Refoaming some AR11 and Bose 901 woofers

[gonzothegreat]

Here's something I came up with after getting hollered at by my roommate for using her bowls to hold down foam.

Get some of the dense pink styrofoam they sell at Home Depot and cut a piece that will fit on top of the lip of the cone part of the foam ring. That way you can just drop the foam on the inner ring and set a small weight in the center.

For the outer ring, I use binder clips as others suggested.

 

[Wardsweb]

Here are a couple before and after shots of the 901's.

 

[silver7t1]

I'm curious about your changing the surround material on the Bose drivers, is it a recommended change to make or did you just determine that you wanted to give cloth a try?? Is there much difference in the flex characteristics between cloth and foam? And finally, do they sound like they used to? I've got a pair of mid 1980s seriesV that have disintegrated and I'm trying to talk myself into a re-surround project. I've moved on to Polk SDAs in my audio journey and just want to "fix up" the 901s to be able to sell them. Maybe I oughta just sell them as is, and let the new owner have all the fun!?!?:scratch2:

 

[Wardsweb]

Coth was used so they will never have to be refoamed again. They sound the same to me. Granted I did not test them with a test tone and spectrum analyzer.

 

[udors]

Foam surround sources

I have a pair of Audio Lab AL-60 speakers that I need to refoam. The drivers are Tonsil (Polish speaker manufacturer) that seem to have some odd size surrounds. The edges of the cones are also a bit different, they have an angled edge/step that the surrounds have to be glued to.
Here's a link to when I first asked about them here on AK:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=161585

I'm looking for a source of just surrounds (not kits) who lists their inventory by dimensions.

 

[cooleeo]

Hi Peeps, I'm just about to refoam a pair of Marantz HD 660's I rescued. This is the first time I have tried this and I'm a little nervous. The surround is glued to the back side of the cone which I guess is a little more tricky than if it was glued to the front?!?!?!
I have read that a 1.5v AA battery can be used to move the cone in and out to aid in the glueing process. What I need to know is....how long can you have a battery connected while you apply the glue? Can it cause any damage, or does it even matter?
Cheers in advance

 

[michiganpat]

for glue, I used Aileen's Tacky Glue on my smaller advents and AR2ax woofers. works great. can be found at any craft store.

 

[Vin-Tone]

I have been replacing Surrounds as well as Reconing most every possible speaker that is out there for over 30 years. I would never do a surround job without cutting the Dust Cap so that the Voice Coil is exposed and Shimming it before the Surround is replaced. Remember, the Surround is one of two suspension points that keep the Voice Coil in alignment in the gap. If you do not shim the Voice Coil during this process it is very likely that it will no longer be in correct alignment. There are many kits available that include Shims as well as a New Dust Cap. I would avoid the ones that don't. As far as the correct adhesive to use, It needs to be a Water Based Product. Solvent or Petroleum based glues may deteriorate the Surround material.

 

[Steelman]

for glue, I used Aileen's Tacky Glue on my smaller advents and AR2ax woofers. works great. can be found at any craft store.

+1...all I use :yes:

 

[booangler]

+1...all I use :yes:

for glue, I used Aileen's Tacky Glue on my smaller advents and AR2ax woofers. works great. can be found at any craft store.

I might be me, I think the Aleene's is a version of Elmer's. Smells and acts the same to from previous projects. Just my $.02

 

[Fast_Eddie]

Nooooooooo... don't change how the surround mounts on the cone! Please!

That was my only thought, though I'll admit I've done it on speakers that weren't particularly special if it made the job easier. On anything nice, I make sure I have the right foam and put it on the way it came off. All the same, great thread with great pictures. They sure turned out nice and I'm sure they sound awesome.

That Weldbond works great. I get it at Ace Hardware. My wife picked up some of that Aileene's Tacky Glue for a project she was doing. I knew people like it, so I used it for the AR5s I did a couple of weeks ago. It works great too, and it is just a little bit thicker and easier to get initial tack. Either works great though.

Foaming speakers is intimidating if you've never done it, but once you just jump in and get going it's surprisingly easy. I hope threads like this will encourage people to give it a try. I use my T Amp and iPod to play a little music softly while I'm gluing the foam to the basket just to confirm the voice coil is centered well. I get a little nervous about that since I messed it up once, but it was just a matter of doing that speaker again to fix it. I like to gently push to one side and then the other on two axis to make sure I'm really centered and not just close. The one time it was wrong, it played fine at low level, but with more power it turned out the voice coil wasn't square in the gap and it would start to rub.

 

[Indynryder]

Great work, and great documentation, Bravo!

Once the woofer is 'clean', ie all the old foam removed, whats the timeframe involved for refoaming 2 woofs?

Reason I'm asking, is I too have some JBL woofs out of a L166 that I need to foam, and wondering if this is something I could get you to step me through at the next bottlehead meet - assuming it is a 20-30 minute ordeal and not 2 hrs.

Of course, I'll make it worth your while in gear.

Cheers,
Russ

I've done Bose, not too hard, AR 10pi big bro to the 11's, they're
quite forgiving & done in 1 hr, once out of the cabs. For practice
Don't start with the JBL L166, I've done 2 pair & they are very
precise coil to magnet gap, very close tollerence. Have someone
experienced with jbl's do it or at least help you. 2 hrs Or more to get
It right. Use the white glue not the tacky glue, the white glue dries
Slower & gives you a chance to pull it if things aren't quite right &
it's water soluble. Good luck & take care. And if I were you I couldn't
Wait to get the 166's done, the foam surrounds would already be
On their way.

 

[poortom]

I used the upside down kettle trick too when I refoamed my AR-10pi speakers. Nice job.

 

[55Redneck]

Where would a guy get a refoam kit from? I borrowed a pair of Boston Acoustic HD7's from a buddy of mine to try out. They sounded nice for an hour or two and then one side crapped out. Took the speaker cover off and the foam is just starting to fall apart. The other speaker's not to far behind it and is starting to crumble. I suppose it doesn't help that they've been sitting outside on his covered deck for a few years.:sigh:

 

[ifearbanjos]

I have NO experence in speaker repair so...lots of salt. I would fear using any Elmers type glue due to the brittlness after extended time and near total lack of ability to bond to any patrolum based product. There is also the shrinkage but that will come with most any glue water or solvent based. I often used Roo Glue on laminates and rubber sheat seals or bonding CNC cut aluminum trim on displays.
RooClear™
All purpose adhesive ideal for a multitude of projects, especially formulated for difficult to bond substrates like melamine and vinyl overlaid surfaces as well as porous substrates such as wood and wood composite materials. (per co.)

It feels and acts almost as elmos glue not as snotty, thinner, slower to skin over, slower to dry, clear when dry, not as easy to clean up with water. If I remember correctly it will not clean with water after drying.

 

[michiganpat]

Where would a guy get a refoam kit from? I borrowed a pair of Boston Acoustic HD7's from a buddy of mine to try out. They sounded nice for an hour or two and then one side crapped out. Took the speaker cover off and the foam is just starting to fall apart. The other speaker's not to far behind it and is starting to crumble. I suppose it doesn't help that they've been sitting outside on his covered deck for a few years.:sigh:

Rick Cobb (IIRC his ebay ID is looneytune2001) or John at Msound

their ebay stores
Rick: http://stores.ebay.com/looneytune2001

John: http://stores.ebay.com/M-Sound

 

[Hajidub]

Just refoamed some advents yesterday with kits from SimplySpeaker. Not sure how, but SS's instructions had a side note that 901/801's need not be removed to refoam. Any truth to that statement?

 

[rbunch4468]

pli-o-bond...stays flexible, easy to work with

 

[Lukey]

Thank you for this.
I'm about to embark on my 1st refoam with a pair of Boston A70s.