Speaker Repair

[wayupnorth]

Replacing the foam is actually quite easy to do

The hardest part is scraping the bits of old foam from the speaker edges without damaging the speaker itself. A regular screwdriver worked for me on that. The cement is very fast acting and will stick to anything. So you have to work quick and make sure the foam is perfectly placed. I was just about an hour from start to finish on both.

 

[d-jones]

John - The guy at the speaker shop told me the same thing. It's better to have too much power than too little. I'd never heard that before so I learned something new that day.

And I have to agree with Tim. The hardest part of the job was the foam removal. But for me, the most worrisome part of the job was gluing the new foam into place. It's important to get the inside flat edge of the foam to lay flat against the paper cone, and on my speakers it wasn't cooperating. That edge of the foam suspension is formed at an angle to match the slope of the paper cone, but in this case the match wasn't quite perfect. I had to act quickly and raid my wife's curlers again so that they would keep the foam in contact with the paper cone until the glue had dried. Thank heavens it worked.

 

But in spite of any momentary problems I may have had, it really wasn't all that hard to do. And as Allen points out above, most people do seem to think that when the foam is bad the speaker is ruined. Now that I've done this a couple of times I may try looking for a good deal on a pair of quality speakers in need of new foam.

 

Anyways, thanks for all of the comments guys. I'm glad you found this thread worthwhile.

 

[qsd-dan]

Good job, there!

I have 6 vintage Acoustic Research AR-9 speakers that needed all the of the bass drivers and lower mid-range drivers re-foamed. That's a total of 18 drivers (12 bass drivers and 6 lower mid-range drivers). Luckily, I had a buddy do it for me for a fraction of the price that most wanted to charge. I don't think I'd have enough patience to re-foam all of those drivers in the short amount of time he did them.

 

[gansky1]

I have four sets of Advent speakers, two sets found this summer need new foam. I've stared at the pictures but not sure I'm up for the gluing part. I'm horrible at gluing anything but wood, fortunately there is a commercial electronics-audio guy here that will do them for $130 a set. You did a fantastic job on yours, the curlers were brilliant!

Dan, those are some sweet speakers you have. My first ex-husband had a set of these, they were overwhelming in a small apartment but amazing. Sound that can make the hair on your arms tingle!

 

[qsd-dan]

My first ex-husband had a set of these, they were overwhelming in a small apartment but amazing. Sound that can make the hair on your arms tingle!

I bet you guys quickly made a lot of enemies in that apartment complex ;>)

They will throw out more than enough sound if needed, but eat up gobs of wattage for breakfast with an 87 db efficiency rating. A very powerful amp is required for them to openly sing without distortion. Not too friendly in the mobile department either, standing 4.5 feet tall and weighing in at 135 pounds......each.