Athena WS-100 Woofer replacements

[Rick Knecht]

First post, sorry if i'm in the wrong place.

I have pair of Athena WX-100s that I am in love with: they (along with the WS-60's in back and the mid channel). Bought them 10 years ago or more on Woot!.

Recently, one towers had had quite of bit of distortion/rattling coming from two of three of the woofers. These are Z5DR//61110 -Woofer 3.5" 12ohm Shield, according to http://www.ndgservice.ca/data/pdf/athena.pdf.

1. how do i test the woofers to assure they are the problem?
2. are they (woofers)worth replacing?
3. If so, any suggestions on what to replace them with?

Sean from www.simplyspeakers.com suggested i come over to the forums to ask about this, as they do not have a source for parts...

 

[swechsler]

Did you mean the WS-100? (ETA: yes you did, per the title - I just noted the WX-100 in the text)

If you can isolate the problem to specific woofers, you can first remove those woofers, and see if any wires are rubbing against the cone that could cause vibration. Also check the tinsel (the exposed wire that connects from the terminals to the cone) to make sure it also isn't rubbing. Then check each woofer to make sure that the surround, dust cap and spider (that circular piece of cloth on the inside, glued to the base of the cone and the magnet, it's corrugated) haven't become separated from the cone or the frame. If everything still looks ok, you can swap the woofers with other woofers in the cabinet that sound good, and see if the problem follows the woofers. Make a note of how the wires are connected to each woofer before you disconnect them. Don't look at replacing the woofers until you've ruled out everything else.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Has Athena gone away then? I found that "API markets speaker designs under the names Mirage, Energy, Sound Dynamics, and Athena."

I see the ngd link you posted indicates $47.72 for a woofer, assuming they are actually available.

 

[Rick Knecht]

Did you mean the WS-100? (ETA: yes you did, per the title - I just noted the WX-100 in the text)

If you can isolate the problem to specific woofers, you can first remove those woofers, and see if any wires are rubbing against the cone that could cause vibration. Also check the tinsel (the exposed wire that connects from the terminals to the cone) to make sure it also isn't rubbing. Then check each woofer to make sure that the surround, dust cap and spider (that circular piece of cloth on the inside, glued to the base of the cone and the magnet, it's corrugated) haven't become separated from the cone or the frame. If everything still looks ok, you can swap the woofers with other woofers in the cabinet that sound good, and see if the problem follows the woofers. Make a note of how the wires are connected to each woofer before you disconnect them. Don't look at replacing the woofers until you've ruled out everything else.

Ok, after careful examination, and using a tone generator to get into the 75-120 hz area, here is what i discovered:
On the first speaker, the steel cage is loose from the magnet: i can wiggle it slightly back-and-forth. This speaker definitely has a high buzzing sound. and mid volumes

On the second speaker, i THINK the spider has become detached, see image below. This has a hardsher distortion.

I did check the tinsel, and the position: i swapped the speakers up and down the tower without any change in distortion.

I've uploaded an images to show the issue areas.

are both of these cooked?

And if i needed to replace, where would I start looking?

 

[Rick Knecht]

Has Athena gone away then? I found that "API markets speaker designs under the names Mirage, Energy, Sound Dynamics, and Athena."

I see the ngd link you posted indicates $47.72 for a woofer, assuming they are actually available.

Klipsch Group, Inc., the parent company of Klipsch Audio Technologies, also owns the Danish loudspeaker firm Jamo, and in 2006 acquired the brands of Mirage, Athena and Energy speakers from Audio Products International (API) of Canada.

Does this mean Klipsch may have replacements?

Thank you!

 

[swechsler]

The spider can probably be glued back. It's hard to tell from your picture what's wrong, but I assume you're showing it become disconnected from the throat of the cone. Aleene's tacky glue is the adhesive normally recommended for speaker repairs.

If you can reposition the magnet on the woofer's frame so that the voice coil doesn't rub at all when you push the cone in, you can run a bead of epoxy around the magnet to lock it in place. Figuring out some sort of clamping mechanism might be worthwhile. Be 100% sure you've got it in the correct position before you do this, It might be worth preemptively epoxying the rest of the woofer magnets once you've confirmed that they're all working properly.

 

[Rick Knecht]

The spider can probably be glued back. It's hard to tell from your picture what's wrong, but I assume you're showing it become disconnected from the throat of the cone. Aleene's tacky glue is the adhesive normally recommended for speaker repairs.

If you can reposition the magnet on the woofer's frame so that the voice coil doesn't rub at all when you push the cone in, you can run a bead of epoxy around the magnet to lock it in place. Figuring out some sort of clamping mechanism might be worthwhile. Be 100% sure you've got it in the correct position before you do this, It might be worth preemptively epoxying the rest of the woofer magnets once you've confirmed that they're all working properly.

Being the numbskull i am, of course i upload the wrong image.

The red arrows point at what i assume of the throat of the cone. By flexing the speaker cone, i can expose up 1/8" of the white cylinder, and it is not connected to the spider: it make a crackling noise as it slides.

For application of the glue, is there a guide on how much to use? and application method? If the cone is in its neutral position, the spider is directly next to the cone, which is what i assume is the right position. from that point, there is no sound during manual travel, so i assume it is centered correctly.

 

[swechsler]

If the woofer was properly made, both the cone and spider should be in their center positions when relaxed, so you should be able to simply spread some glue around the cone just above where the spider contacts it, then press the cone in and out a few times so the glue spreads out and under the spider. As far as how much, you'll have to play it by ear, but you want good contact all the way around, but you don't want to affect the mass of the cone too much. So basically, as much as you need, but no more than that (and I know that's not much help. Just don't overdo it).

For the woofer where the magnet is separating from the frame, as long as the magnet is still partially attached and doesn't move radially, you should be OK just epoxying it back in place, again ensuring that you can clamp it back to its original position while the epoxy cures. Don't use Aleene's for this, it won't hold.

 

[toxcrusadr]

On the loose magnet, the sure way to get it right is to carefully slice (with a razor knife) the dust cap off the front of the cone and use some thin shims to center the voice coil around the pole piece. Some people do this when replacing surrounds, some don't. I have not personally re-secured a magnet so I'm just throwing this out there.

Here's an anatomy diagram just to clarify the parts & pieces.




We normally call 'lead-out braids' tinsel leads, and the 'housing' is the basket. Other than that it's a pretty good drawing.

 

[Rick Knecht]

On the loose magnet, the sure way to get it right is to carefully slice (with a razor knife) the dust cap off the front of the cone and use some thin shims to center the voice coil around the pole piece. Some people do this when replacing surrounds, some don't. I have not personally re-secured a magnet so I'm just throwing this out there.

Here's an anatomy diagram just to clarify the parts & pieces.




We normally call 'lead-out braids' tinsel leads, and the 'housing' is the basket. Other than that it's a pretty good drawing.

I think this won't be an issue: the wobble is less than 1 mm. I can barely move it, but it's loose enough to rock (slightly). The connectors that hold them together are still strong, and in place, just a little loose. I'll post a followup once i get the epoxy and sticky glue.

For the epoxy, is JB weld ok? got that in the shop...

tacky glue; i see there a many types. This one? https://www.amazon.com/Aleenes-Orig...rds=Aleene's+Tacky+Glue&qid=1581440717&sr=8-6

 

[swechsler]

Regarding epoxy, anything that's rated for metal use should be fine. And yes, for Aleene's, that the stuff we use.