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Thread: DIY refoam - road to desaster?

  1. #1
    Trying to be nice Infredible's Avatar
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    Question DIY refoam - road to desaster?

    Hi all,

    Over the weekend I became a proud 4343
    owner, thanks to Andrew forum member "mr845".

    They are almost pristine and of course sounds delightful. Only problem is that the
    2231A and 2121 need to be refoamed.

    I called my local speaker shop "A Brown soun" and beeing way behind schedule
    told me that I will have to wait at least three weeks before anything can be done.
    I'm really impatient guy so I'm considering doing it myself using Orange County Speakers refoam kit.
    I've never done this before but I read a lot about it on this forum and I'm a pretty handy guy.
    Do you guys think it's doable or is it too tricky to the point of messing the drivers?
    Any coments are welcome.
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    Bo wrote a good thread about refoaming. I like Rick Cob in Tampa for surround kits. Goes by Looneytunes on E-Bay. Every kit I have ever used by him has been dead on. They are really not that hard to do but the 10's look like they are harder than a 12 or 15. I would do the 15 first.

    mailto:[email protected]


    http://audioheritage.csdco.com/vbull...=NEW+SURROUNDS

    Good Luck

    Rob

  3. #3
    Trying to be nice Infredible's Avatar
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    Thanks Rob,

    I did came across this nice posting and that's what encouraged me to do it myself
    I ordered the foam already from Orange County. I'll check with Looneytunes and compair.

    Fred.

  4. #4
    Paul Joppa
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    Make sure it's the right foam

    A friend re-foamed an LE8T recently - admittedly, a real challenge. There seems to be only one after-market surround that's the right size; it's available from several vendors. These are respected national speaker vendors, and they sell it as a replacement for that specific driver. My friend's dexterity is better than mine, but he said it was a pretty easy task.

    However, even after plenty of break in, the resonance was over 80Hz (spec is around 45Hz)! The foam was probably ten times stiffer than the original. He had to tear it out, get a softer surround locally, and cut it down to the right diameter. Looks strange with the join line (and it's bright red!), but the resonance is now back to 45-50Hz where it belongs, and he has another octave of bass. A fairly frustrating experience, overall.

    It's not always easy to get the right part but the wrong part can be a disaster. And don't believe any stories about "this was made by the company that supplies them to JBL, so it must be identical". It probably isn't!

  5. #5
    Trying to be nice Infredible's Avatar
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    Thanks for the advises.

    Today I came across a web page describing a refoam with photos and the guy tells you to remove the dust cap in order to center the voice coil with some cut business card pieces.
    The question is when looking at Bo's threat there's no mention about centering the coil but to run a 20-30 Hz sine test tone while glue is slowly drying.
    Should I be concerned about centering. To me looks like the spider is pretty stiff enough to maintain the coil in the right place.
    Fred.

  6. #6
    RIP 2014 Ken Pachkowsky's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Infredible
    Thanks for the advises.

    Today I came across a web page describing a refoam with photos and the guy tells you to remove the dust cap in order to center the voice coil with some cut business card pieces.
    The question is when looking at Bo's threat there's no mention about centering the coil but to run a 20-30 Hz sine test tone while glue is slowly drying.
    Should I be concerned about centering. To me looks like the spider is pretty stiff enough to maintain the coil in the right place.
    Fred.
    The short answer is YES. The reason to run the 30hz sine wave is to help center the coil while the glue is still wet. Cleaning off the old glue completely is important. Patience is the key.

    Good Luck

    PS: Our bud in Tampa is the best.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Guido's Avatar
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    I also use surround kits from Rick Cobb.

    Regarding the resonance frequency I had a problem with LE10 surrounds. Couldn't get the Fs lower than 50 Hz on a pair of LE10A. I thought the foam was too stiff.

    Rick ensured me that he uses the surrounds that are used with the original recone kit for LE10. So I ordered again.

    I hope that I'll be closer to spec with the LE10H I'll do shortly.

  8. #8
    delshadowrio
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    I recently refoamed four 4412's without a glitch. I used a tone through the speakers without removing the dustcaps. They perform beautiful.

    The help in this forum took the fear out of DIY. It was alot easier than I expected. As mentioned above, get all of the old glue off and be patient. Its worth every minute spent.

    Enjoy

    MM

  9. #9
    Senior Seņor boputnam's Avatar
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    Originally posted by delshadowrio
    I recently refoamed four 4412's without a glitch. I used a tone through the speakers without removing the dustcaps. They perform beautiful.
    bo

    "Indeed, not!!"

  10. #10
    Trying to be nice Infredible's Avatar
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    So after all the advises I ordered the foam from Rick and I'm going to do it mylsef.
    I will be patient and I hope I'm going to be rewarded with a nice speaker to listen to for years.
    I will let you know how it goes.
    Thanks,

    Fred.

  11. #11
    Obsolete
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    Re: DIY refoam - road to desaster?

    Originally posted by Infredible
    Hi all,

    Over the weekend I became a proud 4343 owner.
    Well that's certainly something fun to do over the weekend!

    Congrats!

  12. #12
    Trying to be nice Infredible's Avatar
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    Thanks Giskard.
    I wanted those since I was 12 when I first eard
    them. Now 28 years after I finaly have them
    And the best is that my girlfriend love them too She says that the JBL blue matches that of our loft

    Fred.

  13. #13
    Regis
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    Speaking of speaker refoam...

    I've done about a half dozen of these successfully, except for the last one, an Altec 12" woofer from the Nine II's. These are the ones with the humongous 13.5 inch frames and the very wide foam surrounds. I did the first one awhile back with the 30hz test tone and got the surround right and it's sounded good ever since. The second one, I laid the speaker cabinet on it's back like I've done before, ran the test tone and centered the cone until there was no noise. Retried four times while the glue tried. Perfectly quiet.

    Later on that evening (ten hours later) I demo'd them and the latest repaired woofer had total voice coil rub going on. I suspect the large Altec surrounds sag somewhat from gravity and allow the voice coil to touch. Should I have did the final alignment with the speaker in a vertical position? Or just like the others in the horizontal? Going to end up redoing them again and I just want to make sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

    Regis

  14. #14
    Senior Seņor boputnam's Avatar
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    Hey, Regis...

    I'll take a stab at this: If I understand your post, I've personally never done a transducer mounted in the baffle - I always do them separately, on the bench. That way, you're not asking the cone to move any air, per se, during the centering - you're only asking the voicecoil to move (relatively slowly) in the gap to stay centered. With the woofer mounted in the baffle, you're asking it to do some work, while trying to get it to center. Maybe that conflicted with your effort...? I don't know.

    I've done a few of those same Altec 12's you're referring to (but did them loose, on the bench...), and they did not suffer the plight you describe.
    bo

    "Indeed, not!!"

  15. #15
    Regis
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    I'll try that

    I'll try them out of the box. The only reason I did it that way, was because the wires were there for the crossover, but a few alligator clips and extra wire will fix that, or run it directly from the speaker wire (?). With the set, I'll have an extra surround in case this one doesn't come out. I'm tempted to tip it up vertical to make sure. Thanks Bo.

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