Sony APM-22es Tweeter Trouble

[electra100]

Hey guys. I picked up a pair of these today for $15 at thrift. One of the tweeters is dead. What I would like to know is, can this tweeter be rebuilt? It looks like I am up the creek trying to find a replacement for this oddball speaker. I would hate to have to part them out because of one bad tweeter. Help point me in the right direction!

 

[4343]

Keep looking!

Hey guys. I picked up a pair of these today for $15 at thrift. One of the tweeters is dead. What I would like to know is, can this tweeter be rebuilt? It looks like I am up the creek trying to find a replacement for this oddball speaker. I would hate to have to part them out because of one bad tweeter. Help point me in the right direction!

Back when they still sold replacements, I was able to use the part number on the back to get a new tweeter for my 22ES's. All you can do now is hope one shows up somewhere.

You might have to e-wave 'em! That woofer will sound really good with a JBL 6X6 waveguide and Selinium 2500Ti neo driver! That's what I'd do if I ever lost another tweeter...

 

[electra100]

Wow. That may be an option, They have so many different kinds of drivers for that 1" thread! Anyone have any experience using these?

 

[4343]

Wow. That may be an option, They have so many different kinds of drivers for that 1" thread! Anyone have any experience using these?

To use the e-wave crossover, you need to use the driver they built it around, the Selinium D220Ti, or the neo version D2500Ti. (I like the D2500 a bit better than the D220.) There is an ewave deluxe crossover that uses a B&C driver, (which I like even more!) but the waveguide it uses is too big to fit in your box. If you did that you would have to flip the box upside down and just set the driver/waveguide on the top.

In any case, you can try the external tweeter method without changing the box at all, maybe an original tweeter will show up so you can put the APM's back to stock. The 22ES is one of my faves, I have a system with them and a custom APM MTM center and custom APM dipole rears upstairs that gets a lot of use.

 

[electra100]

To use the e-wave crossover, you need to use the driver they built it around, the Selinium D220Ti, or the neo version D2500Ti. (I like the D2500 a bit better than the D220.) There is an ewave deluxe crossover that uses a B&C driver, (which I like even more!) but the waveguide it uses is too big to fit in your box. If you did that you would have to flip the box upside down and just set the driver/waveguide on the top.

In any case, you can try the external tweeter method without changing the box at all, maybe an original tweeter will show up so you can put the APM's back to stock. The 22ES is one of my faves, I have a system with them and a custom APM MTM center and custom APM dipole rears upstairs that gets a lot of use.

Wouldn't it be possible to just get the selenium drivers and 6x6 waveguides and call it a day? The x-overs in these speakers are just fine and look quite impressive. Taking the mods one at a time would also be up my alley, as I am on a budget.

 

[sealy]

Best of luck finding a replacement tweeter. They are indeed scarce. The crossover point of these speakers is lower than it should be. As a consequence, the tweeters were known to blow with regularity. I had a blown tweeter in a pair I owned, but fortunately was able to find a replacement from an acquaintance.

 

[4343]

Wouldn't it be possible to just get the selenium drivers and 6x6 waveguides and call it a day? The x-overs in these speakers are just fine and look quite impressive. Taking the mods one at a time would also be up my alley, as I am on a budget.

I'm sure the driver will make sound with the stock APM crossover feeding it, but the design of the ewave crossover incorporates what's called "compensation" for the falling response of the waveguide/driver. Without the rising response of the compensation, the overall response will be very dull. You can just turn up the treble a bit, but it will not be the same as the precise curve that's designed into the ewave crossover.

Another thing to consider is the sensitivity of the driver/waveguide compared to the stock tweeter. It most likely is lots louder, so you will want to turn down the midrange at the same time you turn up the treble if you run the stock APM XO.

I think it would be better to at least order the L-Pads when you buy the drivers, so that the level of the mids can be set to match the woofer.

 

[DG10]

Hi - just wanted to say that it is possible to repair the APM22ES tweeter - here is how I got mine working again.

There are 4 screws holding it together, however these are underneath the trim/protecting fins.
The trim is made of plastic (although it looks metal) and sits in a channel so trying to prise it off will probably cause some cosmetic damage.
You can get them apart by VERY carefully drilling into the back of the mounting channel until you see the very thin line of metallic finish on the back of the trim (take your time and check constantly, I found it quite easy to see but you have to drill further than you might expect)
Using a small allen key you can push the trim plate off from behind. -It required a fair bit of force so again take care.

Once the trim is off you can remove the 4 phillips screws and pull the whole assemblly apart - there is a small amount of glue holding the black plastic frame of the speaker to the magnet but it pulls off relatively easily.
Take out the padding round the voice coil and you can then tease off an end of the voice coil wire with scalpel and tweezers. (It is glued on) Once you have an end free, gently pull off the wire leaving the plastic ring intact. (It may break where the coil has burned out so a bit of patience is required to find the end to continue unwinding -there is approx. 1.5m of wire)

You can then re-wind it with 0.125mm wire. There are two layers of winding on the coil. (I used a bottle cork to support the plastic ring to stop it collapsing when re-winding)

(I did not check the exact length and impedance of the wire as I was experimenting to see if it could be done - so when finished the coil measured 3.5 ohm instead of original spec of 6 ohm but they seem to be ok so far)

I also sprayed a small amount of acrylic laquer on the plastic coil ring before winding to give some adhesion and then sprayed some more when finished.
Once this has set you can re-solder the connections re-assemble and give your APM's another lease of life
This took me an afternoon to do (I have a little experience with electronics repair but I think most people who have a soldering iron could tackle this.
Good luck!

 

[gepit]

A bit late to the show but I've brought a pair of sony APM 22es speakers some 6 years ago and only after delivery did I notice on of the tweeters was not working. The speakers were put in to storage while I started my quest to find a replacement APM tweeter. Eventually accepted, short of buying a fully functional working pair upwards of £130 I wasn't going to find an individual tweeter unit on eBay. I revisited the above post by DG10 and decided to give it a try and must admit that I excelled myself because after 2 hours or so I had a working unit. I was able to reuse all but 10cm of the original wire and once rewound it read a manufacture spec 6 ohms. My APM's can at last sing and sing they do, with a better treble and mid then my castle severns.

 

[PerArne]

A bit late to the show but I've brought a pair of sony APM 22es speakers some 6 years ago and only after delivery did I notice on of the tweeters was not working. The speakers were put in to storage while I started my quest to find a replacement APM tweeter. Eventually accepted, short of buying a fully functional working pair upwards of £130 I wasn't going to find an individual tweeter unit on eBay. I revisited the above post by DG10 and decided to give it a try and must admit that I excelled myself because after 2 hours or so I had a working unit. I was able to reuse all but 10cm of the original wire and once rewound it read a manufacture spec 6 ohms. My APM's can at last sing and sing they do, with a better treble and mid then my castle severns.

View attachment 695177 View attachment 695178 View attachment 695179 View attachment 695180 View attachment 695181 View attachment 695182 View attachment 695183 View attachment 695185 View attachment 695188 View attachment 695191

For sure intresting to see the pictures. I have myself a pair of 66 ES with smoked tweeters.
Have sent them to a specialist and hope it is possible to fix them when finding replacements are as easy as give the pope a topspinn.

Was it hard to remove the top plate (picture with knife)?

 

[LozR]

Just wanted to add to the above.
I bought a pair of APM22es with non working tweeters.
After taking them apart one was an easy fix because the wire of the coil had failed almost where it is soldered onto the connector so I only had to unwind half a turn to solder it back on.
On the other unit the coil needed completely rewinding. I found that the original wire length was 2.1m, I bought some new 0.125" thick enameled wire to use and have completed that one too.
However I believe that the original wire is thinner than the 0.125" mentioned above - probably 0.1" though I don't have any way to confirm that figure. Perhaps worth bearing in mind if anyone else is going to have a go at this repair.

 

[Gandersound]

Just wanted to add to the above.
I bought a pair of APM22es with non working tweeters.
After taking them apart one was an easy fix because the wire of the coil had failed almost where it is soldered onto the connector so I only had to unwind half a turn to solder it back on.
On the other unit the coil needed completely rewinding. I found that the original wire length was 2.1m, I bought some new 0.125" thick enameled wire to use and have completed that one too.
However I believe that the original wire is thinner than the 0.125" mentioned above - probably 0.1" though I don't have any way to confirm that figure. Perhaps worth bearing in mind if anyone else is going to have a go at this repair.

I did the repair according to your recommendations, 0.1 thread 2,1 meters in length. I measured just below 6 ohms. I think the thicker wires that connect to the coil ad the remainder because when i decided to resolder past these i ended up with 5,6 ohms, although not a big difference.

Also to those who struggle with the spooling and don't have a cork, what i did was taking an aa-battery and spooled electrical tape untill i got the desired thickness. Then when you spool the coil you don't have to spool the coil exactly like it was before just make sure you spool it in the right direction, im not even left handed but somehow i spooled it in the opposite of what it was before so now i have to plug the speaker in reverse to get the right polarity ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When fone with spooling i aded tiny dots of glue around the coil to keep it in place. You might find that the coil is stuck around the taped battery, don't try to tug it of by force, you can ease it of just by spooling of the end of the tape and it will come of without damage.

Thanks to all in this thread, I'm really enjoying my speakers.

 

[hdrobien]

I also have a dead tweeter on my APM-22ES.

Thanks to this thread, I had the courage to dismantle the unit.

I don't see no point in taking out the padding as you can have access from the other side, once the magnet has been removed.

 

[Daf]

I also have a dead tweeter on my APM-22ES.

Thanks to this thread, I had the courage to dismantle the unit.

I don't see no point in taking out the padding as you can have access from the other side, once the magnet has been removed.

View attachment 2855833

hi, im currently doing this install, how did you get the magnet off?

 

[hdrobien]

Hi

The magnet holds because of the screws and glue.

Once you removed the screws, pull out the magnet strongly but with caution as not to damage the coil.

 

[Light244]

Keep looking!



Back when they still sold replacements, I was able to use the part number on the back to get a new tweeter for my 22ES's. All you can do now is hope one shows up somewhere.

You might have to e-wave 'em! That woofer will sound really good with a JBL 6X6 waveguide and Selinium 2500Ti neo driver! That's what I'd do if I ever lost another tweeter...

I also have a dead tweeter on my APM-22ES.

Thanks to this thread, I had the courage to dismantle the unit.

I don't see no point in taking out the padding as you can have access from the other side, once the magnet has been removed.

View attachment 2855833

 

[Light244]

I also have a dead tweeter on my APM-22ES.

Thanks to this thread, I had the courage to dismantle the unit.

I don't see no point in taking out the padding as you can have access from the other side, once the magnet has been removed.

View attachment 2855833

How's it now? Mine needs work too

 

[hdrobien]

Hi

Fixed. The problem was on the solder between the connector lead and the coil wire.

I was able to unwind the coil wire a bit (one turn), sand it to remove the enamel coating then resolder.

 

[Light244]

Hi

Fixed. The problem was on the solder between the connector lead and the coil wire.

I was able to unwind the coil wire a bit (one turn), sand it to remove the enamel coating then resolder.

Thanks for the reply. Great job! Hope mine is like your's. Do you have photos of the magnet side opposite the one you sent. Did you pry the magnet with a screwdriver? Or twist it? Thank you. Will send photos when i get home

 

[Light244]

Thanks for the reply. Great job! Hope mine is like your's. Do you have photos of the magnet side opposite the one you sent. Did you pry the magnet with a screwdriver? Or twist it? Thank you. Will send photos when i get home

Was able to open it. Cant find break. Took it all off , no need magnetic wire .125" or .0125"? Where to buy it? What direction to turn the wires? Thanks