 tek hifi.

you did a fabulous job. before/after i know for a fact that a lot of these used (without upgrades) ended up in Vietnam. Because people posted video on YT.

For most people, the super tweeter might as well not be there. Tested, my hearing makes it to 14khz. That’s it.

Love to see what the new crossover looks like.

I got a pair of the 100w version a year ago, and messed around with the crossovers a bit and replacing with new polyprop caps. Until any further serious crossover overhaul, I found they greatly improved just by changing the woofer lowpass inductor from 0.6 to 0.9mH

Great testing impression Danny,I always had a soft spot for big box speakers from the 70's, though I would never buy one today. I am thisclose to buying a pair of classic Legacys, because the price is outstanding and its a boyhood dream. I really wanna get them tested, but I shudder at the shipping costs, lol. Maybe If I drive to texas one day, who knows.

I would say that the guy that design the original crossover should be a dentist or a painter 😁

Good gas light upgrade thumbs up.

Just watched both videos of Yamaha NS-1000M and Pioneer HPM-100’s back to back, looks like Yamaha for the win with initial measurements. I had read that the HPM designer was the previous head engineer at JBL, designer of JBL L-100. If so, not a good sign.

Heck ya! Now I won't turn my eyes if I ever see a set at a garage sale :) PRoviding I can get some at a great price, i'd be happy to purchase this xover upgrade.

This was a good one. Lightening in a bottle kind of stuff! Nice

Had those back in the Day, that's why I bought JBL L100s and wore em out! Loved their Recievers though and Have a SX1280 Still Today!

Using an Pioneer sx950 wcerwin vega SL-15. Got it for the 15 incher, highs are wicked good. Nice mellow mids.

Great video , i love it when you operate in this mode.

that was something! Way back when......Pioneer brought this model out as a copy to the very, very hot selling JBL L-100A back in the day. Hence the copy on driver positioning, woofer cone material and color, and midrange, tweeter driver appearances. Even the port was placed in a similar position as the L-100. Pioneer also made a larger model...believe it was the HMP-200 or 250... don't remember, but it was a larger box with a quartz tweeter in the top.

...and to think that the HPM100 was one of Pioneer's "greatest". Well, the visual design was great at least! Your service to the audio community is very much appreciated.

I know it's a lot to make a video and further a lot of time to do the testing and documentation you do. It sure would be great to get still images of the upgrade parts you used (un-assembled and all in 1 photo is fine), then another still image or 2 of the process of upgrading these speakers. Basically just to see what you ended up with as a reference for those of us that decide to follow your upgrade path. In any case, thanks much for the vids! :)

Yesterday I saw a youtube video comparing this HPM-100 to the JBL L-112, I had the L-112 and repaired the HPM and I must say there are a lot of HPM-100 lovers but this speaker I assure that is the most colored beloved speaker ever, now in your video I understand why it is so colored stock condition, you did an amazing job with the new design crossover, now looks more like the L-112 which only have the caveat of a ringing about 1.8 khz, I will appreciate if you test a good stock condition JBL L-112 to confirm my appreciation, thanks buddy

Wow its amazing how you fixed this speaker

I watched a couple of these videos now, I would really like to see you do the actual upgrades. Make the new crossovers, make the alterations to the cabinet, etc

Thanks for the insightful video. I wonder now how the JBL L100 compares.

Incredible!

Love my bone stock 100s. I would be afraid to touch them. Great information!!

That's way there's millions out there and was and still number one for vintage speaker .I have a set that have set that and also have newer speakers that cost over fourty grand each and all ways find my self going back to the Pioneers and thinking of selling the others because they take up to much room but never do it because of the loss in money. My ears aren't computers and HPM is the best speaker on the market that over fourty years old and a piece of under thousand dollars .AMAZING THUFF SPEAKERS AND PROBABLY WILL DYE WITH THIS AS MY NUMBER ONE SPEAKER AND HAVE NEVER HAVE TO EVEN CHANG A PART .

All HPM owners trust me, buy this crossover to put your HPM to sing

Still owner of one pair of Pioneer HPM-60 speakerboxes from mid '70s. Changed the original woofers for Visaton equivalent two decades ago (due standard foam problem Pioneer woofers). Still loved them but due my age frequency's above 8 KHz i can't hear anymore. Recently bought 2nd hand Pioneer TA-7500 & TX-7500 and the Pioneer headphone the SE 305. Going back to vintage stuff.

Shocked you got it so flat, better than modern speakers you worked on

I owned two sets in the day, one set was the clear acrylic cabinets. I hung the wood set high up in a room with 12 ft ceilings. I replaced the mid range driver and that got rid of a lot of the harshness.

I've got a pair of hpm 100s got the hpm40s as well. My experience with them is very good. Solid low end, Lotta detail and clarity, having a hard time believing all your negativity.

This looks like a very interesting rebuild project, I bet their is HUGE room for improvement. If you can find some decent replacement parts and a better cabinet, or maybe a better resonant frequency and more internal bracing and better damping this thing could be a beast! Of course you would probably then have a whole new speaker!

Would love to see you offer upgraded crossovers for 70's JBL's. (4312, L100 etc...)

Ripping out the 2 middle drivers and putting in a horn with waveguide instead would also work. And the super tweeter would be used from 15k for extra sparkle.

Maybe some of the upgrade is addressing variances in the ancient drivers. I wonder how consistent this upgrade would be for everyone. Often times when I test a pair of vintage speakers their responses are not identical between each other. Especially tweeters with ferrofluid that's gummed up.

I watch several channels doing these speakers analysis and all of you use different equipment and come up with virtual identical responses but yours is easiest to understand speaking and charts diagrams