RSE and Ohm B bookshelf speaker advice

[M_ZUG]

Hey all, been lurking for a while, but my first post.

I came in to a set of RSE's with EMIT tweeters for the lovely price of $0. Finally got a chance to test them out and uh oh... no foam surrounds and what looks like a blown voice coil to my untrained eye. I did something I know I shouldn't have, hooked them up through a receiver and played music through them at a very low volume. Tweeters seem to work, pots are a little noisy, and one of the woofers works. All other mechanical/electrical parts look good.The blown speaker with the blown voice coil, puts out zero noise. Sounds right, right?

Questions:

1) Should I re-foam the one speaker and search for a replacement for the other? (never re-foamed before)
2) Should I just look for 2 replacements? (they're tough to find!)
3) Could it be the wiring that's making the blown speaker silent?



About the Ohm B's.

Found a listing for Ohm b's with a Philips 212 TT listed for $150. I thought, good price! Then I saw replacement costs for the woofers in case they were shot and was put off. Would it be worth the investment to go after them and try to resell the speakers if they were blown?

Thanks!

 

[goodolpg]

Looks like the dust cover has been changed in the left (picture) one, totally missing on the right one, looks like voice coil may be bad on that one as well. Just based on appearance I'm guessing the right one is the one that is "blown".
Have you checked their resistance with a multi meter?

Just so you know, questions about value belong in Dollars and Sense.

 

[M_ZUG]

Looks like the dust cover has been changed in the left (picture) one, totally missing on the right one, looks like voice coil may be bad on that one as well. Just based on appearance I'm guessing the right one is the one that is "blown".
Have you checked their resistance with a multi meter?

Just so you know, questions about value belong in Dollars and Sense.

The dust covers were off on both. Black screen like material was at the bottom of the back of the grill cloth on the one that “works.”

Will have to try the multimeter and post results.

I’ll push the question about the Ohm speakers to the other forum. Really wondering about the sound of the B’s compared to the RSE’s but I’ll check other forums for that too.

Any thoughts on either repair or complete replacement of the woofers would be much appreciated.

 

[goodolpg]

Multi meter should reveal if they are functional or not.
If functional you could refoam the woofers.
Used woofers show up on ebay.
Except when you really want a pair.
Just kidding. Kinda.
Sometimes the little teeny tiny single strand wires between the blob of glue and the voice coil break rendering the driver non operational but can often be fixed. Yours *appear* to be okay though just looking at the pictures. Still don't like the looks of the right speaker voice coil, hopefully someone smarter/more experienced will add to this.

NOTE--In my experience its ok under low volume and low bass setting (or low treble setting if testing tweeters) to power the speakers just long enough to see if they produce sound and/or move. You don't want to play them like that of course.

 

[slimpikkins]

You can check the vc with a meter right at the coil with the dust cover off. Like goodolpg said the little wires form the connectors to the cone can break from being vibrated millions of times. If it is no good that 8 inch woofer comes up a lot on eBay as infinity made a lot of speakers with that similar woofer.

 

[M_ZUG]

Thanks for the advice all. The multimeter was kind of bouncing around, anywhere between 3, and 11(!). Did the same when not attached to anything. The MM is in kinda rough shape, so I might get another one to test agian...

Where on the VC should I test? Couldn't I test at the terminals? Should I disconnect the leads to the woofer completely?

I've seen some of the woofers on Ebay, but haven't pulled the trigger.

Below is an even closer pic of the VC, it looks ROUGH.

 

[goodolpg]

If you get a reading at the terminals then further testing may not be needed provided the reading is within the "normal" range.
Not sure what would be normal for those woofers, guessing around 4 ohms, if so 3.8 to 4.4 should be okay.
Not uncommon for the meter to "hunt", get the best, most solid connection to the terminals WITHOUT the probe slipping off and damaging the driver.

 

[M_ZUG]

So, I picked up a new multimeter and attached it to the voice coil on the more damaged speaker and got a reading. Tried it on the terminals at the back of the speaker and got nothing.

Does it seem like I've got an issue at the crossover or the single strands going to the voice coil? New to fixing up speakers, but don't mind learning a new skill!

 

[goodolpg]

"So, I picked up a new multimeter and attached it to the voice coil on the more damaged speaker and got a reading."

You measured right at the coil on the teeny tiny BARE wires?

Ok, have you tried from the voice coil TO the terminal on the back. Both sides.

Has anyone else looked at the close up pictures of the speaker with no dust cover?
To me it looks like the voice coil is misshapen/crinkled on the outer end as well as near the pole piece?
Shouldn't that be perfectly round and properly spaced in the air gap?
Looks to me like that speaker needs a new coil at the minimum.

 

[M_ZUG]

"So, I picked up a new multimeter and attached it to the voice coil on the more damaged speaker and got a reading."

You measured right at the coil on the teeny tiny BARE wires?

Ok, have you tried from the voice coil TO the terminal on the back. Both sides.

Has anyone else looked at the close up pictures of the speaker with no dust cover?
To me it looks like the voice coil is misshapen/crinkled on the outer end as well as near the pole piece?
Shouldn't that be perfectly round and properly spaced in the air gap?
Looks to me like that speaker needs a new coil at the minimum.

I'm not getting anything at the bare wires or connecting from the VC to the Terminal. Pretty frustrating.

Voice coil is definitely misshapen.

I'm thinking about jumping on the pair of speakers in good shape that I've seen pop up on E-bay from time to time. I've replaced speaker baskets on guitar amps, but haven't replaced any of the smaller parts or rewired a crossover.

How difficult is it to replace a voice coil?

 

[goodolpg]

No idea. If no one offers help here, you might try asking in the speaker section.
At this point I'd be tempted to just watch ebay for a woofer or two.
But that's just me.
Is there a speaker repair shop near you?

 

[slimpikkins]

One of the little flexible wires on the back going from the voice coil to the terminals is broken or somewhere in between. After flexing a few 100 million times they can break. Sometimes you can unglue the vc wire, push it a little more through the cone, resolder it, push it back and reglue the sucker down.
Jim

 

[M_ZUG]

No idea. If no one offers help here, you might try asking in the speaker section.
At this point I'd be tempted to just watch ebay for a woofer or two.
But that's just me.
Is there a speaker repair shop near you?

I was tempted to do the same. But I did ,just yesterday, learn about a local speaker repair shop from a neighbor that recently had his AR-8s repaired. They sounded fantastic.

I’ll see what his prices are like before I put a bid on the pair I saw.

 

[M_ZUG]

One of the little flexible wires on the back going from the voice coil to the terminals is broken or somewhere in between. After flexing a few 100 million times they can break. Sometimes you can unglue the vc wire, push it a little more through the cone, resolder it, push it back and reglue the sucker down.
Jim

I think you’re right. The evidence and earlier advice was pointing that way. I might give it a try if the repair guy is out of my price range. Is there a solvent that works well on this glue and won’t damage the poly cone?

 

[M_ZUG]

Here's an update. Took it to a repair guy, he gave me a pretty good price on reforming and re-coning one woofer. Turns out, these RSe's had RSiii woofers in them. I had wondered why there was a part number mismatch.

RSe says
8" WOOFER #902-5030

RSiii
8" WOOFER #902-4976

But on the back of the magnet it says #049073 813TNG, what gives? So many numbers my head is spinning!

 

[goodolpg]

As production runs of individual drivers ended new substitutes were made, often with new model numbers.
The "official" schematics often list substitute driver numbers, but there are sometimes even more model numbers that were used.
It can make your head spin indeed.
That and how Infinity also reused model names for speakers, sometimes you have to ask "which XXX, the classic three way or the modern two way one".

 

[M_ZUG]

Absolutely! Anyhow, I'll report on the sound when they come back from the repair guy in a few weeks. Thanks for all the helpful info.

 

[M_ZUG]

Just got the speakers back. Love them thus far. The repair guy did a somewhat sloppy glue job, so I guess the grilles are staying on.

Played some vinyl and it seems like some of the sibilance I was having has been cleaned up by the speakers. Does that even make sense?! Crystal clear highs, mids and bass seem natural, much better sense of space in the music. Streamed music and FM sound great as well.

These are a great set of bookshelf speakers. Thanks again to all who advised.