2213 issues

Dear all:

I purchased a well used pair of 4312A:s the other day. This is the utility black version. I finally managed to carry them to the car and home and found that the previous owner had a cat. The speakers came without grilles and the sticky pleated surrounds are full of cat´s hair and other domestic remnants. Any ideas on how to clean up/remove and refresh the surrounds?
Also: one cabinet was buzzing on test and I lifted out the woofer. One screw was loose and the T-nut had fallen out which might explain the buzz. The magnet vent hole seen from behind is open and I can see a more or less disintegrated dust guard up towards the pole piece. Some black dust had fallen into the cabinet. Shall I leave it? Cover the hole with something permeable?

Regards,
Pellets

There is a thread (sticky) in the DIY section under the forum tab concerning replacing surrounds.

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...d-Step-by-step

That link is very helpful when taking on the task of replacing aged foam surrounds, but the 4312A uses the 2213H woofer with a cloth surround. Most cloth surrounds are notoriously sticky and will attract dust, cat hair, and other unappealing bits of debris.

Unfortunately short of taking tweezers and carefully plucking away, I am not sure if there is a quick fix. If you use a solvent, you may damage the treatment that allows the fabric to remain flexible and also air tight.

Possibly one of our reconing forum members can share tips for you.


Widget

Of course! Insert dope slap emoji here. I was wondering why no one responded to the OP's query.

Hi Pellets,

Before talking about re-surround I would definitely try to salvage the actual drivers first, what do you have to lose?

In case you try a vacuum cleaner initially to remove hair, small portable with softer sucion or a regular one, a small nozzle may be needed, but in any case nozzle must be used parallel or so to surround surface, not perpendicular to it in order to avoid damage.

I agree with Widget about tweezers and not using solvent, the former being a monk's job! I would try/test using a water damp rag (not wet) to see if I can get some cat hair off by wiping gently. Maybe requires a little help from a clean and soft toothbrush? Or even trying vacuum as above with toothbrush? Another possibility might be to test delicately/slowly with pieces of tape not pushed on surround too much to pull off some hair while holding surround with other hand? Or a combination of some of the above? Do try dry options first though. Damp one is last resort .

I suggest you start with cat hair issue before moving on to next problem below. If all fails re cat hair consider Speaker Exchange had a listing for a 2213 cloth surround: RCK 12 JBL 2213.

With regards to your other problem of desintegrated dust guard in magnet vent hole, that could be another time consuming one. My understanding here is that it may be desintegrated foam originally to prevent dust and others from entering the driver's back vent. If so, then expect another journey removing all this rotten foam inside driver. Foam may have already migrated into the driver's Gap or eventually will. "Shall I leave it?" My advice is no, better to remove all of it for driver performance, more so re Gap size.

I removed all sticky foam rot inside 2214H while re-foaming surrounds. Cut the dustcaps almost around (saving them) to clean the Gap as well and shim for refoams. You need to be careful doing this = time. Plus you may require some adapted tools, or make them fit, to do the work correctly.

The major questions are: How proper do you want your drivers to be? Do you have or willing to take the time needed plus effort to make this right? Are you comfortable with detail work? Bottom line, how far are you willing to go to succeed? In case you decide to go ahead, I may be able to provide some advice and/or tool info. If not, it appears original 2213 recone kits are no longer available (Speaker Exchange), but they have black and white aftermarket ones on their shelf. This may be a lesser time consuming possibility.

"Cover the hole with something permeable?" This is the easy part at the end . When you finished the above work, glue a slightly stretched, little larger than hole piece of speaker grille cloth over the back vent to prevent future dust and others from going inside. Regards,

Richard

Many thanks to you all for advice and information concerning my dusty 4312:s. I decided to go for the easy but somewhat tedious task first, removing dust and hair with tweezers, a toothbrush and some tape. Luckily the outdoor weather was appalling and I spent a few hours with the speaker, a sixpack and some nice music on the stereo. The surround looks much better now. As for the removal of the disintegrated dust guard I will try to get a spare dust cap first before attempting to cut off the cap on the woofer.

Best regards and Merrry Christmas/Pellets

Hi Pellets,

Really great job, very nice work you did! I'm confident the six pack may have been a useful tool, maybe giving you more motivation to tackle this cat hair job... lol. Btw we have TWO cats, one with long hair, none on my surrounds...

I wouldn't purchase YET new dustcaps as they may not be needed.

As for cutting the dustcaps, you don't have to cut them all around like taking them off completely. You can cut ALMOST around but STOPPING a bit before the wires covered with black glue. That means there's about 19 mm of UNCUT dustcap still holding it in place, this way you can re-use the original dustcap as I did.

You need to cut the caps HORIZONTALLY and straight, ALWAYS just above the black glue line to avoid damaging voice coil under, cut delicately with a very sharp blade using back and forth movement, after initial entry in cap (I use a scalpel, but a sharp exacto will do). When that is done just lift up slowly the dustcap and make it hold upwards, with a piece of not too sticky tape from cap to driver frame, so it doesn't damage the cap when removing tape. I typically use 3M Blue painter's tape for that purpose since its made for easy removal. The beige masking tape is often too sticky to be removed easily.


Assuming 2213 is similar to 2214, you will now see in front of you driver vent hole, voice coil and gap.

On the first problem you showed that you can work like a "jeweller", that's great, then you can tackle the next job. Not too much beer for this second one though...

I would start by cleaning the back vent from back of driver first, using a flashlight to get the most out. Remember, down at the end of vent hole its the fragile dustcap covering the even more fragile voice coil.

When you're done removing the "rough" from back vent hole, then you can attack the dustcaps.

I can provide some advice and "tool" info I used if you need that, just let me know.

Naturally you'll need some black glue, or clear one, to seal the original cap back on when all is done.

Regards,

Richard

Dear RMC,
thanks for your info! I will get to it as soon as I can get a quiet moment for myself... I agree that no more than a beer or so may be consumed during this precious work.
I'm a bit surprised by the sheer level of sound these speakers can create. I have a pair of S8R Olympus to compare with but the 4312:s are not shy. Maybe I´ll keep them if I can find room for them.
Best regards/Pellets

Hi Pellets,

I've updated the info given to you here in another thread called "First Time JBL 128H Refoam" in posts 11 and 15 so you might want to look at this also. Regards,

Richard

Hi Pellets,

as by your picture I suspect your dust cap already shows some major dents. So I'd replace it anyway, just for good looks.

I've been successful in dissolving the dust cap glue with MEK and removing the cap in toto in a E-140 that for whatever reason had a paper cap. But you don't need to salvage this cap and, much more important, you unfortunately have white (or almost white) cones and the use of any solvent for removing that black glue simply is a no-go in this instance.

Best regards!

Hi Kay,
yes, the dust cap was knocked in during a serious monitoring session I guess. I managed to get the worst bits out through the vent hole and also sealed the cracks with some carpenter´s glue. But I agree that the dust cap need to be changed and I have to order one of these along with some black glue (from where?). And then the cleaning of the voice coil gap ... it seems like a January task when everything has settled down after Christmas.

Best regards/Pellets