ironman
01-21-2006, 08:45 PM
Purchased a re foam kit from Rick Cobb and just completed my first job (L-110 woofers). The last 24 hrs. have been tense because I was sure I screwed things up - turned out that the amp I was using to generate the LF didn't take kindly to the CD and was throwing out some odd noises here and there. I hooked them up to my Sansui 8080 and at 9pm EST I fired them up - they sound wonderful ! I did pester Rick several times during the course of the job and he always got right back to me - a good man to do business with !
Now for a couple of things I've learned:
An old fashioned wood clothes pin taken apart makes an excellent tamper - the rounded end fit tight between the frame edge and the surround, just keep glue off it (keping a wet wet paper towel handy did the trick) and the straight end also helped on a few occasions.
A cheap plastic paint brush helped spread the glue in the harder to reach places.
DO NOT try to apply the glue from behind as it gets very messy real quick !
Before you apply glue to rim of frame you can tuck the entire surround under the rim, apply glue and then pop the foam back up and over - very simple.
If you use an amp to generate the LF tone turn the bass and treble all of the way off (not just to 12 o'clock - zero).
Do not panic if you hear fluttering when playing the LF tone but have yet to glue foam to rim - the foam itself makes quite a fluttering sound until the glue has really got ahold of the foam - this was my first real panic. I typed in
"flutter" in the search here on LH and the threads that popped up almost made me pass out ! Lots of "if you hear fluttering you've ruined the speaker" kinda replies. The first flutter disappered as the glue dried and I kept tamping down the surround. The second set of flutters disappeared when I turned the bass down from 12 o'clock
to minus 10 or whatever - all the way off !
Yes, a turntable/lazy Susan would have been handy to insure a straight solid bead of glue - it has been recommended here on a thread or 2.
Keep track of your tamping by starting at the speaker wiring posts - that way you know when you've gone around one full turn.
Also, I cut several sheets of thin cardboard in a circle a tad larger then the speaker and laid the speaker on it for support while I had it upside down.
The worst part is the 24 hour drying time ! I was so tempted to cheat !
Now, to show you what kinda guy I am, I will admit a stupid mistake, right out here in public, before all of you !
At one point I popped out the LF CD to try it in my main living room system on my L-112's. I wanted to see if I heard any major differences with the 2 systems using the CD. When I was done with the Sansui/L112 test, I brought the CD back in to the "work bench" stereo (my kitchen) and popped the CD back into the player I was using for the re foam job. Got nothing ! No sound, zip, zero,nadda. I freaked. I'm studying the CD player for something obvious (hit pause with my elbow ?). Volume up, voulme down- could not get a sound from the LE111's. I ran the speaker wire to some old AR's. Nothing - but, hey this is good right ? Nothing from the L111's and nothing from the AR's. Finally it dawns on me, I take a gander at the amp and notice the power switch is in the "off" position ! Hey, its an old JVC amp with no bells, lights and whistles - just a small green light ! Reminds me of the old TV repair days.
"Your TV's not working you say, ok, before you bring it in please check to see if its plugged in" :blink:
Of course the first speaker was the worst, was an old pro by the second one. Now if I could just get my hands on some 033's....:bouncy:
Now for a couple of things I've learned:
An old fashioned wood clothes pin taken apart makes an excellent tamper - the rounded end fit tight between the frame edge and the surround, just keep glue off it (keping a wet wet paper towel handy did the trick) and the straight end also helped on a few occasions.
A cheap plastic paint brush helped spread the glue in the harder to reach places.
DO NOT try to apply the glue from behind as it gets very messy real quick !
Before you apply glue to rim of frame you can tuck the entire surround under the rim, apply glue and then pop the foam back up and over - very simple.
If you use an amp to generate the LF tone turn the bass and treble all of the way off (not just to 12 o'clock - zero).
Do not panic if you hear fluttering when playing the LF tone but have yet to glue foam to rim - the foam itself makes quite a fluttering sound until the glue has really got ahold of the foam - this was my first real panic. I typed in
"flutter" in the search here on LH and the threads that popped up almost made me pass out ! Lots of "if you hear fluttering you've ruined the speaker" kinda replies. The first flutter disappered as the glue dried and I kept tamping down the surround. The second set of flutters disappeared when I turned the bass down from 12 o'clock
to minus 10 or whatever - all the way off !
Yes, a turntable/lazy Susan would have been handy to insure a straight solid bead of glue - it has been recommended here on a thread or 2.
Keep track of your tamping by starting at the speaker wiring posts - that way you know when you've gone around one full turn.
Also, I cut several sheets of thin cardboard in a circle a tad larger then the speaker and laid the speaker on it for support while I had it upside down.
The worst part is the 24 hour drying time ! I was so tempted to cheat !
Now, to show you what kinda guy I am, I will admit a stupid mistake, right out here in public, before all of you !
At one point I popped out the LF CD to try it in my main living room system on my L-112's. I wanted to see if I heard any major differences with the 2 systems using the CD. When I was done with the Sansui/L112 test, I brought the CD back in to the "work bench" stereo (my kitchen) and popped the CD back into the player I was using for the re foam job. Got nothing ! No sound, zip, zero,nadda. I freaked. I'm studying the CD player for something obvious (hit pause with my elbow ?). Volume up, voulme down- could not get a sound from the LE111's. I ran the speaker wire to some old AR's. Nothing - but, hey this is good right ? Nothing from the L111's and nothing from the AR's. Finally it dawns on me, I take a gander at the amp and notice the power switch is in the "off" position ! Hey, its an old JVC amp with no bells, lights and whistles - just a small green light ! Reminds me of the old TV repair days.
"Your TV's not working you say, ok, before you bring it in please check to see if its plugged in" :blink:
Of course the first speaker was the worst, was an old pro by the second one. Now if I could just get my hands on some 033's....:bouncy: