I picked up a pair of Meadowlark Nighthawks from Craigslist for $200.

More info on these speakers here:http://www.patmcginty.com/nighthawk.htm

Inflation adjusted, they will sell just short of $10,000 today. They looked to be in rough shape from the ad, but for $200, I could risk it.

Story of the speakers: Original owner purchased them new, but sometime ago, he was killed in a car accident. His mother took possession of them, but didn't know what to do with them. A family friend then got them, but he wasn't sure what to do with them either. He originally had them posted for $600, but after i asked him a few questions about them, he realized the damage done to them...and he offered, without me asking, to lower them to $200 as is since it sounded like they'd be going to a good home. I told him I would restore them if I could find the parts, and that they would be cared for. After I'm done, I'll probably let the guy know they're back to their original condition, and if the original owner's mother would like to know, he can then forward that on to her. Maybe she would appreciate that....because it sounded like her son really loved audio.

Speaker condition when bought was very dirty. One speaker has some serious surface finish damage, but the wood was intact. This one appeared to be the favorite napping place of a feline (in the bass port), and the cat had rubbed against it for years, which caused all the finish damage. The other speaker was in better shape, same type of surface damage, but not as bad. It had what appeared to be expansion-foam-in-a-can drizzled on top and down the front.

Every woofer had damage..either the dust caps were pushed in, holes in them, or both. These would need to be replaced. The midwoofers all had dents in the dustcaps. The tweeters, thankfully, were undamaged.

I quickly taped over the holes, used a vacuum to pull out the easy to get dustcap dents, and used a meter at the plugs to make sure I wasn't going to cook my amp. Everything measured as it should, so I fired them up. And wow...these things sound fantastic...even in their sad state. Compared to my Mirage OM-5 which I normally use, they did everything with more precision and control, but they did lack a little bass compared to the Mirages (not a surprise on the bass part). The OM-5's a brutes.

After that quick function check, my restoration started with tracing down woofers and mid-woofers. Information was scarce on these, as they were the last speaker to make production before Meadowlark closed up, and appears they are very rare. I found a website that referred to the brands of each driver. The woofer and Mid-woofer were both from Vifa's premium line. All the labels of each driver were destroyed, so I traced them by measurable specs. As it turned out, Scanspeak makes direct replacement woofers in their Discovery line, so I purchased those from Madisound. There were no direct replacements for the midwoofer due to their unusual frame size of 104mm, but with the help of Madisound, there is a replacement Scanspeak with a frame size of 98mm. I decided to gently work out the dents, but later on will machine a sleeve and put in the Scanspeaks. The tweeters are from Seas, but since they didnt appear to be damaged at all, I left them alone.

With parts ordered, I got to work on the cabinets. 0000 steel wool, surface restorer (to remove the old cracking/yellowed finish), orange oil, and Howards Feed N' Wax brought them right back to life. Hours and hours of this work went on, and I have a whole new respect for people who do this stuff for a living. Its absolutely laborious. I detail cars on the side as a hobby, and will spend hours fine polishing paint....and that is nothing compared to the hand labor of steel wool, chemicals, and elbow grease on wood. But, because the materials were such a fine quality when the speakers were made, they cleaned up nicely!

As of now, I've completed one speaker (it was the worst one). I'll update this thread more if anyone would like. Or if anyone has and question (or advice), just let me know.