My Woofers

[Ed]

I have a pair of Sony speakers, the traditional tweeters, midrange's and 12" Woofers.....I stored them in my closet a while inside, I got them out the other day and "both" woofers (the foam stuff that goes around them) is coming off!!!!! I was horrified when I saw this, can this be fixed OR are they goners?? Please Advise

[Dj Buik]

This is a known problem with several speakers. After many years the soft foam is worn out.
To repair it is very expensive.
Replacing speakers with the same size could be a problem, because then the acoustic changes.
All speakers are 'custum' build because of their crossover frequencies between high, mid and low speakers.

Hope this makes sense, because my english is limited.

[milky]

Google for "Speaker Surrounds" and you will find plenty of repair kit options. I had some very expensive Infinity speakers for many years and the foam eventually gave out. I replaced them and they are still working today. However, it is not for the feint-hearted, because you have to cut away the old foam, align the cone perfectly and then glue the edge of the new rings very accurately. If you are a bit off, the cone may scrape on the centre magnet, so don't be in a rush.

It may be a whole lot easier to simply source another set of 12" woofers. As DJ Buik says, not all speakers are made equal, so simply replacing them with something which fits in the same hole may not be the perfect solution, as the impedance may be different, or the "free air resonance" may not match the original Sonys. They may work, but may not be optimised to the crossover circuit developed by the manufacturer. If you could source a set of identical Sony replacements, that would be the best option.

[Ed]

Thanks milky, I found a original foam repair kit for my exact model woofers @ Simplyspeakers.com, $25 for a pair...beats buying new speakers, wish me luck.

[Jammin' Adam]

Ed,

I had to do both of my surrounds on my Klipsch PC Subwoofers, the most important thing is to make sure the Voice Coil stays centered in it's gap during the process, one way I achieved this was by using a 3V lithium button cell battery and energizing the voice coil when installing the surround, this keeps the coil centered while you position the new surround and will either raise or lower the speaker cone depending on the polarity hookup.

My surrounds were glued to the underside of the cone, so for me the 3V raised the cone enough to allow me to install the new surround without too much interference from the basket, and I cut the power once the surround is in position. Then I had to reverse the polarity to draw the cone down low enough to get my little finger inside the basket (6.5" Speakers, not much room.) to press the surround to the cone for good glue adhesion then cut the power again.

If your surrounds are glued to the top side of the cone then a 1.5V AAA or button cell should work just as well to keep the coil centered in the gap while positioning the new surround.

Otherwise read and understand the instructions provided with the kit and good luck.

I'm very happy with my results, it's great to have my 15 year old subwoofer booming low end again.

[milky]

A rolled business card, toothpicks or matchsticks, depending on the air gap may keep the coil centred.

Good luck, Ed.

[dickus51]

  I fixed B&O speakers too and it is worth it, steady hand