Speaker Surround Re-Foam

[kb0nes]

I have generally taken all my drivers in for re-coning and surround replacement and let my local speaker service place do the work. Its not a difficult job, but because of that they don't charge that much either. I'll let them have the liability of screwing it up.

The task is a lot easier on smaller diameter drivers, I've never replaced a surround in anything smaller then a 12" though. I have a pair of JBL 2235 15" sub drivers waiting to go out to Midwest Speaker. They will charge ~$50/ea and I get a one year warranty on the job to boot.

As for the Sirius/XM sound quality it is indeed just rubbish. They are way over their bandwidth allotment on the downlink with all the channels they have currently. They could reduce the total number of channels but they fear they will lose more subscribers then they will by offering nasty compressed feeds. Some channels are worse, the oldies channels seem particularly bad, we had on 60's on 6 at work the otherday and I couldn't stand it. The SiriusXM sound is about like a 64k MP3 in quality. I stream Pandora off the web into our system and it sounds just fine for background music.

 

[michaelman2]

Yep, my speaker place in Atlanta wanted 65.00 per speaker to replace the surrounds. I went with the 27.00 for both and did it myself. Doing the cone would be a more involved process and I would leave that to a pro and if too much I would simply purchase a new driver.

Lord: thanks for the link. I am out of town and do not have the best connection here, will check this out when I get home ..Tks again.

 

[whirlcool]

My set of AR-3a's used a cloth surround on the speakers, they'll last forever. But the foam surrounds on my JBL4311's are still holding fine. The foam that goes around the tweeter cone disintegrated, but JBL still makes those for about $2.29 each. So I replaced those. Not bad considering the speakers were purchased in 1977.

 

[lordkenmore]

Lord: thanks for the link

You're welcome!

I'll probably be seeing someone who has current, relevant experience this week, and I'll be sure to ask for other ideas. If any worth mentioning come up, I'll post them.

 

[DADoES]

Success ... and not as much

 
The first driver came out perfect.  I was concerned when cleaning off the old adhesive that I was pulling a layer of paper off the cone (probably I wasn't), but that apparently was the best route because ....

... I played much more conservative cleaning the 2nd driver, left a layer of old adhesive which unfortunately was very grabby-and-sticky when gluing the foam, not conducive to aligning it very well on the edge.  The frame gluing also grabbed very quickly.  I had trouble centering the cone, it ended up just a smidgeon away from dragging on the coil toward the left.  SimplySpeakers does have replacement drivers if that becomes necessary.

 

[travis]

I was fascinated at the thought of repairing a speaker. We have a 18" driver in a subwoofer at the theatre that's blown. I noticed that simply speakers had the recone kit for $100. I watched the video and wondered if I had the patience to do this. Then I wondered if I had enough workspace to do it.

I called the local music store, which happens to be an authorized JBL repair shop. For $224 they're doing it. That extra $124 is money well spent of the owners, for me not having to screw it up and get in trouble.

We've got to keep our local shops in business before we don't have any to turn to. Amazon and Wal-Mart sure won't help us keep our vintage treasures going!

 

[michaelman2]

Hey DAD... Sorry to learn of the trouble on the second speaker. Have you called Simply Speakers and given them the scenario you describe above? My hunch is that if you do, they can help you make this right .... Worth a shot. They were extraordinarily helpful to me and I am sure that this level of service would be across the board. Hell, I was not smart enough to even know how to disconnect the speaker from the cabinet. I called ( embarrassed ) and they were very cool. Regarding the adhesive in the second speaker not being fully removed, I seem to remember in the video tutorial, he mentions that if some adhesive is left it is not really a problem. Only if there are foam particles left. You think maybe the new glue reacted with the old and took longer to cure? When I was working on mine I did take note that they said to keep pressing the surround to the speaker until it held. It did take a few minutes for it to really set. Let me know how things turn out.. I hate the idea that you feel one of the speakers could become damaged due to the repair.

 

[lordkenmore]

We've got to keep our local shops in business

Yes...although one challenge is finding a local shop that actually is worth anything...

With audio equipment, I've had so many frustrations with local dealers. A couple of examples, naming no specific names, just that these are Seattle area stores:

1. Around 2001, I needed to buy a phono cartridge. Old cartridge's stylus was old, and no longer available. I talked with one dealer. One sales person was a young enthusiast who thought that instead of a cartridge, I should be considering a better tonearm for the turntable, which, of course, does nothing to fix an issue of a worn stylus. Another salesperson was spouting off about return policies that didn't exist. At another store, they only were interested in one cartridge line, which left me feeling cold. I finally cracked, and went mail order.

2. Around 2000, I wandered into a store near University of Washington. I was curious. The salesman was one of those "I don't have time for you unless you show me a wad of hundreds."

3. Queried about 78 RPM record replay, one dealer was quick to push some friend who does 78 to CD transfers. Yes, a reasonable idea, but, as one person with zero high end audio knowledge commented to me: perhaps one might be interested in playing the 78s as intended.

I could come up with more examples...

While I find this irritating for myself, I can, at least, survive. I know enough about audio equipment, and can do research. But what really disturbs me is that there are people who know little, and wander into one of these lion dens...

There are good dealers out there, of course. The challenge is finding them.

 

[DADoES]

 
Local speaker repair or AV-specialty shops??  No such services are here.

Wanna buy a hi-fi or TV in this town?  Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Western Auto, or several rent-to-own outfits.

 

[a440]

Cone Reconditioning

This sounds very cool! I have heard about it but never heard about anyone every doing it. I have been lucky to not have to go this route as of yet.

Sounds like success for you Michael and a few others. Sorry Glen about your speaker that pulled to the left. Can you cut it after it has dried and center it before reapplying?

I just want to give you all a heads up if you go to thrift stores and such where stereo speakers are sold. I have been collecting vintage audio from tube stuff onward for years. Speakers also. If you ever find a pair of DYNACO Speakers...no matter what they look like, grab them! They were a product of Denmark! I will bet you that they will be the best speakers that you have ever heard in your life. The sound is HUGE! You have to hear them to appreciate. And the base cones outer's are filled with tire rubber! Keep a look out and don't pass them up. Any size are amazing! I have been fortunate to find quite a few pairs over the years. It has been awhile since I have seen any. They are on Ebay and sometimes on Craigslist time to time. Get you a pair! Blow your socks off!

B

 

[a440]

Dynaco Speakers Pictures

Here are a few pictures. They don't look like much but oh my the sound....

 

[tolivac]

Oh yes--DYNACO speakers-those were real sleepers among Hi-Fi folks-sort of forgotten but excellent speakers.And they worked well with their amps-SS or tube.There is a man here at the tranmsitter site that loves Crown amps and JBL speakers-He rebuilds his own JBL speakers.He plays them loud so on occasion has to rebuild his.When I worked at the commercial radio station in Wash DC area JBL and Electrovoice speakers were common staples in radio stations for program monitor speakers-be it at the studio or transmitter site.Was lucky to have a large music shop in the Area-Veneman music-they rebuilt other speakers besides JBL.I would send the stations blown JBL's to them and for less than half the price of a new driver-would get the old one rebuilt-like the same idea as transmitter tubes.And would bet most speakers rebuilt today are for "G" fiddle amps and other musical instrument applications.Makes me think of one morning when I showed up for my early morning shift at the stations transmitter plant.Bad thunderstorm during the night.The site is unmanned at night at the time.I found the JBL speaker grill covers laying the floor-and thought"What the??Why are those on the floor?"then looked up and found woofer cones hanging down only by their leads.Sorrounds completely ripped.Storm blew the amps-the output stages shorted-and the DC blew the speakers.Myer Emco fixed the amps and Veneman music rebuilt the woofers.Used an older pair of ElectroVoice monitor speakers along with a an old Op-Amps Lab amp.The Op-Amps amps came in kits and were kinda fun to build.Marketed to professional places like radio/TV stations and pro audio-the amps would do fine for Hi-Fi use.An Op-Amp IC drove the driver and output transistoers in the amp-they worked quite well.Very serviceable.Easier to fix than Crowns.The Crowns were selected by management because of the name-they are good amps-The Op-Amps were more easily fixed-but not recognized by management "vistors" they would tour thru the studio or transmitter site.In the above incident--the speakers were fused---but the fuses didn't blow!!!Weird!!!!Other times they have when someone tried to play the speakers too loud.This was good with the DJ's.They were good at blowing midrange drivers and tweeters.Something else funny about the blown speakers-those were for the FM monitor amps.The AM speakers wewre untouched!One channel of the Crown amp ran two JBL monitor sepakers-one behind the tranmsitters so you can hear the program if you are working there-other in the front.The second channel of that amp fed to cheap monitor speakers at the tower bases-that was so you could monitor the program and mute the audio for a few seconds to get tower base current readings.Lightening can do STRANGE THINGS!!!

 

[cfz2882]

dynaudio

i have used dynaudio speaker drivers made in denmark(quite possibly related to or a rename of the "dynaco"speakers mentioned upthread)Indeed very impressive speakers!-i have used them for car stereo purposes in my european cars,had to repair a 6" woofer once the the voice coil wire was hexagon section aluminum.Some '90s volvos used dynaudio speakers,so i tried to buy some used ones on Ebay; apparently the volvo use was known to sound enthusiasts as these would always bid way up...I did manage to score a pair of 6"woofers at a pawn shop for a nice price-they were rebadged "alpine"-not sure when or for how long Alpine put their name on Dynaudio built speakers.

 

[a440]

Yep B. Danielson!

You are correct. Dynaudio is Dynaco.
VW is using these speakers in the CC and the higher end Passats.
I have them in my 2015 Passat. The sounds is amazing.
Do you know if they are still making home audio speakers? I can't find anything out about that.
Brent

 

[cfz2882]

home drivers

"PartsExpress had some Dynaudio woofers in their catalogs around~2000,but they were the very expensive top end versions in just a few sizes-including,IIRC,a very heavy cast frame11"dia.version

 

[a440]

Mad Men Season 5

I am on Mad Men Season 5 from Blu-Ray. 

I was so delighted to see these Big Boy Dynaco Speakers in the Draper home! 

 

 

[michaelman2]

Brent, this is too cool. Sharp eye sir! I think the set staff or dressers really try to be as authentically in the year/decade as possible. I was at Antiques & Beyond (large antique dealer showroom on Cheshire Bridge at Manchester) and they had a pair of these speakers. Pristine condition, they had a "sold" tag on them and from what I could tell they sold for 400.00 / pr. I wanted to open the front of the case but as like the pair above the grill is not easily removable. I have seen several high-end audio components at this dealer. One was a McIntosh amplifier that would still be very desirable and they had it priced out of my league.

 

[a440]

Hi Michael

I think I know the sellers that had the goodies that you saw.  If it is the same person they get MOST of their stuff from Thrift Stores.  The other stuff is found at Estate Sales.  I see the guy everywhere.  I am sure he says that he sees me everywhere.  LOL!

A pair of Dynaco speakers this size was a good price at $400 as nice as you said the shape was in.  I would love to find a size this size...and of course pay only $20!  I had a friend years ago that had this size pair that his Dad gave him.  The sound was incredible. 

 

 

[kb0nes]

I keep watching for a decent set of Dynaco speakers on Criagslist but so far I haven't pulled the trigger on any. I suppose I might accept an old set of AR's also. Mostly looking for something from that period.

I own (or have owned, I sold the Mark VI amps) just about every Dynaco product made. Same applies to pre-Rockford Fosgate Hafler electronics. I have really enjoyed collecting, restoring and Resto-Modifying these old classics.

I tend to shy away from vintage speakers. Aging doesn't help these electro-mechanical devices, surrounds stiffen, radiator materials degrade and the crossover capacitors fail. Modern design technology, testing and manufacturing has improved speaker performance over earlier designs. Even if you could have a brand new vintage speaker its accuracy would pale compared to a modern high quality speaker today. It is of course true that high quality speakers are much harder to find now and you are likely to pay a mint for them though. Still we all likes what we likes for our own reasons and I can see merit in vintage speakers.

I do still search for a nice old pair of A-25's, one day I will score a pair. It will be neat to have a full system of an FM-3, a PAS, ST-70 and matching speakers for the nostalgia and agreeable distortions it will bring.

 

[a440]

Hello Phil,

I think if you found a pair of any vintage speaker that was kept in a good surrounding area as far as humidity being controlled they would be just fine.  You can always tell speakers that were around too much humidity and such. 

Sounds like you have a nice collection!

Brent