HiFi HT Speaker Repairs (foam & rubber surrounds)

[avander]

Hi All,

I have an Acoustic Research (AR) Centre speaker on my Home Theatre system and wondering if anyone knows of somewhere in Pattaya where I could get the speaker serviced/repaired.  We occasionally make the trip to Bangkok so I could take it there but would prefer Pattaya if there is somewhere local.

 

The sound started to distort over the last couple of weeks and when I took the front cover off (see attached image) I found that the foam surrounding the 2 drivers and the tweeter has disintegrated.  I gently vacuumed off the powdery residue but the distortion remains and I also noticed that the rubber surround of the right hand driver has a join which has split and also a crack in the rubber which also needs replacing and is the likely culprit for the distortion. 

I am assuming it is the age of the speaker and the change in climate that has caused the problem and resulted in the distortion.

 

Edited May 12, 2017 by avander

[JamJar]

Try Amorn in Tukcom's basement. Just opposite the entrance to TOPS

[JamJar]

http://www.amorngroup.com/branch/eastern/branch_eastern_en.php

[avander]

On 13/05/2017 at 1:40 AM, JamJar said:

Try Amorn in Tukcom's basement. Just opposite the entrance to TOPS

Thanks for the input but Amorn in Tukcoms basement less than helpful an dI wouldn't take anything to them after my experience.

I walked in with my speaker.  The guy sitting at the counter is soldering an electric jug.  He listens to what I have to say and says "cannot fix speaker".

You know anywhere in Pattaya?.....No.

Very disappointing when their website indicates they "do it all".  

 

As a matter of interest for anyone else looking to repair their old but great HiFi speakers in Pattaya seems there may be none:

A Pattaya Hi Fi Outlet

I went to Mahajak Development Co., Ltd. on Sukhumvit who have previously been quite good as I have a Denon AVR I purchased form them.  They also do JBL and a couple of other quality brands but in my instance said "we can only repair our brands".   Hmmm.

Musical Instrument / PA / amp shop

Another recommended by both my "mobile guy" at Tukcom and Mahajak above was a music shop opposite Outlet Mall in Thepprasit Road that looked promising as they have instruments, many large and smaller PAs, and amps mainly for bands etc.

They were very polite and respectful.  Unfortunately while they do speaker repairs it's only on larger 11-18"+  type speakers and didn't know where they would get the parts (rubber speaker surround) for mine.  Didn't seem like a "cop out".

At least they suggested an alternative in trying car audio shops but I expect they would just want to replace the speaker unit altogether with something probably inferior even though we all know how loud car audio can be here having heard the "doof doof" coming from so many vehicles around Thailand.

 

So my search now continues in Bangkok where I will am hoping to have more success...........

[JamJar]

See if you can source the parts for yourself: http://www.acoustic-research.com

[Jai Dee]

On 5/13/2017 at 1:34 AM, avander said:

I have an Acoustic Research (AR) Centre speaker on my Home Theatre system and wondering if anyone knows of somewhere in Pattaya where I could get the speaker serviced/repaired.

What is the condition of the main and surround speakers?

Are they all AR and of similar vintage?

 

In my experience once speakers deteriorate to that condition it's time to replace with new.

Cheaper and less frustrating than trying to recondition them too.

 

Trust me... I had to sorrowfully turf out a pair of Bose 901's... heat and humidity killed them. 

[giddyup]

19 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

What is the condition of the main and surround speakers?

Are they all AR and of similar vintage?

 

In my experience once speakers deteriorate to that condition it's time to replace with new.

Cheaper and less frustrating than trying to recondition them too.

 

Trust me... I had to sorrowfully turf out a pair of Bose 901's... heat and humidity killed them. 

I had the foam surrounds replaced in my AR speakers in Australia, cost was $100 for the pair. The actual speakers were still perfect and served me another 10 years, only the surrounds had deteriorated.

[avander]

11 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

What is the condition of the main and surround speakers?

Are they all AR and of similar vintage?

 

In my experience once speakers deteriorate to that condition it's time to replace with new.

Cheaper and less frustrating than trying to recondition them too.

 

Trust me... I had to sorrowfully turf out a pair of Bose 901's... heat and humidity killed them. 

 

11 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

What is the condition of the main and surround speakers?

Are they all AR and of similar vintage?

 

In my experience once speakers deteriorate to that condition it's time to replace with new.

Cheaper and less frustrating than trying to recondition them too.

 

Trust me... I had to sorrowfully turf out a pair of Bose 901's... heat and humidity killed them. 

My main and surrounds are different brands.   I have FL/FR Electrovoice Interface Series II which have been reconditioned previously and are all good.

I have a pair of old, and I mean very old Canton Bookshelf speakers used as rear surrounds (bought in the 70s but beautiful as they have solid walnut enclosures.  The speaker surrounds inside these 2 are actually some sort of light woven material but they are in as good condition as the day I bought them and still sound fine, to me in any case.  A couple of year old Onkyo upfiring Atmos speakers so should be perfect.  My sub is a Yamaha YST-SW800 which is about 12 years old but still performs well also.  Never driven any of the speakers very hard so maybe that's why it's all still ok?

 

[Jai Dee]

5 minutes ago, giddyup said:

I had the foam surrounds replaced in my AR speakers in Australia, cost was $100 for the pair. The actual speakers were still perfect and served me another 10 years, only the surrounds had deteriorated.

In that case it may well be worth sourcing from an Australian supplier then shipping them over here.

 

In my particular case it was the rubber sections of the speaker cones themselves which deteriorated.

[avander]

Just now, Jai Dee said:

In that case it may well be worth sourcing from an Australian supplier then shipping them over here.

 

In my particular case it was the rubber sections of the speaker cones themselves which deteriorated.

Yes, it is just the surrounds that have deteriorated plus the acoustic foam which "shields" the 2 drivers and tweeter under the front cover as per my OP image.  
I could buy foam here I expect and cut a new "shield" or maybe just remove the existing deteriorating foam altogether.

 

I was just looking at Simply Speakers in the U.S.  Seems a kit to repair mine ( I might do both drivers)  would be $US25 plus postage.   

 

[JamJar]

8 hours ago, avander said:

Yes, it is just the surrounds that have deteriorated plus the acoustic foam which "shields" the 2 drivers and tweeter under the front cover as per my OP image.  
I could buy foam here I expect and cut a new "shield" or maybe just remove the existing deteriorating foam altogether.

 

I was just looking at Simply Speakers in the U.S.  Seems a kit to repair mine ( I might do both drivers)  would be $US25 plus postage.   

 

 

Interesting, I wonder if I would have attempted to repair my AR foam surrounds if I had known I could have purchased a repair kit. i just replaced the units. But the woofers I purchased were of inferior quality.

[NanLaew]

Duct tape time.

[avander]

@NanLaew I'm afraid duct tape just wouldn't cut it (no pun intended).

After further research and some concern as to whether or not a repair kit would actually fit my (quite old) AR drivers I have made some queries on purchasing a new centre from a supplier in Bangkok.

I prefer a U.S. "sound" and was recommended Polk may be the best my budget extends to (Model CSi A4)  but haven't committed yet.

 

I also looked at purchasing two brand new 5" drivers for the enclosure but couldn't found any local suppliers with enough of a range and most of the Chinese ones I could source were for car audio. 

 

I decided to have a go at repairing mine and cleaned the foam off the front of the enclosure myself.  It turned out to have degraded to a horrible tar like consistency under a disintegrating top layer and was a real pain to get rid of but I persisted and got almost all of it off with the aid of some thinners.  Now I'm left with a somewhat sticky front surface but clean enough and no-one will notice once the cover is back on.

I also removed the two drivers and found that the rubber had degraded more than I thought with some cracks on both drivers.

As there were no pieces broken off as it would be no loss I tried a small amount of latex contact adhesive to join and cover the cracks with a thin film.  

Not sure what the result may be.  I don't expect a lot of joy as surely the sound will be greatly affected by the lack of balanced extensions and contractions of the cones.

We'll see and I will report back.

Edited May 19, 2017 by avander

[JamJar]

http://www.paudiothailand.com/paudio/

 

I have an idea that the prices will be ludicrous :)

 

Backed up by this link: http://www.samdee-audio.com/store/ Useful website nonetheless. 

Edited May 20, 2017 by JamJar

[NanLaew]

8 hours ago, avander said:

@NanLaew I'm afraid duct tape just wouldn't cut it (no pun intended).

After further research and some concern as to whether or not a repair kit would actually fit my (quite old) AR drivers I have made some queries on purchasing a new centre from a supplier in Bangkok.

I prefer a U.S. "sound" and was recommended Polk may be the best my budget extends to (Model CSi A4)  but haven't committed yet.

 

I also looked at purchasing two brand new 5" drivers for the enclosure but couldn't found any local suppliers with enough of a range and most of the Chinese ones I could source were for car audio. 

 

I decided to have a go at repairing mine and cleaned the foam off the front of the enclosure myself.  It turned out to have degraded to a horrible tar like consistency under a disintegrating top layer and was a real pain to get rid of but I persisted and got almost all of it off with the aid of some thinners.  Now I'm left with a somewhat sticky front surface but clean enough and no-one will notice once the cover is back on.

I also removed the two drivers and found that the rubber had degraded more than I thought with some cracks on both drivers.

As there were no pieces broken off as it would be no loss I tried a small amount of latex contact adhesive to join and cover the cracks with a thin film.  

Not sure what the result may be.  I don't expect a lot of joy as surely the sound will be greatly affected by the lack of balanced extensions and contractions of the cones.

We'll see and I will report back.

When I played loud rock and roll in a band in my wild and hedonistic youth, duct tape, or rather what the roadies called 'gaffer tape', was the standard method of patching a speaker cone when the peripheral corrugated paper or plastic flexible surrounds ruptured. Tape needed to be applied on front side and rear side of the split which was easy enough as most speaker cabinets had a removable back panel. It worked great on PA and lead guitar (higher frequency) speakers inasmuch it lasted till the end of a gig or a whole week when we were (briefly) popular. I will admit that it wouldn't last long on any of my bass speakers though. The dynamics of an 18" speaker cone on an open E are pretty impressive.

 

There is an unfortunate interaction between some types of plastic and whatever is in the Thai air be it heat and humidity where the plastic deteriorates, usually getting sticky to the touch. I have seen it happen on electric razors, computer mouse(s) and cases for external computer hard drives. This may be what is 'eating' your foam surrounds?

 

With regard to the cracks in the drivers, try and get some Plasti-Dip aerosol rubber spray from an auto bling shop or buy direct about 800 baht/can. I think this may be a way of giving a more uniform rubberised coating. They have matte black but you could go wild and use any of their bright flourescents as well. Either way, without re-coning, your speakers will always be 'seconds' but doing a decent home refurb shouldn't be a total loss and good enough for the garage!

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by NanLaew