JBL 4425 refoaming problem

[podman]

Question: I just finished refoaming the 12 inch 2214H woofer in one of my JBL 4425s and am now getting an awful distortion from it.

Hoping maybe I did a crappy job of refoaming and that air is leaking around the foam (glued on backside of cone, but it was hard to spread evenly because replacement foam surround is so rubber-bandy tight).

But worried that what really happened is that I played the speaker awhile before hearing distortion and realizing I had a problem - when I pulled the grill, I was sad to discover the foam was all broken up.

Is it likely I damaged the 2214H driver by playing it (fairly loud - that rumbly bass intro to the VH track "Up For Breakfast") while the foam was breaking up (unbeknownst to me)? Thinking may have misaligned the voice coil or something.

Would welcome any advice on diagnosing / next steps.

Pretty close to giving up and sending to JBL for full recone, but guessing that may be mighty expensive ~$200? And there don't really seem to be "updated" versions of the discontinued 2214s for sale anywhere that I could just put in there...

BTW -I'm a newbie on the Lansing forum - just found it searching for help with my 4425s - lots of great stuff here!

[edgewound]

Recone on 2214H is $178.00

Sounds like you received the wrong surround. It shouldn't be "rubber bandy" tight like you stated, but it should fit close. Could be the cone is now out of round from a squeezing surround which would, in turn, de form the voice coil.

Another thing that happens with 2214H's is the spider has a tendency to tear away from the coil former at the spider/cone/coil joint.

It's possible that they are salvageable....maybe not.

[podman]

Thanks - very helpful. I think I got the right foam - ordered kit from speakerrepair.com
11-012-W-JBL 12" JBL Speaker Repair Foam Re-edge Kit for
128H, 129H, 2214H, and many more.
Its kind of more like belt-drive turntable tight, not so much rubber-bandy.

Thanks for info on recone cost - I've done more research now - most reconing kits (I know JBL
doesn't sell them except to authorized dealers) seem to include foam, cone, dustcap, spider,
and voicecoil all preassembled. So - just so I understand - speakers are always fixable
with a recone kit - they are never completely unrepairable - right?

Also, is there any way I can tell if speaker is blown before sending in- like checking with ohm meter?

Thanks so much for your help...

[subwoof]

POST pictures if you want qualified replies...otherwise it is pure guesswork.

sub

[edgewound]

. So - just so I understand - speakers are always fixable
with a recone kit - they are never completely unrepairable - right?

Also, is there any way I can tell if speaker is blown before sending in- like checking with ohm meter?

Thanks so much for your help...

When the speaker is reconed properly with the correct kit, it will perform as new.

You can check the voice coil with an ohmmeter to see if it's got continuity, but that's no guarantee it's still workable...but maybe it is. The voice coil former could also be damaged on the bottom end. No telling without taking the dome off and looking inside. Lots of possible failures.

[podman]

Great to know that reconing will bring them back to life - will poke around a bit more, then probably send in for full recone. Thanks again!

[podman]

Dear Edgewound-

Good news - I figured out the problem was that when I first refoamed, the cone was ever so slightly off center, causing rubbing of voice coil. I checked the cone / spider joint, all good, so figured maybe simple fix.

I recentered cone - carefully pushing on dome as well as about 2 inches up to make sure didn't rub, and then glued again. Refoamed the other 2214H as well, cured both overnight, put them up this AM and they are rocking!

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement!

Podman

[edgewound]

Hey...good job, Podman!

Glad to be of help.