Recomendations for damaged AE driver...

[Danzilla]

Hi. Picked up a pair of Aegis One speakers pretty cheap. Noticed one cone was bent out of shape and the sound was off, but thought I could straighten it out. When I had them home and pulled out the driver, I realized there was a 1" split in the cone around the edge of the dustcap. Not terrible, but strike one. After working with the cone by hand a while to try and smooth it out I tested the movement, only to find the cone separated from the spider. Strike two. Now I've repaired a number of surrounds, if only in an amateur fashion, but I've never dealt with reattaching the spider to the cone/coil before.... strike three??

At the moment I'm thinking of just trying to apply glue to the bottom of the cone in place, after pulling it away from the spider but still attached to the surround. Then just (hopefully) let it reseal when the surround pushes it back in place. I don't think I have to worry about the spider being positioned right as it's very springy and just pops right back in place if I try and move it.

Any opinions? Anyone done this before, with good or bad results?


EDIT: Bah! Is there really no way to edit the title? Wanted to fix one thing and add something else.

 

[Danzilla]

No thoughts? Anyway, a followup... Looking closer at the pictures I took I see it looks like the spider didn't just come off the cone/coil, but actually tore around it. Probably can still glue it back together, but not sure how effective that would be. Still hoping for any suggestions or tips.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I've repaired a ripped spider in situ. You need to have a good amount of material available for the glue to grab both sides of the rip and you should as the material doesn't go away. If the cone moves properly in the gap, you can do as you say and glue it after moving the cone up out of the way and then letting the natural positioning of the cone hold the parts together while the glue dries. If there is any rubbing moving the cone before gluing, you need to disassemble the driver a bit more to make sure the spider is glued in place correctly. Good Luck.

 

[Danzilla]

any recommendations for glue for the spider? I have Aileens Tacky glue that I've used in the past for surrounds, but I was thinking I might need something stronger to try and repair the spider. Especially as I'll be attaching the flexible spider to what remains already attached to the coil... er... cylinder thingy.

 

[Danzilla]

Finally got around to attempting repairs on the bad Aegis One 'woofer' this weekend. Had "fixed" the cone a while ago by applying a thin layer of glue along the split next to the cap, after having tried to smooth the material out a little with my fingers. (you can clearly see the former creases in the cone, but no where near as bad as they were.
Main thing that had been holding me back after deciding on a course of action and buying the glue (E6000 'industrial' adhesive that stays flexible (and causes cancer)) was a method for applying it through the gaps in the basket (without removing the surround/cone). Ended up finding a "Tony Chachere's" flavor injector at local Goodwill for $.99 and Dremeled the pointy tip off. Didn't work perfectly, as I had air bubbles and the pressure needed to dispense the glue varied. So I had to keep going back and either add a little more, or scrape away the extra. In any case, overall it did a pretty good job and better than if I'd had to manually apply the glue by transferring it to the spider with a brush or other implement. The 'needle' allowed me to quickly apply glue all along the edge of the torn spider in under a couple minutes. After first application I let the voice coil fall back in position and pushed it through the spider (check 3rd pic of first post), as the torn edge left on the coil was facing upwards/outwards. So with it then in it's final position and glue (hopefully) between the edges, I went over it a second time using a couple toothpicks just on the top side. Adding a little extra glue as needed by eye, and spreading out any blobs.
Can't say it's perfect and the extra weight and reduced mobility of that part of the spider may have reduced it's responsiveness with all the glue. Still, I gave it a try today and I'm quite happy it's working again and doesn't sound noticeable different from it's undamaged pair! Didn't get any pics of applying the glue. Just the finished product, if that's of interest to anyone that may have a similar problem.

I know some will say I should just get a replacement driver and scrap this one or just use new replacement parts. Unfortunately there are no replacement parts (VC / cone) available, leaving only finding a used driver on ePay or replacing BOTH drivers with something similar. I just really hate throwing away anything fixable though. Even a little ugly and less than ideal, this is working again and sound pretty darn good. At least, for now...

 

[teal'c]

Sounds like it's fixed good enough for you, and that's what matters, nice job.
Enjoy it and keep your eye on the bay for a replacement in case your repair fails.

 

[JamesBenya]

WIth a little bit of dremel work, the Goldwood GW-205/8S will fit and sounds respectable. FOr a $10 speaker it may not equal the original but its better than throwing the speaker away.

 

[Danzilla]

WIth a little bit of dremel work, the Goldwood GW-205/8S will fit and sounds respectable. FOr a $10 speaker it may not equal the original but its better than throwing the speaker away.

Thanks, but was never going to throw the whole speaker away. The issue was the best method to repair the woofer and how it would sound and hold up afterwards. Or replacing the woofer(s) if I couldn't fix it. I haven't been using them often or pushed them much, but at moderate volumes the repair job seems to have held up pretty well and sounds fine.

 

[JimPA]

I doubt Acoustic Energy have any NOS drivers but I would contact them.
Since they are an OEM driver finding a replacement will be difficult.

I would would contact an expert for repair like GordonW.