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Are these EPI M100s worth restoring?

A

Angusmac

New Member
Long story short I was sold these speakers as having been refoamed and the tweeter replaced only to find upon arrival they had napkins stuffed in the surrounds and was missing a tweeter.

I was given a refund but now I have these speakers which don’t work. I have zero experience repairing speakers so I have no idea if it’s foolish to entertain the thought of repairing these and making them sing again. I can’t imagine it would be much cheaper to buy all new parts from human, but please let me know if it’s possible/cost effective for a first time project or is it a fool’s errand.
 

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Those speakers are repairable. This would be a fine project to learn how to restore speakers. If you do some of the work yourself, it will be less expensive than just buying new parts from Human Speakers. For example, a refoam kit is about $17 compared to two woofers from Human Speakers.

The woofers look like original drivers. Remove the tissues behind the cones and see if the cones move freely in and out a short distance. If they do, I would measure the voice coil resistance to ensure there is continuity. If you do not have a volt-ohm-meter, you can place a small battery across the driver terminals and see if the cone moves. Or you could hook up to your stereo and play at VERY LOW volume to see if the woofers work. If that checks out, the woofers can be refoamed. Be sure to use the proper angle or filet (Boston-style) surrounds, not the ones with the flat inner flange. Refoaming woofers, particularly these, is not difficult. Lots of threads here and YouTube videos about refoaming.

As for the tweeters, one is missing everything except the mounting plate and the other looks like tweeter diaphragm and magnet detached from the mounting plate. If all the tweeter parts are in the cabinets, don't throw them away. You may be able to sell/give the parts to someone who has the experience to repair them. The easier path for you to get these speakers working again is to replace both tweeters. Either find a pair on ebay or buy new ones from Human Speakers.

The last thing you need to do is to replace the 10 uF cap in the crossover. You can buy a whole new backplate with new cap from Human Speakers (expensive, but easy) or a new 10 uF poly cap (like an Audyn Q4 from parts express) that will require soldering.

After all this, you will end up with fine sounding speakers.
 
Another option may be to strip out the cabinets and re-stuff them with a kit from Parts-Express ????

Might end up being easier and less expensive than repairing what you have.
 
Angusmac said:
Long story short I was sold these speakers as having been refoamed and the tweeter replaced only to find upon arrival they had napkins stuffed in the surrounds and was missing a tweeter.

I was given a refund but now I have these speakers which don’t work. I have zero experience repairing speakers so I have no idea if it’s foolish to entertain the thought of repairing these and making them sing again. I can’t imagine it would be much cheaper to buy all new parts from human, but please let me know if it’s possible/cost effective for a first time project or is it a fool’s errand.
Click to expand...

Much of that will depend on your skills.
I can't imagine how or why someone would stuff tissue or whatever around the woofer cones like that. I would be surprised if they work well after putting new surrounds on them but you may get lucky.
I agree that replacing the tweeters along with the crossover caps is the way to go.
I don't have any experience with Human Speakers other than Hu answering some questions of mine about his kits. But he seems to be the go-to guy for EPI speakers.
 
I assume the OP did not buy these on eBay. Because if you did, you should put in a complaint. That is a very dishonest seller you bought from.
 
They can be repaired but it's unlikely you'd be able to recoup the cost if you sell them. So you have to ask yourself punk. Do you feel lucky?
 
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homebrew said:
They can be repaired but it's unlikely you'd be able to recoup the cost when you sold them. So you have to ask yourself punk. Do you feel lucky?
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I wouldn't worry about value. But I'd do the repair by finding a replacement tweeter on eBay and using generic surrounds having the appropriate measurements (you can find those cheap on eBay as well).
 
swechsler said:
I wouldn't worry about value. But I'd do the repair by finding a replacement tweeter on eBay and using generic surrounds having the appropriate measurements (you can find those cheap on eBay as well).
Click to expand...

Why use generic surrounds? The proper surrounds are readily available and not expensive. See my post above.
 
If you decide to refurbish them, you could also use the older masonite tweeters. Same diameter as the gold ring versions though the magnet is bigger which may require you to enlarge the opening in the cabinet. If you use the gold ring version, make sure to reinforce the magnet with a bead of glue around the perimeter where it attaches to the plastic face plate. The gold ring version is notorious for the magnet separating from the face plate (as yours have).
 
Depends on how much you want a pair of EPIs. I rehabbed a pair of free M110. Surrounds were shot and one tweeter (and half the associated baffle) were missing. Basic cost to repair was a bit over $50, including a panel of MDF to repair the baffle. Also depends if the woofers haven't sustained any significant damage beyond the surrounds. Surrounds are relatively cheap compared to new or working used woofers. Getting the proper tweeter at a reasonable price may also take some patience, I shopped Ebay and Criag's List for a few weeks. IMAHO they're not worth extreme measures but worthwhile if you can do it at reasonable cost, say equal to or less than the price these were at.
 
Well, if you're stick with them, then I'd just go the human speaker route and buy new woofers and tweeters. It won't be cheap, but they're very nice when restored.
 
RTally said:
Why use generic surrounds? The proper surrounds are readily available and not expensive. See my post above.
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True, I didn't realize that EPI used filleted surrounds. But if the aim is for maximum savings, you can get a pair of Chinese surrounds that would probably work just as well for only a few bucks.

But at any rate, these appear to have real wood veneer, and soundwise, EPI 100s are worth the effort, so I'd spend the $23 for the correct surrounds and whatever it costs you to get a replacement tweeter. Looks like the cheapest one on eBay right now will run you about $50, which isn't great. I don't know if that's the new normal or just current part scarcity; in the recent past you could get them for $25-$30 shipped.
 
Appreciate all the answers, I don’t have a soldering set up at the moment so with the cost of that and parts it’s getting to be more expensive than I’d like. I’m going to just put the speakers aside for now and wait patiently for a deal on tweeters and possibly a used soldering station.
 
Angusmac said:
Appreciate all the answers, I don’t have a soldering set up at the moment so with the cost of that and parts it’s getting to be more expensive than I’d like. I’m going to just put the speakers aside for now and wait patiently for a deal on tweeters and possibly a used soldering station.
Click to expand...

Good idea! I bought a pair of Genesis Physics II speakers last year without getting a chance to look at or hear them beforehand. It was an online auction. Turns out the woofers and passives had been replaced. I looked at ebay for a pair and the cost was too high. especially since I still needed new passives. Instead, I searched patiently, and eventually found another pair for cheap. Between the two of them, I have a pair of nice speakers now for much cheaper than ebay or Human speakers. I got them working the weekend I had to load the storage unit, so I can't even hear them until I get the unit opened up.
 
Used EPI tweeters are easy to find, and not expensive. Ditto the woofers, though refoaming them is easy - large magnet gap so not as fussy as some other speakers. The proper surrounds aren't that much more expensive than generics, but the difference in sound isn't all that great either.

I do think that saying a tweeter has been replaced when you actually mean it has been replaced by a wad of cloth is not exactly full disclosure.
 
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