Magnavox Console speaker's repair or replace

[guitargrump]

Recently I bought this magnavox console pull on Ebay. I was looking for the 12" speakers and ended up buying the group because I recognized the amps 9304 model number from one of Dave's awesome thread's here... $75 plus shipping for all... Yay

IMG_20211030_153918

• guitargrump
• Oct 30, 2021

Magnavox 9304-00 Console pull from eBay

The speaker coils test good but the two midrange speakers cones have rips... From shipping...

I ordered some Aileen's tacky glue... To try repairing the cone's from the back... It's in the mail...

I am leery of building speaker cabinets for them until I get them repaired and tried out because of the woods I use high value...

My original plan was to just buy the 12" woofer's and put a couple of modern efficient midrange speaker's tweeters and with them... on a standard three way crossover... but I don't know...

Any suggestions for the speakers I even have the original crossover cap and resistors...

Are they worth me making them real solid walnut cabinets???

 

[Lavane]

Tissue or coffee filter paper works. Use diluted Elmer's white glue. Use a small soft brush to apply a thin coat to the cone, then the tissue or filter paper, and brush on more glue. It worked for me. There are some videos on the interwebs showing how to do this.

 

[Lavane]

You won't get much in the way of low bass out of those woofers. Maybe an open back box, or bass reflex design? I have a pair of 15" woofers and horns out of an old Magnavox 9303 amp console. I was thinking of building some open baffle speakers with them.

 

[cademan]

Flex Seal (no affiliation) rubber spray works excellent. I have a 15 inch leslie speaker which had a tear from the outer ring all the way to the dust cap. Flex Seal worked perfectly.

 

[guitargrump]

You won't get much in the way of low bass out of those woofers. Maybe an open back box, or bass reflex design? I have a pair of 15" woofers and horns out of an old Magnavox 9303 amp console. I was thinking of building some open baffle speakers with them.

I was thinking about open back... The original magnavox tube consoles I've seen were mostly open or loosely closed... My magnavox astrosonic is open bottom I like it's sound...

Hmm weak bass isn't that partially the Amplifiers design limitations? I've read that increasing the coupling caps value helps with that on the magnavox console amp modules...

But I hadn't noticed it being weak myself...

I play acoustic guitar through mine and I have to turn the bass down on my mixer pre-amp channel or it gets boomy...

I boost the bass a hair on the pre-amp channel I used for regular music listening though...

 

[tonyg88]

my el84 pp magnavox console has opened bass speakers on the side and had alot of bass. I just need to fix the amp i broke

 

[Lavane]

Nothing wrong with the amp. Changing the coupling caps did add some to the bottom end though.

 

[guitargrump]

Nothing wrong with the amp. Changing the coupling caps did add some to the bottom end though.

Sorry I assumed your amp was perfect to you no implications about it meant or implied...

I just meant that weak bass is inevitable on a low wattage value console amplifier design. These consoles were made to be affordable for their time...

The fact that they sound so awesome properly restored is a testament to the original engineers...

I'll have to keep that coupling cap value increase in mind...

I noticed that my 8802 module was bottoming out the Astrosonic speakers on certain low sounds... It is on the bench for rebuilding... Currently it a 175-67 amp in the Astrosonic...

I have several different magnavox restoration projects to do yet... It's a fun hobby... These speaker's are next up for some TLC if they sound good to me I'll build them some good cabinets...

 

[50nstillhifi]

I have an "Astrosonic" console, it is solid-state. The internal components are in very good condition and I intended to upgrade it and admire it as a "vintage hybrid".. If such a thing ? Figured installing Bluetooth gave it this name. The issue is the cabinet is too large and too long to go anywhere in the house . So it looks as if I will end up disassembling it for parts and rid myself of the cabinet. Anyone interested.. give a holler

 

[guitargrump]

Flex Seal (no affiliation) rubber spray works excellent. I have a 15 inch leslie speaker which had a tear from the outer ring all the way to the dust cap. Flex Seal worked perfectly.

Hmm I have to think about that... Flex seal spray... Wouldn't it dampen the speaker cone some???

 

[cademan]

Hmm I have to think about that... Flex seal spray... Wouldn't it dampen the speaker cone some???

It was never an issue with my speaker. When it dries, it all dries. You could try the other FlexSeal products like the glue or other types where you can apply small amounts with a small brush.

Midrange speaker cones don't vibrate hardly at all so any fix should last the life of the speaker.

 

[NH-MAN]

Some cabinets with some expensive wood no. Since mid and tweeter are large and could fill holes of other drivers maybe some cheap speakers found locally and use the cabinets to experiment.

 

[guitargrump]

Some cabinets with some expensive wood no. Since mid and tweeter are large and could fill holes of other drivers maybe some cheap speakers found locally and use the cabinets to experiment.

Actually the walnut cabinet wood is still rough cut planks part of a lot of wood I bought to make guitar necks from...

So I have all the wood that won't do for guitar necks to work from...

This is wood that was cut in the late 1950s in south Carolina so it's fully seasoned and hard to work...

it's alot of work to do anything with walnut because it is a dense hardwood... I do this stuff with hand tools... Walnut is a ideal material for speakers...

 

[trainbuftony]

My opinion:
Walnut is an ideal wood to build anything out of if you can afford it.
I'd save your walnut for some top shelf speakers or build out the cabs so that you could bolt in some Jensen, Altec, or JBL drivers as you find them.
The drivers in these magnavox consoles can sound good, but if you're using walnut you should go for top shelf components...

That's my opinion.

 

[tonyg88]

Didn't Jensen or JBL make alot Magnavox speakers?

 

[guitargrump]

I agree that walnut is lovely, it's the labor that has me hesitant...

I don't think I can find a better suited woofer than the 12" speaker for my magnavox amp modules...

I don't care for the oval shape of the middle speaker... I'm not sure why... I'm thinking about just using a piece of scrap plywood with mounting holes for now to see what is up with the speakers...

 

[cademan]

Didn't Jensen or JBL make alot Magnavox speakers?

Magnavox - Wikipedia

 

[guitargrump]

The glue arrived today...

After getting the chores done I worked up my nerve to do the patches on the speaker cones...

IMG_20211101_155500

• guitargrump
• Nov 1, 2021

Inside Speaker patch with coffee filter and fabric glue...

It was tough getting the patch through the cage I ended up having to use smaller pieces of coffee filter like paper machee...

The softness of the brush is kinda critical the cone paper sucked up the water in the glue and got soft pretty fast...

IMG_20211101_155717

• guitargrump
• Nov 1, 2021

Other side of repair of the speaker cones

I didn't trust just a inside patch...

I wonder if I could get away with painting the cones with a light coat of flex seal to make them pretty?

 

[gadget73]

I hide speakers behind grille cloth to make them pretty.

 

[guitargrump]

I hide speakers behind grille cloth to make them pretty.

That sounds like a I wouldn't try it if I were you to me...

I found another place that was ripped in a woofer it's a good thing that the cone repair is so simple... I'd have never thought of it being okay to patch the cone but I'll try any repair method at least once...

IMG_20211101_183859

• guitargrump
• Nov 1, 2021

Found another hole in the woofer how did I miss it... Repaired...