Experiences with re-foaming speakers?

I'm thinking of doing it to the Advent's in my den.

I like how the speakers sound now, but the foam is definitely going. I'm curious what to expect from the outcome.

How will the refoaming likely change the sound? Will a long "burn in" time be required to get them back to a audio nirvana?

Last, does anyone recommend a place on the web (or in the SF Bay Area) who's considered a first-class Re-Foaming Specialist Extraordinaire?

 

I rebuilt a set of bose 901's many years ago, 18 drivers total. It was a bit tedious, but not that difficult. The kit came with the cones, glue and pretty clear instructions. you need a bit of care removing the foam and respecting the cones (paper in my case), but definitely doable.

 

Rudy reconed his Boston Acoustics. There's a thread about it with links here.

 

Done this lots of times. Last were the woofers in my Dahlquist DQ-10's. The same woffers used by Advent. Several good web sites sell kits with exactly you need, the Advent surrounds, glue, and some even include a VHS lesson tape. It is a piece of cake and the results are as good as expected.

Richard.

 

If you go the DIY route, make sure you get a pair of surrounds that is made for the Advent woofer. Some places will just sell a generic 10" surround, but the foam roll isn't large enough. And it also depends on whether you have a newer or older 10" woofer (with a phenolic ring around the perimeter). Be very specific when ordering...and if you do take them to a shop, hopefully they will know the correct foam to use, and again, not just a generic replacement foam surround. (The Advent drivers have very high excursions.)

Here are two links:

http://www.partsexpress.com (repair kits)
http://www.simplyspeakers.com (sells kits, or also does the service)

My Small Advents were refoamed before I bought them. I don't know what the originals sounded like, but these sound just fine!

Patience and a steady hand are good for a do-it-yourself job.

 

I had one of my sets done a few years back...If you love your speakers, it's a new lease...If your not handy, I'd go the pro route.

 

Thanks all!

I'd say that I'm not that handy.

The whole thing about shimming the voice coil sounds scary, to be honest. I may check into the pro route. I'd rather pay $30-$40 for it to be done right than take the chance of mucking them up.

 

For what it's worth, I only shimmed one pair of speakers I've worked on. These are the ones where I had to put new dust caps on. And while the foams still came out good, the dust caps ruined the sound IMHO. There is a speaker forum over at Madisound, and one of the regulars there told me that he repairs speakers and could get me some of the proper dust caps if I wanted.

Shimming just keeps the woofer centered. If I'm careful enough, I can seat the cone and keep it on center without having to shim it at all. Plus, when I did the pair of A40s and shimmed them, the shims were way too fat, and I ended up having to make my own shim from cardstock. Aaah, well...live 'n' learn!

 

There was an article on re-coning speakers in audio eXpress, June 2002.

In this article, the author re-coned some large woofers with a kit from WVS - Wolf Recone Centers, Fort Wayne, IN. Re-coning is more complex than replacing the surround of course, but in this article the author mentions that the Wolf Kit includes a video by WVS. Apparently, the video shows you looking over the shoulder of WVS owner Tom Colvin doing recones, surrounds, and diaphragm replacements.

Perhaps visiting WVS may help.

Regards,
Geoff

 

Reconing is a whole different animal. I used to have a pair of 6x9 Advent speakers for the car, and one of the woofers went out. The company reconed it, but it sounded nothing like the original woofer--all the bass was gone. Unless the cone were an exact reproduction of the original, I would not have it done. It's a problem if the company is not in business anymore...if they are, it is sometimes not much more money to buy a new driver from them. (Or if you know it is a specific brand of driver, you can often buy it from a speaker supply company for less.)

 

I've heard (but haven't tested this) that giving the foam a dusting of medicated foot powder will delay foam rot. The idea is that mildew attacks the foam and the medicated powder fights off the mildew. A light dusting shouldn't hurt the sound.

I've replaced foam a few times on a pair of speakers until I finally got tired of doing it and got a pair with rubber surrounds. That's one of my criteria for recommending speakers now.

 

So that's what that ordor was! And I thought it was my feet!

 

Right, it was athlete's foam.

 

I got a kit from
http://www.simplyspeakers.com/
and refoamed my Bose Interaudio speakers. These are a traditonal design speaker. Anyway, it was very easy, didn't even have to remove the woofer to do it. Sound fine and I can play them nice and loud again

Ere

 

I had the 250mm drivers refoamed on a pair of Magnat Transpuls TP 35's(cir. 1982 speakers) a couple of years ago. They were difficult to refoam as the tolerances are very exact. I would not do them myself.
They have four drivers, 250mm, 130mm, 40mm and 35mm; crossover pts. @ 250,3k,6k.
They were fairly good monitors in their era.

Alan

 

Had a pair of Boston Acoustics A400s redone by a professional reconing service here in Houston TX. Cost was about $80, and they sounded like new. Not a abad deal considering these speakers cost $900 over 20 years ago.

 

I've seen a couple of A400's on eBay. There's a pair listed now, for $250, in fact. I grabbed my A150s on eBay for a mere $36/pr. I did the refoam myself but I'm not happy with the way they came out--I had a feeling the foam roll was too small, and I was right. The bass is sort of constipated now. Since these are going to be my main speakers in one system, I don't have a problem getting new woofers from Boston. Still a steal for a speaker that was originally $600/pr. Too much midrange, though...I'm going to be tweaking the crossover a little to smooth it out.

 

I re-foamed my vintage Tannoys (15" dual-concentrics) last sumemr all by meeself, and it was a breeze. I found a guy in Australia that warehouses original Tannoy surrounds. I won't pretend it didn't make me nervous, but he sent directions and it really was a breeze..maybe 3 hours to do it (and I took my time) and hten drying overnight. The hardest part was taking a razor blade and shimming off the dust cap in the center. Shimming wasn't really necessary as they stayed centered well. I did not realize until they were restored how much distortion had been there...now they sound brand-new again!
Susan

 

Thanks Gary..I'm rather fond of them!

This looks like a vinyl-lover's heaven!
Susan