JBL 2225H with broken cones

[ronned2tm]

I recently acquired a pair of JBL 2225H's along with two 2226H's, two 2445J's and some other stuff in a trade deal.
Just a couple of days ago, I took a look at the two 2225H's and was sad to discover that both cones were broken!!! (Just like my heart, when I discovered the poor drivers' condition )
I suspect this might be a bad recone job and maybe even reconed with unoriginal kits, but I am not sure. The voice coil is undamaged.
My problem is that I wish to bring these to drivers back to working condition, but it is actually more expensive to acquire original JBL-kits, than to buy used 2225H's.
There are actually 4 drivers for sale locally, that are sold cheaper than what two original recone kits would cost (excluding labour cost)

I just HATE the thought throwing the baskets in the trash, but 2235H kits are virtually unobtainable for reasonable prices in Europe and used 2225H's are cheaper than kits.

What would you do if they were yours?

[Earl K]

Thanks for the close-ups!

To these eyes, those cones look to be original JBL .

I guess if I were stuck, I would consider first trying to fix those circumferential splits ( & if that didn't work ) graft a different ( aftermarket ) cone onto the existing voice-coil /spider assembly ( & then create a franken-speaker ) .

Here's a substitute cone that looks promising .

One could try making a substitute ( short-coil ) 2234H with a cone like that.

The thing to do ( before installing this cone ) would be to stiffen the paper somewhat by coating it with a euro-sourced version of JBL's aquaplas.

Here in North America, I suspect ( though I have yet to try it ) that Duratex from Acry-Tech could be a good standin.





PS; Don't throw anything away / I'm sure the JBL scavengers over there could use something that you have.

[mech986]

The 2225H frames will always have a residual value as frames for 2235H conversion as long as the magnetic gap is even and not shifted. Someone will want them for that purpose who wouldn't mind paying the cost for OEM JBL kits or convert them with good aftermarket kits. So the trash bin should not be considered if possible.

as for cone saving and repairs, hard to see how this could be repaired without some very different cone resonances due to having a new glue joint line around the are outside of the voice coil. I suppose if the woofer is not asked to run into the midbass or midrange, it might work. I'd just be worried about how the cone would react to high power low hz smacks like a heavy bass drum or explosions sound effect.

OTOH, maybe this could be used as a pair of cut down cones for a 2203 type driver? At the very least, the coil and maybe spider could be salvaged as parts too.