Speaker Repair Question

[10range]

I have 3 speakers that I was given that have the spider separated from the cone. Everything else on the drivers is fine. Since the surrounds, voice coils and cones are all still in great shape, is there a way that I can reattach the spider and cone without doing a complete re-cone? Two of the speakers have poly cones and the third is a paper cone. Any suggestions on what type of adhesive to use and the best technique?

[bgavin]

IMO, recone time.
The spider takes a huge amount of stress, and is intimately part of the T/S specs for your driver.

www.speakerrepair.com is Orange County Speaker Repair.
They are not cheap, but do excellent recone work an almost all brands and models.

You didn't mention the driver, but if it is a cheapie or no-name, throw it away.
Reconing cheapies is a waste of your money.
Ditto for reconing inexpensive good drivers.

[Ron K]

What Bruce says about the cheap drivers is very accurate. Not worth it. If they're pro drivers or more expensive type home use units depending on your geographical location try your local music store. Most of them have a reconer that they use who is local and wont cost you any shipping.

Here in Pa. most Music Stores use Meuller Speaker. He's our local reconer who used to recone for Clair Bros. back in the day.

[BrentEvans]

Reconing cheapies is a waste of your money.Ditto for reconing inexpensive good drivers.

+1

I guess it's time that I fess up to being a manager for RadioShack.

One time, we had a customer come in with a blown driver from way-back-when when we had lifetime warranties on them. We sent it out to our in-house repair to be reconed. The repair bill (even in-house) was staggering, well over $150. And this was a "cheap" 12" speaker from an Optimus stereo speaker cab. Unfortunately, they don't make them any more, and reconing was the only option to honor the warranty.

[bgavin]

Replacement with a superior product is a better way to honor the warranty.

A few of my clients own vintage JBL home systems.
The systems with LE15A woofers had the Lansaloy foam surrounds that disintegrate from air pollution.
This is the sort of driver where reconing or re-foaming is appropriate.

Re-foaming takes about an hour per driver, is inexpensive for DIY, and straight forward work.
I have never done a recone, but Bill says it is also straight forward if one is careful.
I put all my old JBL on eBay and let somebody else have the fun.

[BrentEvans]

We offered that but he didnt want mismatched speakers or drivers, and replacing with a different driver would have ended the lifetime aspect of the warranty. I can understand that. He was happy and it wasnt really that big of a deal. He wasnt expecting to get anything, truthfully.

[10range]

Sounds like I will be replacing them. I was given all three speakers and figured that I could fix them cheaply. It will cost less than $100 to replace all three so that sounds like a better option.