Newbile first post on AK: Speakerlab Four woofer removal (help me)

[lunkrat]

Just getting started with the whole vintage audio world. I picked up some Speakerlab Four speakers in good condition, they are pretty awesome!

But the tweet is silent on one speaker. The highs/mids cut out a LOT when I adjust the knobs on the back. So ... gotta clean those pots! I hope that is the only issue with my one mute tweet.

So having never been inside of a speaker before, I need your generous guidance. The woofer has silicone-looking stuff where I am used to seeing screws.

How do I remove the woofer on a Speakerlab Four that has the glue-looking stuff on the mount holes?

Thanks!

 

[avguytx]

Maybe try using a hair dryer or a heat gun on the low setting to warm up the silicone. You could also use a (what I call) an olfa blade knife to score around the frame and maybe get under the frame, too. An olfa knife (to me) is what window tinters used to cut the window film and it had sections in the blades that you broke away to always have a fresh tip. If that makes sense...

Definitely an idiotic way for a manufacturer to mount speakers in a cabinet. Like they're going to last forever.

Welcome to AK by the way!

 

[yaya97]

Maybe try using a hair dryer or a heat gun on the low setting to warm up the silicone. You could also use a (what I call) an olfa blade knife to score around the frame and maybe get under the frame, too. An olfa knife (to me) is what window tinters used to cut the window film and it had sections in the blades that you broke away to always have a fresh tip. If that makes sense...

Definitely an idiotic way for a manufacturer to mount speakers in a cabinet. Like they're going to last forever.

Welcome to AK by the way!

Sorry not so idiot...my Speakerlab 4`s are 35 years old and the silicone is perfect... and BTW it was the speakerlab idea to use silicon to seal better I believe... They never had screws...
to take out the woofer, use a putty knife!

 

[avguytx]

Still an idiotic idea to make something that's going to fail an almost impossible task to remove without the potential of messing up the cabinet. If it's so great, why didn't 99% of the other companies do it, too? JBL? Altec? Infinity? Boston Acoustics? Norman Lab? AR? Advent? Klipsch? Cerwin Vega? (etc) A seal can be had without going to such an extreme measure and then being forced to use a putty knife to remove the speakers. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[yaya97]

having ripped apart a few pairs of Speakelabs in my youth... ( I was always buying them used with paper route money and redid the cabinets to make them perfect) it takes 5 minutes with a putty knife and if you knew the quality of Speakerlabs ( very underestimated IMHO) you would know their sound and quality is exceptional. My current pair has been sealed since 1975 with no signs of aging.
I would have no problem challenging the brands you mentioned above ( I have owned Klipshe forte II and CV`s that were not detailed, and some other high end speakers and SL`s won it for me again IMHO). Have owned SL .1`s, 3, 7`s, 7 WA , 30`s and now the 4`s that I got cheap off ebay ( replaced a rather good pair of AE speakers that were missing to me the 12 inch woofer). BTW you may notice I live in Indy where Klipsh is king… yes they are very good....no excellent but something is missing to my ears.I call it the speakerlab grunt.

Very sad they screwed up in terms of business strategy in the 80`s
If you still have a doubt , have a look a Sir Byrds post on how he rebuilt, IMHO the best of the best: the SL 7`s! I hope you get to listen to a pair! One day I will get my hands on this ultimate pair again.

 

[lunkrat]

Got the woofer out

Thanks for the replies. I ended up using a curved blade utility knife and it worked a dream!
Woofer came out with no damage to anything ... except the silicone seal.

I cleaned the pots and still no tweets, got really depressed and desperate and started wiggling the wires on the tweet, and MAGIC it started working!

I am not sure on a couple of things and I need your wisdom, as this is my first speaker repair:

1. The wires are secured to the tweeter just fine, so I am not sure why the connection is bad .. . why my wiggling it fixed it. I want to make sure that this does not happen again. How to prevent this?
2. How the heck do I re-mount the woofer now? More silicone? Or bolts? What is the best way to mount it so that I can remove it easily if need be.
3. What other maintenance/improvements can I perform while I have the woofer out. I don't want to put much cash into it .. .
Needless to say I am very excited that I don't need a new tweet and my speakers are now functional!

 

[yaya97]

I would reuse silicon.. Look what sir Byrd did on his sl 7s

 

[EddyFranner]

Welcome to A.K. and good going on your speaker fix.

 

[DaWoofer]

I would love to run across a few more SpeakerLabs myself. I rewired and recapped my 7WAs and then gave to my daughter and son-in-law along with a Kenwood 9G so they could enjoy vintage solid sounds. I never really put much power to the 7s though. I believe they were rated max around 250 watts. With how they sounded with 3-10 I don't think they'll ever suffer for a party speaker indoors or out for that matter. If I could only snag the older EV equipped 7s I could be happy. But then again, I have about 5 pairs of larger EVs, so I'm happy.
P.S., I have not heard the SL Line and feel as though I'm missing out on some real winners.

 

[lunkrat]

Nice to hear that Speakerlab is highly regarded by all you super-ears on here.

Also nice to hear that re-mounting the woofer with silicone is not a shameful act. Advice from father-in-law also encouraged the glue-in plan.

I plan to slice the other speaker open so I can clean the pots on that one, too. When all is done and the woofers are back in their place I will snap some photos and post them here.