Speaker Re-Foaming

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 27 Jul 2001 7:20 pm

This does not deal with spilling your draft on your speaker cabinet.
Has anyone had experience with this process, particularly with Bose 802 drivers. There are a lot of kits available, but the cheapest route is not always the long-term best solution.
Thanks,
Lefty
Sho-Bud LDG (Lefty)
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Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 30 Jul 2001 8:35 am

This is the process of replacing the outer foam surround around a speaker cone.

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 8 Aug 2001 7:56 am

No much feedback on this topic. I have decided to have a go at it. I can tell you already the foam removal process is tedious, and time consuming, but not terrible. I did all sixteen drivers in about 3 hours, and 3 beers, with a small screwdrivers and a good pair of reading glasses.
Lefty

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 8 Aug 2001 8:21 am

Doyle Holly may be able to tell you how to remove beer from a Fender Bandmaster electronics that occured at El Reno, Oklahoma in ..........but, maybe not!

Cairo Zoots · Post by **Cairo Zoots** » 13 Aug 2001 9:52 pm

I realize I may be too late, but for the benefit of others- Replacing the "foam" involves shimming the voice coil to approximate the same height of the cone/foam(when at rest). We used to use old gels from par lights... Be sure to really clean the old glue off the rim of the basket before u replace or reglue the new foam and gasket.

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ree-00-dee-doo

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 15 Aug 2001 3:25 pm

Thanks Cairo.
I have removed the old foam, and am ready to glue the new foams in place. The instructions say to glue the foam lip to the cone first. Then the voice coil is self-aligned by using a tone generator (2-4 watts) to move the cone 1/8 - 3/16 of an inch. The outer lip is moved around until no audible scruffing of the voice coil occurs. This procedure is done with the outer lip glued, but not firmly seated. I figure my chromatic tuner with the audible tone and headphone jack will make a good tone generator. I have seen some kits with shims, but this source does not recommend them. I don't know which method is better, but I am going to try a couple with this method and see how it works out. I will let you know.
Lefty

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 21 Aug 2001 1:29 pm

This is my report on the refoam project. There is a reason they charge 250.00 to refoam (16) 802 drivers. But with some time and patience, it is not too bad. I got my done and back in the cabinets. Estimate about 8 hours for the job. I had one low frequency buzz at the end I traced to a loose voice coil cap. If anyone is going to attempt this write me for some hints.
Lefty

Cairo Zoots · Post by **Cairo Zoots** » 22 Aug 2001 12:24 am

Hi Lefty, Sounds like U did a good job, and by now U have saved yourself a few bucks! The $250 U were quoted is quite reasonable-especially considering there were 16 of 'em. Those Bose systems are great aren't they? Amazing frequency response. Who makes the kit that u used?

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ree-00-dee-doo

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 22 Aug 2001 5:34 pm

Cairo,
I bought them from an independent guy in Florida off E-Bay. He was real helpful. This is certainly not a task for someone with limited patience for tedious work. The foams did not require a lot of voice coil alignment, but I have a good eye for distance and alignment as far as concentric to the frame. It was about 3/32" all around, and I did a pretty good job glueing them to the cone (the first step after removal of old foams). I did test each one before they tacked up with my homemade tone generator, But I only had to slightly align (1) out of (16). I would do it again, but don't think I would want to do it full time.
Lefty