JBL M5 (chinese) low-freq rattle/buzz, foam removed; refoam/fix or buy replacements?

[sharky_pi]

One of my JBL M5's is rattling for low-frequency tones. I took it apart, removed all the expired foam, and put it back together, to no improvement.

I'm only now reading about re-foaming. Given the speaker otherwise looks fine, do folks think that re-foaming should probably solve my issue? I.e. the rattling would definitely be caused by a lack of foam?

I'm seeing other threads [e.g. 1,2] discussing the variety of other potential problems, so I don't want to dive in, pay the money, go through the fix process, then have the same issue.

Also I presume this is the right kit (it says it's for JBL M5) but just wanted to check with someone. Thanks all!

 

[RVT1K]

The speaker will never work or sound correctly until it is reassembled correctly.

So..yes it needs to be refoamed.

 

[swechsler]

That appears to be the correct foam; many AK'ers have satisfactorily used SS for foam for many different speakers. However, I'd suggest watching a few Youtube videos on refoaming to be sure it's something that you're comfortable doing. It's not simply a case of gluing the foam on and calling it done; it needs to be precisely aligned to work properly (although the amount of precision required varies from speaker to speaker).

 

[sharky_pi]

Nice one, thanks folks. SS videos look super helpful, pulling the trigger now. Have a great weekend both, cheers!

 

[swechsler]

I note that your speakers have the original foam mounted to the underside of the cone. This does make the job a little more difficult, as the replacement should be attached the same way.

 

[sharky_pi]

So that would be this video yeah? Cheers boss

 

[swechsler]

pretty much, yeah.

 

[sharky_pi]

Ok nice one, cheers mate