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JVC Zero 6's restoration - getting ready to begin

graysailor

graysailor

New Member
I have some Zero 6's that I've finally hauled down out of the attic where they have been cooking for years. I didn't have much hope but just hooked them to my Denon amp and Pioneer L1000 turntable and lo and behold - they play amazingly well - if you don't want to listen to any bass. So I'm thinking about getting some woofer repairs kit from Simply Speakers - they rescued a pair of outdoor Bose a few years back, but this is kind of a different level of repair. Any thoughts anyone?I have some Zero 6's that I've finally hauled down out of the attic where they have been cooking for years. I didn't have much hope but just hooked them to my Denon amp and Pioneer L1000 turntable and lo and behold - they play amazingly well - if you don't want to listen to any bass. So I'm thinking about getting some woofer repairs kit from Simply Speakers - they rescued a pair of outdoor Bose a few years back, but this is kind of a different level of repair. Any thoughts anyone?

These have the rosewood cabinets - they're still beautiful. Worst case scenario - but all new parts and just re-use the cabinets I suppose - but the tweeter and midrange still seem to work great. How do you test this? Yeah - I know - listen to Black Sabbath Paranoid, lol.
 
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If the woofers have foam surrounds that are shot, you do not want to play them other than for testing. With the cone unsupported by the surround, you can damage the voice coil.

The easiest way to test the drivers is to use a paper towel or toilet paper roll. Hold one end up to your ear and the other to the driver. The roll will block out the drivers and allow you to hear the one next to the open end. Do this at low volume levels.

Depending upon the age of these speakers and what type of caps are used in the crossovers, you may need to recap.
 
I agree with RTally. I'd start by checking the foam surrounds on the woofers and replacing them since they're probably shot. That would account for the lack of bass.
 
The Zero series are higher end JVC speakers and should be restored properly, and with the original drivers. I agree, refoam the woofers. Don't play them until the refoam is done, you don't want to fry the VCs.
 
Well - I got the 12" foam kits that they said would work - but they won't work on these babies. The outer diameter of the Zero 6 cone is 10", the inner diameter of the foam is only 9". They say on the website a 1/8" 'allowance' is ok - but it looks like I need 9.5" inner diameter foam. I've been searching but not finding anything at all near this size. Don't want to screw these puppies up, so I'm on hold. The old foam was, literally, gone, disintergrated, lol. https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?media/jvc-zero-6-woofer.19630/full
Here are a couple of photos. I've sent emails back to Simply Speakers and also to a few others to see if they have ideas or other foam kits. If I could get a large foam sheet I could probably 'bake' my own. There's a thought right? Heck - my brother in law can actually cast aluminum AND has an incredible lathe.
 
Well - he said no dice. I told him Audiokarma guys sent me. Simply Speakers is giving up and sending me an RMA. I might just keep the glue and conditioner and not send the stuff back though. If I can find a big piece of this stuff I'll router out a groove in a board and take some lead or something and a heat gun and make my own. Anyone know where I can find this stuff? I was thinking I'd go to lowes and hobby lobby and see if this stuff is in anything. If I give up, then I have 11" holes. So although I'd hate to do it - I could look at replacement woofers. These woofers have a massive high quality aluminum chassis and weigh a ton - not sure what kind of quality I can get to match - and I'd need to match them with the midrange and tweeter that are working - not sure how that works but I'd guess it's doable. Nothings easy right? lol.
 
Go to Jauce.com. It's basically Yahoo Japan eBay with electronics listings. The Zero series speakers are common in Japan, and you might find a source there, though it may take some time and digging.
 
I started a JVC Zero 6 thread just now. When you google Zero 6 a supplier from I think Germany comes up as a supplier for the foam kit.
They list the inner diameter as 9 9/64 outer as 11 21/32. Price $26.90 Euro....shipping is DHL, Fed Ex or UPS. Thats not going to be a cheap option, but maybe the only?
 
I hope that this thread continues.

I haven't been a regular/recent "post-er", but long ago, I have/had a Zero4 yard-sale purchase that turned out to be in need of a woofer surround. Maybe 10 years ago, I tried (unsuccessfully) to track down a surround supplier based on somebody's AK thread (perhaps it was MJavre's Zero9 post(s), but I'd have to check old print-outs to be certain) - in any case, no success. So the Zero4 were relegated to the "to-do" projects, and remains there (along with a number of other projects).

As you may or may not have determined, the JVC Zero line ran from lower-end models like Zero3 up to TOTL Zero9 or 10 over the course of a number of years, but more for the Japanese market than the Canada/U.S.. In restored state, your Zero6 should be a higher-end model than my Zero4. When I auditioned them - before the surround was visibly deteriorated, but it was probably sonically failing - my opinion was mixed. Basically, my experience was that they were performing well with small-scale &/or acoustic music, but not up to (e.g. Dynaco A-25 comparison) complex orchestral or rock passages - couldn't provide the dynamics & became "muddy". The positives involved the treble, so perhaps the negatives would be improved if I'd got around to refoaming & recapping. Anyway, that's just speculation, so I hope I hear more progress from your restoration.

- Ron
 
Don't know whether or not this helps, but I did track down the old conversation I had. As mentioned above, I didn't get supplier info, but this was the message:

Hello,

mine were an inverted surround so I had to be really careful to get surrounds that would allow enough excursion without being too bulbous (fat).
A bit of a pain, but worth it. The issue often is with excursion noise when they are attached to the back of the cone (re-rolling guys can be slack with the adhesive). Mixed opinions- I get that, very Japanese but nice- reminiscent of sealed box Yamahas of the same era- not terribly forgiving of poor bass recordings- they need a 'fat' recording to sound good. Nice tweeters though huh?
 
Well - one of the speakers is blown. I did refoam them. You can get the 'larger' refoam kit, slice it, and glue it down - works great on the working speaker. So now I'm thinking I'll be buying a couple of the best 11"/12" woofers I can get and dropping them in the cabinets. Zero -3 surrounds are what - 7"? You can probably either get them or do what I did -get the next size up. slice then - literally - not straight across but 45 degree and 'adjust' them. Works.
 
graysailor said:
Well - one of the speakers is blown. I did refoam them. You can get the 'larger' refoam kit, slice it, and glue it down - works great on the working speaker. So now I'm thinking I'll be buying a couple of the best 11"/12" woofers I can get and dropping them in the cabinets. Zero -3 surrounds are what - 7"? You can probably either get them or do what I did -get the next size up. slice then - literally - not straight across but 45 degree and 'adjust' them. Works.
Click to expand...
Bummer! Keep an eye on fleabay, put in a search with alerts. I have seen woofers every once in a while.
 
graysailor said:
So now I'm thinking I'll be buying a couple of the best 11"/12" woofers I can get and dropping them in the cabinets.
Click to expand...
It isn't really a question of "best", or even good or bad, it's about compatibility. You need drivers with the same Qts and same Vas if possible. Even then the crossover will need modifying to make them compatible.
 
That's a great idea on the fleabay - I so rarely see these I didn't even consider that. I've got searches out there for other things and will add this one. Those woofers are built into really fantastic heavy duty aluminum holders - I'd probably never be able to reproduce them.
So - ROTHWELLAUDIO - thanks for the comments but after reviewing QTS and VAS, as well as 'how a speaker works' I'm afraid that, yes you are right, but that 1. I probably don't have enough information on the JVC's (impedance is 6ohm, power handling 100w rms(din) 200w (music), freq resp of speaker is 35-50k hz, sound pressure level is 91.5 dB/W/m, crossover at 500hz, and dimensions of box), nothing on QTS calculations or VAS - and these numbers were from a Zero 5) and 2. it's quickly going over my head in any understanding. I've seen where guys actually rebuild blown speakers, but this seems above my skills as well. Do you think there are woofers that I could purchase that would be suitable replacements? I've got a local guy who has restored/repaired a few turntables for me, maybe I'll drag them down there to see what he can do.
 
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