Nice score. You did good.
As far as repairing the woofer, if you repair one, repair both. Best to keep them matched as closely as possible. As to the repair, I'll always recommend Bill LeGall at Millersound. Bill is a speaker repair genius, and is especially good, and knowledgeable, with Infinity. You can call Bill for a quote, and then just ship him the woofers. No need to send the entire speaker. Bill has very reasonable rates.
Now, the rear foam. Those mids are open to the rear, and that foam is the damping material for the dipole planar midranges. That foam seems to degrade over time, but I actually thought the foam on your speakers looked very good. I've seen worse, where the foam had completely disintegrated! Check with Bill on the damping foam, he might have ideas on that too.
This is a picture of Bill's personal pair of Infinity IRS speakers (he owns 2 pair). Bill tweaked, modded, repaired, and matched every driver in the speakers. He then reassembled the speakers, to where each EMIM was impedance matched with it's corresponding mate, in the other speaker! Talk about dedication!
6Moons article 1
6Moons article 2
The woofers are Watkins woofers. A proprietary dual voice coil design. The woofers are no longer made, and are very rare. Unobtanium. So, if they get screwed up during a refoam, you're FUBAR.
That makes perfect since. I saw some new old stock of them online for 290euro/ea. which I'm not certain are still even available and there are not currently any others to be found so i understand their rarity. I will definitely talk to bill and see what he says.
Damn cats.
I came here to say run, you did good. Those are not the typical foam surround. Those are rubber. Damn cats, that why I own none.
If those were mine, and I like doing things myself. I'd send those woofers out for repair. Totally agree with Stimpy, they are beautifully made woofers and worth the ride. It'll be along time before you'll have to do it again.
A local fabric store may have what you need to replace the grill fabric. It's dark black....lol if that makes sense, it's really black.
Congrats.
My Kitties have the upmost respect for my stereo gear...! They'd better...!
Awesome! Thank you. It sounds like i should send them off. I am pretty combatant when it comes to the hands on with repairs, but as long as its somewhat reasonable i will most likely be sending these to bill as i do not want to hurt them. does anybody have an idea of what these are worth? I may live with the repairs for the time being if doing the surrounds brings my cost above what they are worth. I just really wish he would have done a clean repair from the backside.
I left Bill a voicemail asking for a quote so hopefully I will hear back from him soon and I can make a decision on what to do for the time being.
Good job!
I'm typically the DIY type. In fact, my Acoustic Research AR90 speakers, are in the upstairs Den, even now, disassembled and scattered about. I just finished recapping, and adding new resistors, to both sections of the crossover boards, the woofers and Lower Mid-Range woofers are all refoamed, and I've added Dynamat to all the speaker baskets. A cabinet refinish is up next. And for all that, I'd still send those Ren 80 woofers to Bill, for the refoam!!! No need in taking unnecessary chances!!!
Bad Kitty.
If the repair, as unsightly as it may seem, is doing the job without leaking or buzzing, I'd leave it be.
That scar is going not going to disappear.
Perhaps reinforcement on the back side with a small amount of Ailene's or a type of glue Millersound might recommend.