Thank you for this tutorial. It was informative and complete. I really appreciate you spending the the time to make it and sharing your knowledge. All the best to you.
I just refoamed a pair of 6.5" woofers today, and I disagree with the battery method. After gluing the surround to the cone, I used a pen to lift the foam away and create a gap for leaving a bead of glue. It worked well because the foam has a bit of memory and stays higher than the basket after lifted up by the pen. Check for alignment, then apply a bead on the gasket. Put the gasket in place, check for alignment again, and then flip the speaker over to cure, face down.
You don’t even have to do that. First of all, the correct practice is to always glue the surround to the amp and wait for it to lock. You don’t have to wait for cure. Lock is good enough. Shimming or not, this is the pro method. If you are using tacky acetone based glued like JBL glue, the lock will be quick. White water based glued will take quite a bit longer. When you have set your alignment, you can lift the outer part of the edge with your thumb and glue underneath it. Rotate the basket as you go. All these people come up with a lot of unnecessary methods simply because they don’t know what they are doing and they don’t understand the materials they are working with. Some of these methods cause more harm than help.
Thanks, your comment made me watch the rest of the video after the way to long toolkit ad. Other centering methods did not make me feel confident. Watching people who make an instructional video who we quickly see are discovering the path after watching other peoples instructions, rather than being a sagely guide can be very annoying, but they also can sometimes give us a good preview of things to NOT do.
I would add some kind of resistor to make sure the current keeps constant. 9V at 8ohms (supposedly impedance but you'd have to double check that with a multimeter) shows a current of 1.125A according to ohms law. You are running two risks there: blowing up the coil (worse) and killing the battery REAL QUICK (TM). With a 47 ohm resistor ohms law shows around 200mA which is much safer, add to that the resistance of the coil and you can figure out the mA and maybe even make it even lower. Thanks for the video!
@@donmoore7785 exactly my thoughts too. I've encountered plenty of speakers which were damaged from DC offset from old receivers and amps not calibrated. Seeing a constant DC voltage without heat dissipation looks very difficult to watch. I'm biased though because as a child I did that same thing to a midbass driver and watched it seize up.
I absolutely agree the constant voltage/current applied to the voice-coil will likely cook the voice-coil. Many Speakers are damaged by "Clipping" which is a flat-topped sine-wave (approaching a square-wave) which can and does damage voice coils. This 9 volt battery is not good. I've used an AA cell to determine which lug is positive on the Speaker in cases where they are not labelled. If the cone moves "outward", check the polarity of the battery. The plus side of the battery is the plus (red) side of the Speaker.
Hi there. I had worked in a repair shop for various hifi units, the reason I used this method was because it was the one our lead technician used. I haven't worked there in a little while, but of the various speakers I've re-foamed, the 9v method hadn't led to a damaged voice coil as far as I'd seen, both with speakers that I've done, and speakers that left the old shop. I would like to leave room for error though as I am still learning a few things, and in this video passed on what I thought was good information at the time. Obviously I wouldn't want a video I make to pass on the wrong information, my intention isn't to damage anyone elses gear, its to show repair can be easier than presumed. I'll have to do a follow up on this and look into better methods of refoaming the speakers as well as making sure they are seated properly. The resistor would rake care of the current issue but it occurred to me a bit later that gravity over time may seat the coils a bit lopsided from their intended position while waiting for the glue to set. What do you think would be a good workaround for that?
It's good practice with front mounting foam to run a thin layer of glue with your finger or small applicator along the inner foam edge and cone to reduce the risk of the foam peeling back from the cone over time. Otherwise, good work!
I have been a professional reconer who once worked in a shop that had been in business since the Great Depression. So they had seen almost everything. Do not use the 9v battery method!! You risk blistering the coil, if you don’t eventually burn it out. An amplifier going bad doesn’t even need as much as 9 volts DC to kill your coils. A blistered coil will not always show up when measuring DC resistance of a coil. some blistered coils can even go unnoticed when playing music at nominal levels. But soon as you load up the volume, that’s when trouble starts. We use to have people come in who blistered their coils after following this practice. This process doesn’t even guarantee symmetrical alignment, which again won’t always appear until the speaker is under high load. A blistered coil, under load, can turn into a shorting coil, which means “hello repair bill” for your classic amplifier.
Hi there. I've also worked in a repair shop for various hifi units, the reason I used this method was because it was the one our lead technician used. I haven't worked there in a little while, but of the various speakers I've re-foamed, the 9v method hasn't led to a damaged voice coil as far as I've seen, both with speakers that I've done, and speakers that left the old shop. I would like to leave room for error though as I am still learning a few things, and in this video passed on what I thought was good information at the time. Obviously I wouldn't want a video I make to pass on the wrong information, my intention isn't to damage anyone elses gear, its to show repair can be easier thsn presumed. I am curious, if this does in fact damage voice coils, what would you use as the proper method?
16:10 you mean when they make it idiot proof because its so hard and such a hassle to put the positive wire to the positive terminal and figure out were the remaining one goes.
Howard Ellison Repair videos rarely givedetail on centering the SPIDER, when the dustcap can't be removed to insert shims. I just found this: "Try connecting the coil to a 1.5v battery momentarily. That'll automatically centre the voice coil for you. An old trick but it works. No shims required". If it works for you, pass the tip on!
You Know, I don't think infinity glued the benzyl on just for looks, it is likely to have a purpose of stabilizing the foam. then again they did use a material that consistently has failed on the surrounds.
Thank You for this instructional video. I'm going to do my first refoam job on a pair of those Infinity RS- 225 I bought for $36. How do they sound? Are they lacking in anything?
Thank you for the words, I'm glad it could help :) I'm sorry it took so long to reply to this. I think they sound very good, I tried them with a few receivers ,and am currently using them as the back speakers for a surround sound amp, they're very rich and clear to me. The driver is decent enough to get a lot of the mids and some lows out pretty well, and the tweeter is bright but not intrusively so. Hope this helps, and good luck with the refoam!
Hey there :) The opening theme is a song I've uploaded to my channel, it's called Be With Me by a group called Fizz. And thanks very much, I'm glad the info helped, and hope the refoam went well!
I was unaware of this, thanks for letting me know. I don't have any way of giving my speakers a low AC power when I redo their surrounds, so for now the battery method will have to do. Is there a device you'd suggest that could give the speakers a low burs of AC to reposition the cones?
@@OfficialSoundtracker so you don't have amp playing bass music connected to speaker to do this application? isn't using an amp much safer way to calibrate???
I've received variations on this comment, at the time of publishing I was acting on advice from the lead technician in a stereo repair shop I worked at. Fortunately the speakers I've done this to are still working. I've been told so far from others that it may burn out the coil to apply DC, but haven't heard back from anyone yet what they consider the proper method. I'm curious, and would like to make an updated video to this, how would you go about centering the speaker if not this?
Gluing the outer I use three little clamps like what Harbor Freight has in fruity colors. When I have a good alignment with the clamps I glue the areas between the clamps and once cured just remove the clamps and glue the rest. Never lets me down.
Hey :) If you mean the opening theme, it was a record I got from a store. From what I've found out, it was a private press, which essentially means that some people knew a guy who had a studio and they only made one single. The band is called The Fizz, and the song is Be With Me. Would you like me to upload the full version of the song?
static1994 Omg thank youuuu!!!! My son is 12 and he’s Autistic and he loves these robotic, etc videos and he fell in love with this song and he’s been so anxious and non stop searching but to no avail and I finally thought about asking here. So he’s super excited right now and has it on replay!! Thank you so much from both of us!!! You have made two people extremely happy 👍🏼❤️
You're welcome, and aww, that's very sweet :) How long has he been watching things on robotics? And I gotcha, the song is really hard to find, mainly because private press records were never publicly released. I found it by chance. It's a great song, I'll have it uploaded in a bit for you :) And you're very welcome!!
Yes, I've been informed. I was going off of advice from someone who was the lead technician at a shop I worked at that had a stereo repair facility. He used that method plenty so I figured it was okay without having double checked before recording this. I was inclined to take his word at the time since I'd always seen it work. On that note, what would you recommend for centering the foam?
Thanks. I'll be refoaming a pair of Infinity Sterling SS 2003s as soon as the kit arrives. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for this tutorial. It was informative and complete. I really appreciate you spending the the time to make it and sharing your knowledge. All the best to you.
Bought a pair or foam to repair my Tannoys . This will be a first for me. Good presentation. I learned more than expected. Thanks
No problem, glad it helped. I've used this trick on a few speakers, and its a lot easier than cutting the cone and shimming it.
Thanks again...@@OfficialSoundtracker
I just refoamed a pair of 6.5" woofers today, and I disagree with the battery method. After gluing the surround to the cone, I used a pen to lift the foam away and create a gap for leaving a bead of glue. It worked well because the foam has a bit of memory and stays higher than the basket after lifted up by the pen. Check for alignment, then apply a bead on the gasket. Put the gasket in place, check for alignment again, and then flip the speaker over to cure, face down.
You don’t even have to do that. First of all, the correct practice is to always glue the surround to the amp and wait for it to lock. You don’t have to wait for cure. Lock is good enough. Shimming or not, this is the pro method. If you are using tacky acetone based glued like JBL glue, the lock will be quick. White water based glued will take quite a bit longer. When you have set your alignment, you can lift the outer part of the edge with your thumb and glue underneath it. Rotate the basket as you go. All these people come up with a lot of unnecessary methods simply because they don’t know what they are doing and they don’t understand the materials they are working with. Some of these methods cause more harm than help.
thnx dude, the 9v battery way of centering the cone helped me a lot!, woofers ended sounding and looking pretty good :)
Thanks, your comment made me watch the rest of the video after the way to long toolkit ad. Other centering methods did not make me feel confident. Watching people who make an instructional video who we quickly see are discovering the path after watching other peoples instructions, rather than being a sagely guide can be very annoying, but they also can sometimes give us a good preview of things to NOT do.
I would add some kind of resistor to make sure the current keeps constant. 9V at 8ohms (supposedly impedance but you'd have to double check that with a multimeter) shows a current of 1.125A according to ohms law. You are running two risks there: blowing up the coil (worse) and killing the battery REAL QUICK (TM). With a 47 ohm resistor ohms law shows around 200mA which is much safer, add to that the resistance of the coil and you can figure out the mA and maybe even make it even lower. Thanks for the video!
Great comment. I was very surprised to see him hardwire a speaker to a battery. DC blows up speakers.
@@donmoore7785 exactly my thoughts too. I've encountered plenty of speakers which were damaged from DC offset from old receivers and amps not calibrated. Seeing a constant DC voltage without heat dissipation looks very difficult to watch. I'm biased though because as a child I did that same thing to a midbass driver and watched it seize up.
I absolutely agree the constant voltage/current applied to the voice-coil will likely cook the voice-coil. Many Speakers are damaged by "Clipping" which is a flat-topped sine-wave (approaching a square-wave) which can and does damage voice coils. This 9 volt battery is not good. I've used an AA cell to determine which lug is positive on the Speaker in cases where they are not labelled. If the cone moves "outward", check the polarity of the battery. The plus side of the battery is the plus (red) side of the Speaker.
Hi there. I had worked in a repair shop for various hifi units, the reason I used this method was because it was the one our lead technician used. I haven't worked there in a little while, but of the various speakers I've re-foamed, the 9v method hadn't led to a damaged voice coil as far as I'd seen, both with speakers that I've done, and speakers that left the old shop.
I would like to leave room for error though as I am still learning a few things, and in this video passed on what I thought was good information at the time. Obviously I wouldn't want a video I make to pass on the wrong information, my intention isn't to damage anyone elses gear, its to show repair can be easier than presumed. I'll have to do a follow up on this and look into better methods of refoaming the speakers as well as making sure they are seated properly. The resistor would rake care of the current issue but it occurred to me a bit later that gravity over time may seat the coils a bit lopsided from their intended position while waiting for the glue to set. What do you think would be a good workaround for that?
@@OfficialSoundtracker why don't you just run regular bass music thru amp to do alignment? Isn't that the safest way?
It's good practice with front mounting foam to run a thin layer of glue with your finger or small applicator along the inner foam edge and cone to reduce the risk of the foam peeling back from the cone over time. Otherwise, good work!
Thanks for the tip, I'd never actually considered the foam peeling back over time. I'll give it a try on my next refoam :)
good tips. I would just wire in a doorbell switch between the battery and driver terminals. Especially if you need to do more than a few drivers.
And how would you hold the doorbell in to apply the adhesive?
I have been a professional reconer who once worked in a shop that had been in business since the Great Depression. So they had seen almost everything. Do not use the 9v battery method!! You risk blistering the coil, if you don’t eventually burn it out. An amplifier going bad doesn’t even need as much as 9 volts DC to kill your coils. A blistered coil will not always show up when measuring DC resistance of a coil. some blistered coils can even go unnoticed when playing music at nominal levels. But soon as you load up the volume, that’s when trouble starts.
We use to have people come in who blistered their coils after following this practice. This process doesn’t even guarantee symmetrical alignment, which again won’t always appear until the speaker is under high load. A blistered coil, under load, can turn into a shorting coil, which means “hello repair bill” for your classic amplifier.
Hi there. I've also worked in a repair shop for various hifi units, the reason I used this method was because it was the one our lead technician used. I haven't worked there in a little while, but of the various speakers I've re-foamed, the 9v method hasn't led to a damaged voice coil as far as I've seen, both with speakers that I've done, and speakers that left the old shop.
I would like to leave room for error though as I am still learning a few things, and in this video passed on what I thought was good information at the time. Obviously I wouldn't want a video I make to pass on the wrong information, my intention isn't to damage anyone elses gear, its to show repair can be easier thsn presumed. I am curious, if this does in fact damage voice coils, what would you use as the proper method?
isn't running bass music thru amplifier wired to speaker much safer and provide same application?
16:10 you mean when they make it idiot proof because its so hard and such a hassle to put the positive wire to the positive terminal and figure out were the remaining one goes.
Howard Ellison
Repair videos rarely givedetail on centering the SPIDER, when the dustcap can't be removed to insert shims. I just found this: "Try connecting the coil to a 1.5v battery momentarily. That'll automatically centre the voice coil for you. An old trick but it works. No shims required".
If it works for you, pass the tip on!
isn't just pumping bass music thru amp wired to speaker much better safer way???
Hi. Do you do this surgery, for anyone ?
You Know, I don't think infinity glued the benzyl on just for looks, it is likely to have a purpose of stabilizing the foam. then again they did use a material that consistently has failed on the surrounds.
Thank You for this instructional video. I'm going to do my first refoam job on a pair of those Infinity RS- 225 I bought for $36. How do they sound? Are they lacking in anything?
Thank you for the words, I'm glad it could help :) I'm sorry it took so long to reply to this. I think they sound very good, I tried them with a few receivers ,and am currently using them as the back speakers for a surround sound amp, they're very rich and clear to me. The driver is decent enough to get a lot of the mids and some lows out pretty well, and the tweeter is bright but not intrusively so. Hope this helps, and good luck with the refoam!
Great song. Can you send a link or info how to get it? I’m refoaming a pair of rs 225s now and your video was very helpful. Thanks
Hey there :) The opening theme is a song I've uploaded to my channel, it's called Be With Me by a group called Fizz. And thanks very much, I'm glad the info helped, and hope the refoam went well!
Be aware that DC current fries speaker voice coils. They are made for AC. So don't leave a battery on a voice coil for very long.
I was unaware of this, thanks for letting me know. I don't have any way of giving my speakers a low AC power when I redo their surrounds, so for now the battery method will have to do. Is there a device you'd suggest that could give the speakers a low burs of AC to reposition the cones?
@@OfficialSoundtracker so you don't have amp playing bass music connected to speaker to do this application? isn't using an amp much safer way to calibrate???
My 10" JBL L100t3 speakers have the foam surround 'under' the cone... and I would NEVER use a battery to excite the voice coil (bad advice)
I've received variations on this comment, at the time of publishing I was acting on advice from the lead technician in a stereo repair shop I worked at. Fortunately the speakers I've done this to are still working. I've been told so far from others that it may burn out the coil to apply DC, but haven't heard back from anyone yet what they consider the proper method. I'm curious, and would like to make an updated video to this, how would you go about centering the speaker if not this?
Thanks for the 9volt battery trick. Got some Infinity CS3007 crescendo 's I'm about to do . My first refoam.
Why the hell should the cone become dirty by the glue leakage? Looks so unprofessional.
Gluing the outer I use three little clamps like what Harbor Freight has in fruity colors. When I have a good alignment with the clamps I glue the areas between the clamps and once cured just remove the clamps and glue the rest. Never lets me down.
I am curious about that, do you lamp it to the cone itself and then to the basket?
Who sings this song? Thanks
Hey :) If you mean the opening theme, it was a record I got from a store. From what I've found out, it was a private press, which essentially means that some people knew a guy who had a studio and they only made one single. The band is called The Fizz, and the song is Be With Me. Would you like me to upload the full version of the song?
static1994 Omg thank youuuu!!!! My son is 12 and he’s Autistic and he loves these robotic, etc videos and he fell in love with this song and he’s been so anxious and non stop searching but to no avail and I finally thought about asking here. So he’s super excited right now and has it on replay!! Thank you so much from both of us!!! You have made two people extremely happy 👍🏼❤️
You're welcome, and aww, that's very sweet :) How long has he been watching things on robotics? And I gotcha, the song is really hard to find, mainly because private press records were never publicly released. I found it by chance. It's a great song, I'll have it uploaded in a bit for you :) And you're very welcome!!
I've put the song up, it's titled Fizz - Be With Me. Enjoy! :)
Thanks so much :)
Do not use a 9 volt battery. You running the risk of burning the voice coil.😢
Yes, I've been informed. I was going off of advice from someone who was the lead technician at a shop I worked at that had a stereo repair facility. He used that method plenty so I figured it was okay without having double checked before recording this. I was inclined to take his word at the time since I'd always seen it work. On that note, what would you recommend for centering the foam?
jbl tlx 45 What do you think about this one there is two part
ruclips.net/video/66N9hs3_EWM/видео.html