Speaker Fix

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:28 pm

Our Explorer has a subwoofer built-in. Thats fine and dandy, but it sounded really rattly and raspy whenever it was turned up enough to do anything. So today I did the logical thing and tore it out, which required removing the whole back-right interior panel. When I finally got to the sub, I found that there was a rip in the foam for the cone that went about half of its circumference. This was obviously the problem.
So instead of spending my non-existent money for a new sub, I decided to try to fix it. I had found a posting online about a similar problem, but the foam was separating from the frame. The poster said that he just hot glued it back down and the problem was solved. I decided that I had nothing to lose (what, was it going to sound even worse?), so I applied a thin layer of hot glue all around the cone where the rip was. I put it back in the Explorer, and bam, I had decent sounding bass again.
I only recommend that you try this fix if you have no other option. You could probably screw up the speaker just as easily as fixing it. So if the speaker is from your parents' car like it was for me, you should ok it with them.

APHawkes · Post by **APHawkes** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:37 am

Back in my day you used to be able to go to Radio Shack and buy "Speaker Surround"....which is exactly that foam stuff. People would replace that piece all the time. Yes, you could screw up your speaker, but it was already broken, so you'd only break it worse.

Does anybody else remember those glorious days of RS when they didn't sell mobile phones?

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:19 am

You mean when they didn't sell just mobile phones?

Back when they had electronics kits and more parts than just overpriced resistors and LEDs? Those were the days.

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:41 am

APHawkes wrote:Does anybody else remember those glorious days of RS when they didn't sell mobile phones?

Yes. I'm only 18, and I remember that... they haven't been like this for very long... Unfortunately, back in "those days," I wasn't as into electronics as I am now, so the two pages of transistors they had in their catalog always used to annoy me. I always thought, "Who even buys this stuff? It's just taking up space in the catalog." Then I would advance on to the next page, which were the LEDs, and stare at them for eternity... "Ooohh... look at the pretty lights..."

I believe that was their 1998 catalog, if I'm not mistaken...

Looks like I finally got my wish; they've taken out almost all of their transistor selection... but now that I'm not a retard and know what transistors actually DO, I wish they had them back...

[/offtopic]

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:39 am

Electric Rain wrote:
APHawkes wrote:Does anybody else remember those glorious days of RS when they didn't sell mobile phones?
Yes. I'm only 18, and I remember that... they haven't been like this for very long... Unfortunately, back in "those days," I wasn't as into electronics as I am now, so the two pages of transistors they had in their catalog always used to annoy me. I always thought, "Who even buys this stuff? It's just taking up space in the catalog." Then I would advance on to the next page, which were the LEDs, and stare at them for eternity... "Ooohh... look at the pretty lights..." I believe that was their 1998 catalog, if I'm not mistaken... Looks like I finally got my wish; they've taken out almost all of their transistor selection... but now that I'm not a retard and know what transistors actually DO, I wish they had them back... [/offtopic]

haha, sorry for the off-topic, but I can't stop laughing at this:lol:

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:07 pm

Well, there isn't too much to discuss about this, you just try it out if your speaker sounds like crap. So as long as the off topic stuff gets people to see it, then I have no problem with it.

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:38 pm

I had a pretty large (14" maybe?) speaker a while ago that was missing all of its surround, leaving the diaphragm completely disconnected from the frame.

This was also a while ago, so I tried to... ahem... TAPE it back together.

Note to form members: This does not work at all.

I've since thrown that speaker out, which was a great loss to me, but I didn't know of any way to fix it... Would there have been any way to fix it?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:42 pm

Electric Rain wrote:Would there have been any way to fix it?

If you had found a surround that fit, then there is probably a fairly good chance you could have fixed it. Or maybe chopping a larger surround or combining smaller ones. I bet that good speaker shops probably have surrounds for various sizes of speakers.