ADS a/d/s sticky midrange shipping disaster

Briant8

Active Member
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Hi all,
So I sprung on those ADS midranges on the auction site here recently in order to replace a bad one on a set of L990’s.

Fortunately they came packed very well to protect them from outside evil forces.

UNfortunately on the inside, they came wrapped in an (impressive) amount of plastic bubble wrap.

Only

Directly on those magnificently sticky domes...

(Can you see where this story is going )

Sooo... anyways, yep. Plastic stuck tight!

After a few nights reading pretty much every ADS sticky driver cleaning thread I could find, I decided that heat and prayer were the way to go.

With a bit of gentle hairdryer heating and a toothpick, I was able to slowly pry the plastic from the domes.
The plastic came off cleanly, but what was left is what you see in the attached pics.
Clumpy glops of the doping goo on the dome.

Any thoughts?
Any ideas on how to smooth it out?
Should I even try?
Will it make a difference?

Thanks much for any wisdom,
Brian
 
Ouch!! I had a similar experience except the culprit was packing peanuts instead of bubble wrap. It was a mess.

Your best bet is to request a refund/return. There shouldn't be an issue since the drivers are clearly damaged due to the seller's packing job. Another driver will eventually show up for sale.

I hope that someone comes forward with a way to fix them, but I wouldn't hold my breath. It is unlikely that there is a way to smooth out the goo that is left. I've tried a few different methods without anything even close to success.

Most likely, the midranges will still make sound, and it might not be that bad. However, I wouldn't have any confidence that they would be "right enough" to make one happy.
 
Hope you are getting money back from the seller. If so, you could foward both to Richard So for repair.
 
Spray with Starting fluid gently..and or soak Q-Tip with the Starting fluid.. gently wipe
Let dry.

If you must keep it...
 
Can they be cleaned and re-doped?
Nope. We mortals do not know the a sealer recipie of the sticky coating, which is an integral part of the dome and sound. You can try using toluline with a q-tip and very carefully see if it will thin the dope to try to spread it out and smooth it.
Have you tried hooking them up to see how they sound?
You may just need to sent them to Richard So for rebuilding and call it a day.
 
Nope. We mortals do not know the a sealer recipie of the sticky coating, which is an integral part of the dome and sound.
--
You may just need to sent them to Richard So for rebuilding and call it a day.

Richard So is immortal? :)
 
Once a piece of newspaper made a point to become stuck to an L810 mid dome.
I thought I'd moisten the paper and simply peel it off.

I agree with Hal, damage in transit.
Refund, although it will sound just fine.
 
What a putrid mess. Take it up to 150 degree Celsius and re-melt that evil stuff, pick out the bits of plastic and see how it all pans out when it cools down.
 
Brian8: I would advise you against trying to dissolve and redistribute the coating until after you work out any refund/return. Once you start trying to "fix" them, they will pretty much be yours. I've tried redissolve method and it resulted in a uneven coating that was very much thinner than the original (and had Q-tip fuzz in the coating). I wish I had taken some pictures to show the results. Maybe someone else that is suggesting this method can post a picture of their results. It would be very unfortunate to pay for the drivers AND have a hacked up repair job.

Sending them to Richard So is always an option. Was there a reason why you didn't send the original drivers to Richard instead of buying replacements?

I noticed that the drivers that you purchased were different model numbers. You should understand the differences in the drivers (i.e. magnets/face plates, etc.) before having them rebuilt. I noticed that the dome colors are different. They may come back from Richard as a matched pair, but not looking like the either of the purchased drivers. Verify this with Richard if this is important to you. Rebuilding the original drivers may be the better option. Or possibly, the worse of the originals and the eBay one with the matching part number. This would allow you to have a good spare.
 
Too late to say this now but maybe cold instead of hot would have been a better option.
Some adhesives lose their stickiness when cold and actually get more sticky when heated.
 
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