Wharfedale W60D purple tweeter repair

[sol7]

I had picked up some W60D speakers at an antique shop probably about 2 yrs ago by now. Bought them untested. Didn't pay too much for them so it was a risk I was willing to take. Got them home, hooked them up, and ....blah. They were lacking in the upper end. Fiddled with the pots and no difference. Nothing coming out of the tweeters. Oh well, stuck them in the corner.

Fast forward to today. I figured I'd pull the bad tweeters to figure out dimensions for some new replacements. Hey, since they are already bad, let's see if we can fix them. What do I have to lose?

From the looks of it, these did not "burn out". I seems that the leads to the coil just corroded.

Ok, fine. I'll solder on some new leads and be good to go. Well, I couldn't get the solder to stick to the leads coming from the coil?? I then realized the coil was aluminum wire.

So I looped the aluminum around the copper and soldered the copper. The soldered copper loop would hold the aluminum. That seemed to do the trick.

Then it happens. I was forming the leads to fit under the dome and one of the leads broke off at the coil. That was a good waste of at least an hour. Now if I could just remove the coil from the dome, I'd rewrap it in some copper. Unfortunately, the glue used is not going to give in without damaging the dome.

I had some paper cone tweeters laying around and kinda fitted them in. Sound good until I figure out what I'm going to do for replacements.

 

[Thespeakerdude8]

I just successfully fixed one of these by unwinding one turn on each wire from the coil. The aluminum wire is coated in enamel which burns off the ends with a lighter very easy. Then run under dome and resolder to the posts. Oh, don't forget to make sure there's tape under the bare part of the wires so they don't short to the motor structure! Hopefully you can try unwinding the coil one turn each direction and save yours too!

 

[drbiggles]

Hey,

OoOoOoOo, I love macro shots done well. Thank you!

I don't have any of the purple dome Wharfedale tweeters, yet. But I appreciate your time and effort on the repairs.

What's your impression of the total package from those rigs?

Biggles

 

[sol7]

I just successfully fixed one of these by unwinding one turn on each wire from the coil. The aluminum wire is coated in enamel which burns off the ends with a lighter very easy. Then run under dome and resolder to the posts. Oh, don't forget to make sure there's tape under the bare part of the wires so they don't short to the motor structure! Hopefully you can try unwinding the coil one turn each direction and save yours too!

I'll have to give that a shot, if I didn't trash the tweeters already...

 

[sol7]

Hey,

OoOoOoOo, I love macro shots done well. Thank you!

I don't have any of the purple dome Wharfedale tweeters, yet. But I appreciate your time and effort on the repairs.

What's your impression of the total package from those rigs?

Biggles

I'm glad you enjoyed the macro shots. I think those were with a Canon 100mm macro lens.

Haven't really gave the Wharfs much listening time. If I remember correctly, they seemed to be lacking in the bottom end.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

I'm glad you enjoyed the macro shots. I think those were with a Canon 100mm macro lens.

Haven't really gave the Wharfs much listening time. If I remember correctly, they seemed to be lacking in the bottom end.

That'll get a lot better over time as the woofer surrounds loosen up. The bass is laid-back, but I wouldn't consider them lacking. Don't give up on those (OR the original purple tweets). That W*0D series was high-end. An awful lot of speaker there if you throw some high-quality tube power at them.

 

[mccalljd]

What's the best type of glue for gluing the domes back on?

 

[sol7]

Good question. I would probably just use the glue for foam surrounds. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[mccalljd]

Surely with all the discussion about Wharfedale's purple tweeter and how to repair them, somebody has successfully re-glued the dome back on. Share with us what you used to do it. I couldn't find any thread that mentioned a specific product other than clear nail polish, which seems to me would be a rather weak glue.

 

[sol7]

I would think nail polish would attack the plastic dome material.

 

[mccalljd]

That's my issue, what kind of glue will hold plastic yet not melt or otherwise degrade it?

 

[Rockon1]

I just successfully fixed one of these by unwinding one turn on each wire from the coil. The aluminum wire is coated in enamel which burns off the ends with a lighter very easy. Then run under dome and resolder to the posts.

I did that very thing on a pair of tweeters out of my Mission bookshelf speakers. I think the leads burned out on both from abuse right in the same area those did. Figure theres no "heat sink" there vs where they are wrapped in the VC. Bob

 

[scoloheros]

I have some W60s, some don't like them but they sound good to me. I've hooked up speakers and hated them, but tried the same speakers with another receiver and it's made all the difference, and it's not just a wattage issue.