Bass Speaker Repair (attempt) :D

[Andyman]

Music related, but also DIY, so I opted for this forum.

My latest project
I picked this up for $20 from a guy on the TalkBass classifieds. actually "free, you pay shipping" The ad was very old (over a year) but close to me, so I took it as fate. 15" speaker from an 8 ohm SVT 15E cab. Voice coil seized, he said from leaving it outside all winter, in Montana.



It's dark around the dust cap from acetone, to soften the glue.

Dust cap removed



found the issue- the inner magnet is pinching the voice coil. During my web research I found this is because it came unglued from the back plate.



more to follow!

 

[Andyman]

Outer gasket removed:

 

[Andyman]

FUCK!!! I hate when that happens!

 

[Andyman]

Ok, got the outside of the cone detached from the frame.

 

[Andyman]

Ok, got the outside of the cone detached from the frame.
View attachment 4264
that picture SUCKS!

 

[Andyman]

Pic

 

[Andyman]

All steps so far, have been the same, soaking the area with acetone, and working loose. Spider is next:

 

[Andyman]

And spider detached.
only one lil tear when my knife slipped.
Oh Well

 

[Jared]

I know nothing about what you’re doing here, but I am intrigued by the process. How much of the black part ( laymen term) do you need to reuse, or do you replace it all?

 

[Andyman]

I'm going to"try" to replace as little as possible.
that said, a "re-cone kit for this speaker was quoted at $66.00, which includes everything, except glue.
I'm just cheap/ poor.

 

[NSYMCE]

I know nothing about what you’re doing here, but I am intrigued by the process. How much of the black part ( laymen term) do you need to reuse, or do you replace it all?

Every soft part needs to be replaced, ideally. But sometimes you can get lucky, hopefully this will be one of those cases.

 

[Andyman]

Every soft part needs to be replaced, ideally. But sometimes you can get lucky, hopefully this will be one of those cases.

prolly not.
I creased the cone quite a bit trying to free the voice coil.

But even with that I'm only in about $80.

 

[Andyman]

HERES A DIAGRAM FOR THOSE FOLLOWING ALONG AT HOME

 

[XXL]

My BIL is big time into drivers and I showed him this thread last night. He was happy to learn about the acetone for the glue. He also had some advice about your project Andy but I was pretty waged by then and don't remember much of it.

 

[NSYMCE]

prolly not.
I creased the cone quite a bit trying to free the voice coil.

But even with that I'm only in about $80.

I know a recone guy north of Seattle.if you want another opinion, maybe a Bro deal on parts, etc. Same guy I mentioned before who I used to share shop space with a zillion years ago. I’m sure you’ll manage fine if you get a decent recone kit, should it come to that.

 

[Jim C]

Re-coning is one of those things that is reasonably simple by design and looks easy to do when you watch a pro.
Getting the voice coil seated perfectly in the gap, and, getting everything else right is really hard IMO.
But we're cheering for you!

 

[Andyman]

Update: in the first post I surmised that the voice coil was being "pinched" by the center pole of the speaker. Noe I think it is more likely that it shorted/ melted and is being held in by the expanded/ melted epoxy. I will try to remove it again after work today. Maybe.

 

[armyadarkness]

the voice coil was being "pinched" by the center pole

So the voice hole isnt pinching the pole? What a shame. I was looking forward to seeing it

 

[NSYMCE]

Update: in the first post I surmised that the voice coil was being "pinched" by the center pole of the speaker. Noe I think it is more likely that it shorted/ melted and is being held in by the expanded/ melted epoxy. I will try to remove it again after work today. Maybe.

If the motor's hard parts have shifted a long lasting repair is gonna be dicey, IME. A melted and/or physically distorted voice coil is probably about a zillion times more likely though.

 

[mktrat]

hard parts

Being totally serious. Is that just the magnet?