I'm a beginner here so any advice or help would be much appreciated. I saved some 501s from going to the dump that were my father in laws. They are functioning, but the sound leaves a bit to be desired. To start one speaker is worse than the other. It has more cracks and seems to be cutting in and out or volume is fluctuating as if its a power issue. The other seems ok but definitely needs a clean up. Both are visually in great shape and have been sitting in the original boxes for decades. I'd like to get them sounding better and fully functional but not sure what I should be looking for. I removed the grills (used a screw driver and pried gently) and was able to snap some pics. If anyone has experience or recommendations on what I should be looking for or what to fix I'd be much appreciated. They will definitely need refoamed as you'll see in the pictures.
Bose 501 - Diagnose and Repair
- Thread starter 501noob
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I would refoam the woofers and then see if the other problems resolve themselves. An uncontrolled voice coil bouncing around in a magnetic gap is likely to cause erratic behavior by the lightbulb protection system and maybe the amp. So who knows what is going on? Solve the obvious issue and then see what you need to do.
Ziinda
Active Member
I had a single 501 at one time and I tore it apart just out of curiosity. The cloth has tons of staples and glue holding them on and the backing is hardboard that can easily crack when removing it.
The components inside were very unremarkable in quality and design seemed to make little sense.
What struck me most just how poorly they were set up. Very cheaply designed with no precision at all. Very much like a first run DIY made from without pre-planning or detailed drawings.
From what I heard, you're not too far off from what I heard but my wife was like new looking. They mid looking tweeters reminded me a lot of the old Panasonic trustees or other 1970s cheap stuff from lowest rack systems.
I tore out the driver's since I had a set rule of thumb that determined the speakers fate. It was quality of sound, value of speaker compared to overall size, it was too big to keep it since it had little value and no demand for a single sale.
I'd try new surrounds, I'm sure I have some laying around that would work. Then you'll know if you wasted money and time once they're up and running.
I wouldn't invest much. If I was needing to buy surrounds, I'd not spend over $4 each and make sure you measure the cones inside glue edge, outer cone edge, inside flange edge and outer diameter of the surround and see if I could find one that close. You can always trim inside and outside edges but it's best to try to fit in a usable fashion (not going to much larger or amaller) hitting the other 2 dimensions are most important since they can't be changed.
The components inside were very unremarkable in quality and design seemed to make little sense.
What struck me most just how poorly they were set up. Very cheaply designed with no precision at all. Very much like a first run DIY made from without pre-planning or detailed drawings.
From what I heard, you're not too far off from what I heard but my wife was like new looking. They mid looking tweeters reminded me a lot of the old Panasonic trustees or other 1970s cheap stuff from lowest rack systems.
I tore out the driver's since I had a set rule of thumb that determined the speakers fate. It was quality of sound, value of speaker compared to overall size, it was too big to keep it since it had little value and no demand for a single sale.
I'd try new surrounds, I'm sure I have some laying around that would work. Then you'll know if you wasted money and time once they're up and running.
I wouldn't invest much. If I was needing to buy surrounds, I'd not spend over $4 each and make sure you measure the cones inside glue edge, outer cone edge, inside flange edge and outer diameter of the surround and see if I could find one that close. You can always trim inside and outside edges but it's best to try to fit in a usable fashion (not going to much larger or amaller) hitting the other 2 dimensions are most important since they can't be changed.