Worth fixing?

[Mjcaron]

As I was looking for the correct forum to post this question, I must say it's amazing the direction some of these threads go. More drama then day time TV. Very entertaining.
Anyway, this is a L166 cabinet I got on eBay. The pictures didn't do them justice. Cabinet corners seem to be separating for whatever reason and I'm not sure how to fix them. The structial intregriterity (such as it is) I'm sure is compromised and with drivers reinstalled, I suspect they will finish rattling apart. I have drivers that will fit these cabinets and 0 invested so do I fix them? And if yes, how.
thanks for any feedback,
Mike

[1audiohack]

It's hard to tell if you could inject some wood glue in the gaps and clamp them tight or not. Not much to loose trying.

Some of the drama queens are gone so the Jerry Springer entertainment quality of this site is down a bit.

Good luck with the project!

Barry.

[Mjcaron]

Thanks Barry. That's what I was thinking too. Perhaps I'll see if a clamp would pull the corners back together first . Not sure what could've caused it, I don't see any water damage and no signs of floor impact.
Thanks for the reply and I'm disappointed to hear that the DQ's are gone. Well I second thought, not really.
Regards,
Mike

[rdgrimes]

Looks like moisture damage a little. Just sitting in a damp room can do it. That old fiberboard tends to fall apart after moisture.

Maybe try a "test clamping" without glue just to see if you can draw them back together at all.

[Mjcaron]

Do you think a band type of clamp would be the best? One of the boxes has a dent on its corner so maybe it got racked out of alignment. I suspect you are right about moisture being the culprit ultimately though. I will see if they can be pulled tighter together. Can't just toss them even though that would be the quickest fix.

[Ed Kreamer]

Greetings Mike;

i think the cabinets are toast. It looks like water damage to me. The particle board swells up and that's it. I have had similar disasters with my Altec 890's and JBL 4410's, due to a leak in my garage while moving.
I attempted a repair them but with no luck. I took them to a cabinet shop and was told that it would not be worth attempting to do so. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer. I now have my speakers re boxed.

Ed

[rdgrimes]

Do you think a band type of clamp would be the best? One of the boxes has a dent on its corner so maybe it got racked out of alignment. I suspect you are right about moisture being the culprit ultimately though. I will see if they can be pulled tighter together. Can't just toss them even though that would be the quickest fix.

Banding clamps have some limitations, and you can't apply a directed pressure. Plain old cabinet clamps with some 1x4s for cushion. But honestly I don't think you have anything to lose either way.

[Mjcaron]

Greetings Mike;

i think the cabinets are toast. It looks like water damage to me. The particle board swells up and that's it. I have had similar disasters with my Altec 890's and JBL 4410's, due to a leak in my garage while moving.
I attempted a repair them but with no luck. I took them to a cabinet shop and was told that it would not be worth attempting to do so. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer. I now have my speakers re boxed.

Ed

I think you're absolutely right Ed . As as much as I would like to salvage these and bring them back to life. I'm afraid it's a lost cause. With the MDF swollen from its original dimensions it's impossible to bring The corners back together. I put enough clamp pressure on one of them to make it talk to me a little bit. Still the joint did not go back together.
Since it's the fall, I think I'll see what they look like with mum's planted in the lower frequency holes.
Thanks everybody for your help, very much appreciated .

[ARMED]

i would