Does this sound right?

[Boss96]

Thanks for the pic, Rob, it looks like you have a different material surround than I do, looks like the generic ones I have access to.
Could I impose on you a little more though ? This is asking a lot but if you would, could you remove the woofer and take a horizontal pic of the spider in relation to the magnet base so I can see how "level" the spider is on your speaker?
If it's too much trouble I understand.
Bob

[GordonW]

When I went to refoam my 2214Hs I bought the kit from OCS. When I got it home the foam was about one quarter inch to small in the diameter. I went back to OCS and one of the Sunda brothers showed me their proprietory method of adjustment. He took the foam and stretched it gently at many regular intervals around the circumference and voila! correct diameter. He said the original surrounds are no longer available and this is how they resurround them. After ripping one in half, I successfully "adjusted" two other ones and they fit like champs and still look great. Seem to work great too.

That's not true, I can order the original 2214 surrounds... I just checked, and they're definitely still available. I was also told that there is NO issue of them going out of production... that they should be available for the forseeable future.

I've done the surround stretching thing before, and it does work fine... but it shouldn't be necessary on a 2214...

[Zilch]

That's not true, I can order the original 2214 surrounds.

Well, let's be clear here. By "Original," you're not talking from JBL, who does not supply surrounds alone, rather, from third-party aftermarket sources, right?

And there are several such sources, some of which may not have or make surrounds for particular drivers?

[transducergeek]

When I went to refoam my 2214Hs I bought the kit from OCS. When I got it home the foam was about one quarter inch to small in the diameter. I went back to OCS and one of the Sunda brothers showed me their proprietory method of adjustment. He took the foam and stretched it gently at many regular intervals around the circumference and voila! correct diameter. He said the original surrounds are no longer available and this is how they resurround them. After ripping one in half, I successfully "adjusted" two other ones and they fit like champs and still look great. Seem to work great too.

This is very interesting to me. Could you explain in even more detail how this was accomplished? What is the spacing between tugs? If you applied some heat from a hair dryer would that help? Or just melt things? How much "torque" or pull force? DO you go around many times? or just once? Thanks, Rolf E

[GordonW]

Well, let's be clear here. By "Original," you're not talking from JBL, who does not supply surrounds alone, rather, from third-party aftermarket sources, right?

And there are several such sources, some of which may not have or make surrounds for particular drivers?

Correct. "Original" refers to the dimensions... same exact SIZE as the original.

For someone to say "they're not available anymore"... well, that may be true for ONE aftermarket supplier, but it's obviously NOT true for ALL of them!

Regards,
Gordon.

[GordonW]

This is very interesting to me. Could you explain in even more detail how this was accomplished? What is the spacing between tugs? If you applied some heat from a hair dryer would that help? Or just melt things? How much "torque" or pull force? DO you go around many times? or just once? Thanks, Rolf E

Heat is a BAD idea... non-uniformity in heating will make things un-even in a horrifying way. Heat is OK for "re-centering" spiders (ie, fabric), but it's a no-no for foam surrounds.

Stretching is a process that is better done in small increments... a bit of "tugging" in one place, then move incrementally around the circle. You want to go around several times, tugging just slightly each increment, until you reach the diameter you want.

Regards,
Gordon.

[andresohc]

The way I do it is my best recollection of how he showed me. Basically I spaced my hands about six inches apart and pull with a medium level force, and move my fingers maybe half an inch do it again, and repeat around the surround as many times as necessary to get the correct adjustment. As I found out when I tore a surround, small increments and patience work a lot better then a lot of force and a few pulls. Also I tried with less length of surround between my fingers but found it easier to stretch uniformly with a longer section and a lot of overlap. It worked well. I should qualify my quote of the OCS people regarding availability of the exact size surround. They were basically showing me how to get it to work.