Looking for recommendations on 813s

[Jeff Z]

First a little background info,

I have a pair of 813s (I am pretty sure they are pre-A versions) that I purchased from a friend who was moving his studio and changing monitoring schemes in the late 80s. They were in good shape, however time and several moves to various homes as taken a bit out of them. About 5 years ago I noticed that the surrounds on the helper sub would crack and crumble when touched. I immediately stopped using them and unfortunately haven't had the time to get back to them until now. The 6048Gs appear to be okay, but as I said before, I haven't powered them up in over 5 years

Now for my question/s;

Is there a trustworthy place that I can send the these aged components (less enclosure) for "rework" or testing?

Rather than reworking the older components, should I consider trying to find parts to upgrade them to 813 Cs, if that is even possible?

Here is a little more detail on the components I have;
Cabinets are tagged as model number 813, serial numbers 306 &315
X-overs are tagged as model number 838, serial numbers 331 & 350
HF / LF tagged as model number 6048G serial numbers 128 & 140 dated 9-22-78 & 9-28-78 respectively
LF Helpers are tegged as 800W, both have the same serial number of 1701-6 and both dated 9-25-78.

Any recomendations and / or direction is greatly appreciated !

Thanks

[Robh3606]

Why don't you see if you can just refoam the helper woofers?? You could also recone providing you can find kits. Orange County is a good place to look.


http://www.orangecountyspeaker.com/


Upgrading them to "C"s is not an easy task. Completely new driver set and crossovers. You may have to change box tuning as well.

Rob:)

[Jeff Z]

While it is somewhat embarrassing to say, I have never tried re-foaming a speaker. Is it relatively easy or is this something better left to an experience repair facility to perform?



Anyone know the specific model of Eminence driver used in the original 813s so I know what surround repair kit to order? I suspect the model number tag of 800W that UREI put on the driver is not the Eminence model number since the serial numbers are identical on the two I have, but I may be wrong on that guess.



I didn’t think about the possibility of needing to retune the enclosure if I were to go for the C upgrade. Anyone know for sure if the enclosure would need retuning? If so, was that true for the B upgrade as well?



I guess I was only considering the C upgrade primarily for sonic reasons. The stuff I have read seems to imply a notable improvement in performance over the original 813s, but again I didn’t think about the possibility of an enclosure change (as you can tell, I am a novice hereJ). Not sure if an upgrade is worth that much effort.



Again, thanks for your assistance!

[GordonW]

Are there any other numbers stamped on the back of the helper woofer? Specifically, like a 5-digit number?

If not, I'd suspect that being that vintage, most Eminence 15" (I believe it's a 15", right?) woofers should have about the same surround sizes... if you can post a pic of the woofer with a yardstick or tape measure across the cone (so we can see the dimensions of the basket, cone and surround), then I can probably either recommend or actually supply, the correct surround...

Regards,
Gordon.

[Jeff Z]

You are correct, they are 15"s

While I could find a single place where they said Eminence, I did note some additional numbers off of the back or the driver basket rim and cone.

On the back of the mounting rim is LW-1506 and 67 7837.

On the back of the cone is 451516-2

I really appreciate the help with my helpers.

[GordonW]

Yep, "67" is the EIA code for Eminence... that's definitely one of theirs. Made about midway through 1978, from the date code (7834).

That looks to be a pretty standard flat-surround (flat referring to the fact that the woofer cone "flattens out" to a lip where the surround attatches, instead of attaching at the standard "angle" of the cone)... my inclination, would be to put a soft-stiffness (ie, very compliant) 15" flat surround on it, and it should be happy. Only problem you may run into, is if someone puts too stiff of a surround on it... that might upset the bass balance. But, that's easily avoidable, if the repairer knows what parts to order...

Regards,
Gordon.

[Jeff Z]

Gordon,

I really appreciate the assistance on this. You mentioned possibly being able to recommend a source for a repair kit or even possibly sourcing one. Do you have such a kit or recommendation on where to get one? I see Rob recommended Orange County speaker. The site looks pretty good, but I don't see a way to spec. the stiffness of the foam. I may try and call them to see if that is an optional parameter to spec.

Secondly, I have done a bit of searching on this forum and found a few "how-to" postings reguarding refoaming. While it doesn't look "easy", it does seem like something that is a reasonable DIY project, as long as you have ample patience and guidance.

Do you think these are likely to much of a challenge for a novice and I would be better off waiting to learn on an easier to find driver and sending this off to a pro?

Thanks,

Jeff