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Energy ESM-1s woofers?

K

kanurys

Active Member
Hello everyone,

I'm working on a pair of ESM-1s speakers. One of the woofers has a cracked rubber surround. The surround is glued and stitched to the poly cone, so replacing the surround would be problematic. I haven't been able to find any specs on this speaker cabinet or driver. There also doesn't seem to be any used drivers on the web.

Can anyone suggest an appropriate replacement driver for this speaker or provide any technical information on it?

Many thanks,

SK
 
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Energy is still in business. I'd suggest contacting them. Also, why not post pics of the damaged surround, it may be repairable.

This is a bass reflex design; it's going to be difficult to find a third party woofer that works well without some cabinet (and possibly crossover) modifications.
 
I think the early energy esm 1 woofer was out of the energy 22 with a typical vifa tweeter. Both have a stitched woofer and were marketed as a cheaper version of the energy 22. There are a ton of energy 22s with blown tweets floating around which equal surplus parts. I Can't prove my theory but hang on i have the sales ad which is a clue.
 
I dont think energy will have the info your looking for they been bought out like 2 times. Its compressed badly but at the top it literally says in the first sentence IF YOU ASPIRE TO OWN ENERGY 22 or something like that.

Polish_20200928_135946399.jpg
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll reach out to Energy and see if they have any resources, but I don't think they are really the same company any more. Nice ESM ad!

I don't have a picture handy, so I will describe using English... The surround is cracked right at the transition from the round moving profile to the flat outer edge that is glued to the speaker basket. the crack follows that transition about 4 inches around the speaker. Other small signs of cracking appear all the way around the surround. when the driver is in it's neutral position, the crack is almost imperceptible to the eye. It opens upon excursion.

What type of glue/cement would you use to repair such a crack?
 
kanurys said:
What type of glue/cement would you use to repair such a crack?
Click to expand...
Since the surround retains its shape at rest, If I was able to carefully pry the edges of the tear apart without further damage, I'd insert something in the tear to keep the edges separated, then apply contact cement along the edges using a thin brush, wait for it to dry, then rejoin them. Rinse, lather, repeat for the other cracks. Of course, you'll need to make sure that the edges join properly. But wait for some other responses before doing anything, someone else may have a better idea, or point out why this won't work.
 
This is apparently caused by UV damage and a lot of wharfedale speakers suffer the same fate.

If it were me, and the above repair doesnt work - Id just use a scalpel to neatly cut the surround off at the line of the outer edge of the speaker cone, then just glue a new generic foam surround (that fits) over the top of it - it could be possible.
 
Chris Cootes at ABI Tech used to re-cone Energy 22 woofers. The ESM woofer is a bit larger (8 inch vs 7 inch) but he may be able to point you in the right direction.
 
There were alot of different esm speakers. Some of the early esm speakers look like energy 22 cabinets with different drivers. Thats why I was thinking this. $_35.JPG.jpg ima5ges.jpeg-1.jpg
 
Many thanks for all the suggestions. I have tried rubber contact cement, but with big repeated excursions the repair just won't hold. I've reached out to ABI as per mikeybc's suggestion.

I suspected UV damage. The other speaker is perfectly fine.

If all else fails, I'll go the route suggested by slimecity. It's doable, but labor intensive. If an alternative driver is available, that would be preferred to keep labor to a minimum.
 
kanurys said:
Many thanks for all the suggestions. I have tried rubber contact cement, but with big repeated excursions the repair just won't hold. I've reached out to ABI as per mikeybc's suggestion.
Click to expand...
Just to make sure, you're not talking about the stuff we used to use in grade school for holding paper together, are you? Because that wouldn't support a fly; it's about as strong as the glue used in Post-it notes. You need the real stuff (it's also available in smaller packages). I have used it successfully with minor speaker repairs.
 
No, the real stuff. I can't remember the brand off the top of my head. It's sticky! Thanks for checking, though. DAP makes great products.
 
Had some ESM-2's for a while. Punchy little 2 way when used on a short tilted stand. One of the better systems I have owned. Best luck on the repair.
 
I heard back from Christopher Coote. He noted that the same driver was used in several Energy speakers. He said the stitching was merely cosmetic and that since no replacement speakers were available anymore to just replace the butyl surround, omitting the stitching. Thanks Chris and everyone else on here for your input!
 
Audi0 said:
I think the early energy esm 1 woofer was out of the energy 22 with a typical vifa tweeter. Both have a stitched woofer and were marketed as a cheaper version of the energy 22. There are a ton of energy 22s with blown tweets floating around which equal surplus parts. I Can't prove my theory but hang on i have the sales ad which is a clue.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely false!!! Energy 22's would not lower themselves to use Vifa tweeters. The million dollar hyperdome Energy 22 tweeter is probably the best tweeter ever made. The ESM's did not use them!
 
Old post but I was referring to a esm speaker with vifa tweeter. Wording or some such is the issue.
 
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