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Snell problems

Sooopa

Sooopa

Active Member
So the other day I bounced upon a pair of Snell Type E/IIIs with the expected deteriorating foam. Admittedly I had no idea what they were at the time but I figured for $25 I could take a chance. Besides I've refoamed dozens of speakers 1 set of speakers :rflmao:so I'm an old pro at this ;). I checked them out this afternoon and noticed one of the screws for the speaker posts was hanging off and the other was missing. Did I buy them broken? Is that why the people donated them?


0MIIbbB.jpg



Then I thought "It was raining that night so I shoved them in the trunk..." I quickly went back to my car and checked the trunk and lo and behold there was the other broken post

QTNjTHo.jpg



I am such a genius: from a simple refoam to this. Help?

Another interesting tidbit: when I first brought them in I went to remove the woofer so I could scrape away the deteriorating foam but after removing the screws it remained lodged in place. The hell? So how can you get inside the speaker?

Signed,

Lost in the Sauce
 
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The woofer is held in place with caulking and will require some convincing. Don't pry on the basket, you will dent the baffle with whatever you're prying with. Instead, you can use a flat head screw driver at an angle in one of the screw holes of the frame. It may help to drip some isopropyl alcohol down into the mating surface. You can also remove the tweeter, reach in with your hand and push on the basket from the back.

Once the woofer is out, you can replace the binding posts with replacements you can buy from a variety of online vendors.
 
The binding posts can be replaced fairly easily with some desoldering. These appear to be very similar.

In the meantime you can bridge + to+ and - to - inside with short pieces of wire soldered to the appropriate terminals.
 
Those Snells need very high compliance foams. AudioNote sells the proper surrounds for those woofers, but they are quite pricey.

I used to get excellent surrounds, custom manufactured for Snell drivers, from Audiofriends in Europe...but I'm not sure if they still sell to US buyers. They have an ebay store. Very high quality, and seemed quite comparable to surrounds I got from AudioNote.

A third alternative is to contact Rick Cobb (rcobb@tampa.rr.cobb) and tell him what you are looking for. I believe that he can source high-compliance filled-edge (Boston style) surrounds for you at a reasonable price. Rick is an AK member and has an ebay store. Very knowledgeable and reliable.

I recently replace the foams on some Snell JIIIs for someone who had done them himself first, using "generic" surrounds from one of the large US suppliers. He was not happy with low end performance. They were thick and did not allow for proper cone throw.. I replaced them with some filled-edge surrounds from Rick, and the owner was happy with the results.
 
IMO you still did quite well on that deal even with the bad surrounds and broken posts. As long as the drivers are all original.
 
For 25 even with the work needed it is a steal at that price for those Snell's. Have seen them going for 12X what you paid . Good luck. Will follow how it's going on the rework of the speakers. Sooopa welcome to AK.
 
Evidently some (all?) Snells use a "fillet" type surround, the recommended vendor/source is overseas, Britain or England or somewhere. Maybe someone will supply the name in this thread, or a Google search for Snell foam surrounds should get a result.
Also Snell was picky about voicing their speakers by using varying crossover components. It might be wise to exactly match the installed caps (assuming they are OEM/as built originally) should you decide to recap.. There are one or two sources for new Snell drivers, and they usually provide the needed crossover parts if you you buy drivers from them, if you were to have a need for replacement drivers.
 
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Thank you gents. It's glad to hear that I didn't screw the pooch too much

Would you believe I haven't soldered anything since 4th or 5th grade? I recall my mother yelling at me about "little boys who had burned down houses" with soldering irons. Well 4th grade was a loooooong time ago but how hard could it be?

Heat iron, place wire, apply solder and iron tip to what needs joined. Easy peasy, right? Yes that means I need a basic soldering iron

Is this 40W kit ok? https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Adjus...ar+Soldering+Iron&qid=1616210321&s=hi&sr=1-11

60W iron? https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Solde...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Tempe...tar+Soldering+Iron&qid=1616210321&s=hi&sr=1-8



My early searches informed me that Snell uses non-standard foams. I had already identified a couple prospects that I intended to get an opinion on but I discovered my binding post snafu. I will reach out to Rick @spark1 . Thanks for the tip
 
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There is a refoaming video for Audio Note speakers (would be the same for Snell or very close).
First video is removing the woofers


The second video is for refoaming.

Audio Note foam will be more expensive than the speakers and so it's probably best to find a cheaper alternative. AN speakers are only based on Snells they are not the same.

 
Rick Cobb (rcobb@tampabay.rr.com) should be able to get you the correct surrounds. His prices are reasonable and he knows his stuff.
 
Sooopa said:
So the other day I bounced upon a pair of Snell Type E/IIIs with the expected deteriorating foam. Admittedly I had no idea what they were at the time but I figured for $25 I could take a chance. Besides I've refoamed dozens of speakers 1 set of speakers :rflmao:so I'm an old pro at this ;). I checked them out this afternoon and noticed one of the screws for the speaker posts was hanging off and the other was missing. Did I buy them broken? Is that why the people donated them?


0MIIbbB.jpg



Then I thought "It was raining that night so I shoved them in the trunk..." I quickly went back to my car and checked the trunk and lo and behold there was the other broken post

QTNjTHo.jpg



I am such a genius: from a simple refoam to this. Help?

Another interesting tidbit: when I first brought them in I went to remove the woofer so I could scrape away the deteriorating foam but after removing the screws it remained lodged in place. The hell? So how can you get inside the speaker?

Signed,

Lost in the Sauce
Click to expand...

Congrats on your score!

FWIW, my recent Snell J-III project might interest you.
 
My advice, I’ve owned and still own Snell speakers.
They are amazing.
Get Audio Note surrounds. Worth the extra money IMHO.
Fix the speaker connection. Should not be hard.
Spend some time on the cabinet to make it look as good as possible .
Then be prepared to be very happy.
IMHO
 
Sooopa said:
Thank you gents. It's glad to hear that I didn't screw the pooch too much

Would you believe I haven't soldered anything since 4th or 5th grade? I recall my mother yelling at me about "little boys who had burned down houses" with soldering irons. Well 4th grade was a loooooong time ago but how hard could it be?

Heat iron, place wire, apply solder and iron tip to what needs joined. Easy peasy, right? Yes that means I need a basic soldering iron

Is this 40W kit ok? https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Adjus...ar+Soldering+Iron&qid=1616210321&s=hi&sr=1-11

60W iron? https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Solde...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Tempe...tar+Soldering+Iron&qid=1616210321&s=hi&sr=1-8



My early searches informed me that Snell uses non-standard foams. I had already identified a couple prospects that I intended to get an opinion on but I discovered my binding post snafu. I will reach out to Rick @spark1 . Thanks for the tip
Click to expand...
That 60W basic soldering iron should do just fine. I recently picked up a 60w soldering iron off of Ebay that has a small variable temperature control on the handle and comes with extra tips and solder and it works great. Blows my old Realistic iron out of the water...

Screenshot at 2021-03-22 10-42-34.png
 
LOL. I paid just over $10 for that soldering iron and that included tax and shipping. I'm wondering if the price went down on it now... All I can say is that it works perfectly for what I need it to do.
 
setup1 said:
Congrats on your score!

FWIW, my recent Snell J-III project might interest you.
Click to expand...

It does. Thanks!

Are these products what you used to get your woofer frames squeaky clean? Because I have both kicking around

VifaM21clean.jpg



I see that you went with Simply Speakers foam

VifaM21-2.jpg



Your first attempt looks clean to me.

VifaM21-3.jpg
 
Drivers are out and I peeked into the innards for the first time. I see that I only need short binding posts

U8sEWsz.jpeg




What is going on with this wiring? Is this by design or just an odd bird?


Speaker 1 (#41371)

A2C1gJT.jpeg


Aoao26k.jpeg




Speaker 2 (#41372)

pOzYui5.jpeg


BZ3jvQ1.jpeg



To be continued
 
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Snell discontinued the use of those type of binding posts, since many got a little too aggressive with a nut driver and snapped them off. Have seen that before on other Snells. For your investment of 25 bucks hard to go wrong....
 
Sooopa said:
Well Rick is out of foam and ordering foam from HiFi Collective in England for £47 plus shipping and import duties is a little unreasonable so that leaves me with 3 options:

1. Simply Speakers: https://www.amazon.com/Snell-Woofer-Speaker-Repair-FSK-8/dp/B009DNLMMA

2. Springfield Speakers: https://www.springfieldspeakerrepair.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=2A8-Snell

3. Midwest Speaker Repair: https://www.midwestspeakerrepair.co...by-brand/snell/snell-8-inch-refoam-kit-f8-14/
Click to expand...
If it was me, and I have owned several sets of Snells, and still own 3 sets, I would get the foams from HiFi Collective.
Simply Speakers are good people, but if you went that route, make sure the surrounds are correct for Snells. IMHO
 
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