Tips for saving ancient loudspeakers?

[N_Cook]

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

N_Cook wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

Recone the thing.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

 

[spamtrap1888]

On Oct 15, 12:36 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

If you attempt to splint or reinforce that area, perhaps with a collar
of paper, you will change the mass and thus lower the output. If the
speaker is meant to reproduce a wide frequency range, it will no
longer go up as high in frequency.

Acoustic design of speaker cones relies on the shape of the cone and
the material from which it's made. Speakers meant to be woofers only
are the least demanding -- you merely have to get the mass right.
Midrange and full range speaker performance depends largely on the
diaphragm material.

 

[gregz]

"N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

Does it play? I would have to see it.

Greg

 

[Ron]

On 15/10/2011 18:39, gregz wrote:

"N_Cook"<diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

Does it play? I would have to see it.

Greg

I missed the original post, but, if it's of any value take it to Paul
at Wembley Loudspeakers.

Ron(UK)

 

[hrhofmann@att.net]

On Oct 15, 2:36 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil join
and radially out.

If it actually works, and just the paper is going bad, try spraying
the cone with an aeresol(sp) spray varnish, a little at a time until
you get the stiffness that you think it should be. If the flexible
portion around the perimeter is going, a very thin layer of spray
adhesive may hold things together.

 

[N_Cook]

<hrhofmann@att.net> wrote in message
news:a4090d06-4ee9-4c42-ba31-33f245e3e6b4@a12g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...
On Oct 15, 2:36 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened
with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled
torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil
join
and radially out.

If it actually works, and just the paper is going bad, try spraying
the cone with an aeresol(sp) spray varnish, a little at a time until
you get the stiffness that you think it should be. If the flexible
portion around the perimeter is going, a very thin layer of spray
adhesive may hold things together.


+++++

This is a 12 inch Jensen speaker of about 1960. I suspect the periphery
corrugations that should flex, had hardened up over the decades. Owner not
overdrive abusing , I removed the central dome to check how much rubbing
there was, no obvious scoring but did brush in some silicone oil. The VC
showed through the gap in the former , as the original unusual green
enamelling (not copper carbonate), looked fine. I covered this central area
with a silicone bakeware cupcake mould and blasted the worst cockled areas
with hot air on a low setting and pushed back wirth a spoon. In the end
perhaps 50 percent of the original cockling. Then some spray adhesive in
that cockled area
Next time I may try hotter temp or try chemical to soften the card , water?
diluted paint stripper? a small test patch initially whatever chosen. I
think next time it would be a hotter temp of hot air and a matching cone of
wood as a former , pushed in place, while cooling. There was some small
cracks in the cone near the outer edge, 1mm hotmelt string "soldered" in
those. After all that, here was still some very slight rubbing at the core,
flexing the cone in by hand, perhaps the VC former needs remoulding as well,
but it seems to work well enough to reduced power levels without distortion.
Do the electromagnetic forces , form the former into more of a circle during
powering?

 

[spamtrap1888]

On Oct 17, 12:15 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

hrhofm...@att.net> wrote in message

news:a4090d06-4ee9-4c42-ba31-33f245e3e6b4@a12g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...
On Oct 15, 2:36 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Anyone aware of a site of such tips for renovation.
About 50 years old. Looks as though the card of the cone hase weakened
with
age, probably like the paper of books goes brown and crumbly over time.
Looks as though the central cone area probably has failed to resist the
returning force of the periphery and the spider and has buckled
torsionally
but not split in that inner zone ,one or so inches, from the voice coil
join
and radially out.

If it actually works, and just the paper is  going bad, try spraying
the cone with an aeresol(sp)  spray varnish, a little at a time until
you get the stiffness that you think it should be. If the flexible
portion around the perimeter is going, a very thin layer of spray
adhesive may hold things together.

+++++

This is a 12 inch Jensen speaker of  about 1960. I suspect the periphery
corrugations  that should flex, had hardened up over the decades. Owner not
overdrive abusing , I removed the central dome to check how much rubbing
there was, no obvious scoring but did brush in some silicone oil.  The VC
showed through the gap in the former , as the original unusual green
enamelling (not copper carbonate), looked fine. I covered this central area
with a silicone bakeware cupcake mould and blasted the worst cockled areas
with hot air on a low setting and pushed back wirth a spoon. In the end
perhaps 50 percent of the original cockling. Then some spray adhesive in
that cockled area
Next time I may try hotter temp or try chemical to soften the card , water?
diluted paint stripper? a small test patch initially whatever chosen. I
think next time it would be a hotter temp of hot air and a matching cone of
wood as a former , pushed in place, while cooling. There was some small
cracks in the cone near the outer edge, 1mm hotmelt string "soldered" in
those. After all that, here was still some very slight rubbing at the core,
flexing the cone in by hand, perhaps the VC former needs remoulding as well,
but it seems to work well enough to reduced power levels without distortion.

Are you aware that there are recone kits for these classic speakers,
along with reconing companies?

http://www.jensendealer.com/vin_accessories.htm#

Why spend so much time trying to half-ass a solution? I'm assuming the
owner wants to use this half-century old unit, and not keep it as a
curiosity.

If you buy a recone kit, you will need to make a centering jig for the
voice coil. We used a short, thickwalled aluminum tube the diameter of
the steel slug, with a plastic tube that slipped over the Al tube. The
plastic tube's outer diameter was the inner diameter of the voice
coil. Glue down the spider and the surround (an Elmer's-type glue will
suffice. When dried, remove the jig and glue on the dust cap. Then
take the voice coil braid and solder to the lugs, being careful to
provide sufficient slack for the full excursion of the cone, without
allowing the braid to slap the cone or the housing.

Do the electromagnetic forces , form the former into more of a circle during
powering?

No