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EMIT & EMIM Tweeter Diaphragm Repair How To

ringo_0 said:
So I finally had time to take a look at it and the problem stays with the speaker and does not travel with the tweeter. Any suggestions?

EDIT: Also, a screw was sucked onto the thin plastic diaphragm from the magnet and dented it a tiny bit, I'm not sure if this will affect the sound.
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What kind of speakers are the EMITs in?

As long as the metal trace hasn't been cut, I don't think the damage will affect the sound.
 
Since those speakers don't have built-in level controls, it's mostly likely the crossover, either a cap (as mentioned by @seifreit) or other component. Due to their age, replacing the capacitors is probably a good idea. Do you have any soldering experience? How about general DIY ability?
 
swechsler said:
Since those speakers don't have built-in level controls, it's mostly likely the crossover, either a cap (as mentioned by @seifreit) or other component. Due to their age, replacing the capacitors is probably a good idea. Do you have any soldering experience? How about general DIY ability?
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I have very little soldering experience but I'm pretty confident in my DIY experience.
 
Watch a few Youtube videos to brush up your soldering skills. The crossovers in your speakers aren't too complex, but they are on printed circuit boards, which is a little more involved than just soldering wires together.

This thread has a pretty good explanation of what's involved in recapping. This thread documents someone's earlier restoration of these speakers. Take pictures as you work to document what goes where. If you get stuck, you can always ask here (maybe start another thread rather than continuing this one).

Good luck.

ETA: In fact, before you do anything, I'd recommend starting a new thread for this issue, rather than piggybacking onto this one, detailing the symptoms and the testing you've done so far. Because it was a reply, fewer people will have seen this one.
 
swechsler said:
Watch a few Youtube videos to brush up your soldering skills. The crossovers in your speakers aren't too complex, but they are on printed circuit boards, which is a little more involved than just soldering wires together.

This thread has a pretty good explanation of what's involved in recapping. This thread documents someone's earlier restoration of these speakers. Take pictures as you work to document what goes where. If you get stuck, you can always ask here (maybe start another thread rather than continuing this one).

Good luck.

ETA: In fact, before you do anything, I'd recommend starting a new thread for this issue, rather than piggybacking onto this one, detailing the symptoms and the testing you've done so far. Because it was a reply, fewer people will have seen this one.
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So it turns out the shop I took my receiver to that "fixed" it didn't fix it all the way. I just got it back from the shop again and everything's working flawlessly. I knew something wasn't right when I was getting a boomy/crackly/fluttering left channel even through headphones. I want to thank you guys for helping me through this, I would had just replaced the tweeter without even checking to see if it was a speaker issue (which led me to my final diagnosis).
 
ringo_0 said:
I want to thank you guys for helping me through this, I would had just replaced the tweeter without even checking to see if it was a speaker issue (which led me to my final diagnosis).
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You're welcome, but I was remiss by not suggesting swapping amp channels. That's usually the first thing we recommend.
 
tubed said:
Simply drop the foil strip onto the sticky side up of inexpensive acetate(scotch) tape.
Cut off the excess.
Bridge the gap.
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I may be doing this, but before I attempt I wanted to see if anyone has tried or had success by using the silver conductive paint used for repairing board traces?

I have a EMIM from my 1979 RS2.5. diaphragm has a break in it somewhere, no continuity on the terminals.

I was thinking of tracking it down with a multimeter on continuity mode, then putting a drop of that conductive paint on the troubled area. Could possibly mask the area with scotch tape to prevent shorting the mylar traces together.
 
I tried reflowing the solder joints but wasn't sure where others were referring to when saying the base of the terminal/buttons. I applied solder to both the base of where the terminal clips are that had a hole, I have the blue arrows pointing to this area. I didn't think this was the area everyone was referring to but did it anyways? Maybe I shouldn't have. I also applied solder to the spot where I think others were referring to which I have red arrows pointing to. After doing both areas I'm still not getting any consistent reading that's stable and in range. Do I just have some bad EMITs? I'm not sure what else to do. The other EMIT is worse, opened it all willy nilly without watching the video from AVA and broke the magnet into 3 pieces so feel like I gotta replace at least one of these. Yellow arrow is pointing to a part that looks corroded but wanted confirmation on this if this was hindering any connection?


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That diaphragm is toast and was before you attempted to re-flow. Traces appear to be burned and overheated from use.

The blue arrows are usually where the cold joint problems are.

New diaphragms are in order. When attempting such delicate soldering(red arrows) experience and flux are a necessity.

Good luck,

Mark K.
 
markuus3889 said:
That diaphragm is toast and was before you attempted to re-flow. Traces appear to be burned and overheated from use.

The blue arrows are usually where the cold joint problems are.

New diaphragms are in order. When attempting such delicate soldering(red arrows) experience and flux are a necessity.

Good luck,

Mark K.
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I feel a little lost still on if these are even still repairable even with new diaphragms. On the AVA website Bob mentions that there wouldn't be a refund for diaphragm replacements for blown voice coils. He said to test the ohms on the terminals to get a reading, no reading meaning they're blown. I'm not getting anything stable on the terminals for either one that I have but was told that they were working before storage. I'm a bit inclined to believe I was lied to possibly. I would be a bit annoyed financially if I paid for new diaphragms and they still didn't work after, or paying more money for Bob to do it (which I'm leaning towards doing given how pesky these are to get apart) and still not work.

Also was it necessary to even hit where the red arrows are? I don't have much experience but I did use flux lol.
 
If disassembly resulted in broken magnets then the emit driver as a whole will need to be replaced or if possible just the entire broken magnets with an equivalent.

It is unlikely that the red arrows needed re-flowing but anything is possible. They don't look great and could possibly be a reason for continuity issues but I doubt it and things may be more compromised now after the re-flow, but again the voice coil(traces) look pretty bad which would result in continuity problems like you describe and the only fix is new diaphragms.

I wish you success in your journey! Infinity speakers are great when working properly.

Mark K.
 
I think I misread Bob's refund note under repair. I think he meant that you can't get a refund if you blow the NEW diaphragms. I was reading it as the voice coil was separate from the diaphragm and if the voice coil was blown, you couldn't get a refund for the new diaphragm replacement. The way these tweeters work really made all of this confusing and still don't really understand how they work. I just paid to have them sent in for repair/replacements and hoping that they're still fine. He has done magnet repair for these which makes my situation feel a little better.

But yes, I'll be very excited and stoked to have these working if possible. I'm rocking a pair of Boston Acoustic A60 speakers in the living room with a Denon PMA-737 for a very clean, even sound and haven't been able to top it within budget. I'll need a 4 ohm amp though to power these.
 
Not directly related to rebuilding the EMIT: rather, how are the 3 EMIT in my Quantum 2 WIRED? I am GUESSING 2 in parellel with the 3rd in series to the 2? At 8 ohm each, that would make for 12 ohm. At 4 ohm, it would make for 6 ohm.
 
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