Speaker terminal wire breaking

[NicholasG]

Hello. I have this 15 inch CTS speaker that still works, but I noticed the wire going to the cone is breaking. Is there a possible fix for this before it totally breaks? Thought about soldering it but how would that be accomplished? The wire looks unraveled from the rest. This speaker is not used I just have it. Unsure where it came from as I bought it for $15. Any ideas where it came from? Thanks for reading the post!

 

[toddalin]

The frame is the same as that used in the Leslies.

 

[n8dogg]

Some guys use aluminum foil tape to repair Magnepan wires. Maybe you could cut a small, skinny piece and maneuver it in there somehow and get it around the frayed parts to connect the good parts.

I'm a total amateur, this could actually be bad advice for all I know.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Replace the tinsel wire with new tinsel wire.

 

[guest139]

You would have to replace the entire tinsel lead. So where the tinsel lead is soldered underneath the black adhesive on the front of the cone, you would have to CAREFULLY remove the black adhesive being careful not to tear the cone, de-solder the lead from the voice coil wire, and then pull the old lead out. Pull a new tinsel lead through the cone, solder the end onto the voice coil wire, pull the slack out from the back of the cone, then pull the lead through the terminal hole and solder it while leaving enough slack for the driver to move back/forth. Then when you’re all done with that apply some of the same type of black adhesive to hold down the wires at the front of the cone

 

[NicholasG]

Thank you for the replies. It looks a lot like that one speaker does in the Leslie Toddalin. only difference I see is the back on my speaker has longer openings as the Leslie appears more squatty Is that your Leslie speaker BTW? I'd be curious if the fromt of the speaker looked the same. Tinsel! I have heard that with speakers before but never heard Magnepan. Hmmm replacing the tinsel wire looks difficult. Have you ever done it before AudioGMan?

 

[toddalin]

Not my Leslie, though I did have two. Typical CTS square magnet woofers found in many applications.

As for the tinsel. I would try to "bunch" the wires the best I could and hit the "bunch" with a bit of solder. If the wire is corroded, use a bit of flux on the wire first.

Or, place a piece of stripped, flexible wire along side and solder it to the bunch.

 

[NicholasG]

Thats a good idea to do. I'll have to look into the flexible wire approach. I can as well see if the soldering would be an obtainable approach as, that would be the easiest I assume. I just need to get some flux somewhere. Thank you again i'll get this figured out. Yes the square magnet seems to be their thing lol. Speaker sounds good actually lol. I thought about trying it out in my bass amp. I also have a keyboard amp that has a 15 in it. Both are Peavey amplifiers.

 

[RTally]

As for the tinsel. I would try to "bunch" the wires the best I could and hit the "bunch" with a bit of solder. If the wire is corroded, use a bit of flux on the wire first.

Or, place a piece of stripped, flexible wire along side and solder it to the bunch.

Sounds good, but in practice not a good idea. Tinsel needs to be very flexible so that the cone can move without applying any force from the tinsel on the cone. Soldering the tinsel or soldering a wire to tinsel will stiffen the tinsel because the solder is solid and inflexible. Most tinsel is braided and, with flux, it will soak up the solder unless the solderer is very skilled. Just think of how desoldering braid works and what it is like after being used. Not a good idea for driver tinsel.

I suggest buying some tinsel, and soldering a piece between the driver terminal strip and the cone in place of the original tinsel.

Here is one source of tinsel:
https://www.springfieldspeakerrepair.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=2LW-Flat-1

 

[NicholasG]

It appears as if it can be repaired as it seemes to be more towards the middle of the tinsel lead however, I didnt even think about soldering a new piece of tinsel in its place I will see if I can do that as your correct the tinsel needs to have movement for the cone. The biggest concern I have is ruining something due to the solder dripping off as Its in an awkward area to work. First though I need to get flux and tinsel. I will visit my local electronics store and see what they have. Thank you for your information. Much appreciated.