Those look great.
Diatone DS-35B mkII surround dilema
- Thread starter Donald&Lydia
- Start date
Still holding up?
I'm debating doing mine. I finally got my DS-50CS back on the road after importing woofers from Japan. I don't think I ever treated the surrounds and they are pretty stiff. I feel like there's a hole in the upper bass - lower bass is there, but knowing the surrounds are stiff, I'm playing mind games with myself.
So I'd love to know (a) if yours are still nice and soft, and (b) if my description of seeming like I'm missing the upper bass fits as a symptom of stiff surrounds. Thanks!
Lo-Fidelity
Super Member
That’s great on the correct woofers.
Got some JJ Cale running through mine right now. I too bought the AR sealer but have been reluctant to use on my 50s. I am also interested in the follow up.
Got some JJ Cale running through mine right now. I too bought the AR sealer but have been reluctant to use on my 50s. I am also interested in the follow up.
Donald&Lydia
Member
Mine are holding up very well , the more i play them the better they sound. I strongly suggest using the AR treatment. I did find surround treatment for Diatone speakers on yahoo japan but you will have to go through a broker to purchase and ship to US , quite expensive but is supposedly the correct stuff.
A little off topic . I just picked up some NOS Diatone woofers for Mitsubishi MS-40 speakers . The surrounds are amazingly supple , i dont think any product will rejuve old dried ones back to this state once they have dried up.I picked up a pair of Mitsubishi DS-28B , circa 1974 a few weeks ago and the have an inverted half roll surround , they seem to have held up very nicely
Well apparently 2 things, (1) I have the memory of a fruit fly, and (2) brake fluid didn't keep them soft. So I have the first coat of AR sealant on them now, hoping for the best!
Donald&Lydia
Member
Hey Johnny_Law , I softened mine up with straight Toluene first , then thinned the AR dope with more Toluene. The Toluene evaporates off but penetrates the surround much better the thinner it is. Good Luck
Thanks - just back from Home Depot, Ace, O'Reilly, no Toluene. Looking online, apparently California has banned it.
Xylene, however, is plentiful. Many sources say it's very similar to Toluene - I may give it a shot.
Donald&Lydia
Member
I found it at Ace Hardware , they only sold it by the gallon , I have enough for 3 lifetimes HAHAHA I would think Xylene would work.
just to toss my hat in the ring, I've used the dot3 brake fluid on my Diatone DS-501 woofers. I had to do multiple coats on the front / back and worked the woofer with some light test tones when I did it. It's been over a year and woofers still sound / feel fine. The surrounds have maintained enough flexibility to do their thing and not impact bass performance. On a different note, when Baco99 restored my speakers, he did use a putty-esque sealer around the frame as the original gaskets between the cab and frame were spent. That, plus a little extra polyfill dampening tightened up the bass appreciably
That's very interesting, as the brake fluid I used is a DOT4 fluid that may have a different chemical compound or additives for its racing purpose. DOT3 fluid is cheap enough, I could try that too. I'll do so if the Xylene doesn't work.
FWIW, the one coat of AR damping / sealant fluid I put on the back side of the cloth surround did very little.
I will say that the woofers are less supple than when i first applied the dot3, so i will likely have to apply it again. I'm not sure how long the ar sealant should last as I have no experience with it. Others may have more to offer on that. For the brake fluid, I did multiple passes when i did it. I found decent results with a hair drier to heat it up, then applying with a small paint brush that was lightly coated with the dot 3. Multiple passes of this on both the front and back of the surround got it very supple.
Thanks - heat gun, good idea, haven't tried that. So far I found out, unfortunately, that Xylene doesn't work at all. Oh well. So back to the brake fluid, and once softened again, a layer of the AR sealant / dopant. It doesn't seem to be absorbing so far but I will see how it looks tomorrow. The trick is to find out how to get it to stay compliant after softened, and the only thing I've found that worked to soften (not being able to get Toluene in California) is brake fluid.
Final result ended up being brake fluid with AR sealant on top. Seems to be remaining soft and plyable. Listening to Bela Fleck now - MUCH better than before. With hard surrounds I was missing a large part of the sound. We're back in business. These DS-50CS sound really, really good.
Donald&Lydia
Member
Well its been a while since i started this post and i have finally found new surrounds . A gentleman in Russia (udav-kobra on that selling site ) no affiliation , has half roll cloth surrounds that are impregnated with some sort of rubber. I saw his listing for another model of Diatone and messaged him about my DS-35B MK2 surrounds , within a month he made them and had them listed. They fit like a glove , perfect !! , i could not be any happier with them. If you need an impossible to find cloth half roll this is the guy. Takes about a month and a half to receive but i have looked for years , whats another month.
mozcho
Well-Known Member
It's been a few years, I am happy to read that quite a few members here have the DS-50CS, which I have just bought last month. I am also looking for ways to treat the woofer surrounds. I am not in the US, and it is a lot harder to purchase stuff here (even Deoxit is not available here). I read with interest the use of DOT3 brake fluid. May I know, if I go this route, would DOT3 alone suffice? Or I still need to add in the AR sealant?
mozcho
Well-Known Member
Would appreciate if you could pm me his contact or his site. Thanks.
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
One of the worse names and best products for speaker cone treatment is "The Wet Look" from Parts Express. It's very thin and water based so no harmful petroleum distillates.
Brake fluid seems to work reasonably well on stiffened doped surrounds, though it may take more than one application, and you want to keep it off the cone as much as possible. I think it alone is as good as it is going to get - I can't see anything like AR sealant sticking to such an oily surface. The AR sealant is excellent on cloth surrounds whose coatings have degraded and fallen off. It won't do much of anything for surrounds that are intact, but hardened. Probably make them worse.
You don't have a whole lot to lose - try the brake fluid, a couple of applications, and if that doesn't have any effect, then you might want to buy the new surrounds the gentleman in Russia has.
You don't have a whole lot to lose - try the brake fluid, a couple of applications, and if that doesn't have any effect, then you might want to buy the new surrounds the gentleman in Russia has.
brianjrealto
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
reviving this thread-
can anyone message me the contact info for this guy in Russia that can make surrounds posted by Donald&Lydia "A gentleman in Russia (udav-kobra on that selling site )"
reviving this thread-
can anyone message me the contact info for this guy in Russia that can make surrounds posted by Donald&Lydia "A gentleman in Russia (udav-kobra on that selling site )"
For anyone that has these speakers, AR 11'' foam will work, however you will have to make a shim for it to attach to, as the new surround's outer diameter is slightly smaller than the basket. I used two layers of thin cardboard for the shim (cut from junk LP jackets). The inner diameter of the surround will fit the cone, but it will need to be top mount, not bottom like the original.