Speaker Rebuild

So the other day I came into ownership by way of donation some rather large, rather old, but rather expensive looking speakers. Here is their story. 

(P.S. You can click on any image for a larger more detailed view. Try it!)

The Speakers

They are Tamon TS-808N 15" speakers from the 70's. Originally priced at $800 they were pretty high quality speakers to come out of Japan. The company has long since disappeared but the speakers remained. Unfortunately they hadn't fully remained. The foam surrounds had completely disintegrated.

After snooping around a little bit I found a perfect replacement set online for $25. They only took a couple days to arrive and I was ready to go.

After removing the speaker from the box my first step was to remove the gasket that held down the now MIA surround. My kit didn't come with replacements so I had to be extra careful not to damage them. I used my trusty utility knife to get them off. I worked with one speaker at a time, you will see why later.

Once I had them all removed my next step was to Clean off all the old foam and glue from the frame. It looks pretty gross.

Once again the utility knife works wonders on this stuff. Because of the age of my speakers it wasn't difficult to get the glue off. I suspect newer speakers would be somewhat more difficult. From what I have read the best way to get it soft is paint thinner or nail polish remover. Just keep it off the cone.

After the frame was clean I had to do the same thing to the speaker. It was also very important to not damage the cone during this step as well or i would have to re-cone the speakers for another $30. First I removed all the old glue from the edges of the cone.

Then I removed the last of the old foam. paying close attention you will notice the original design has the foam attach to the underside of the cone. Most speakers these days, and thus most repair kits, attach to the top side. The only difference is aesthetics.

After that I used a green scrub pad to clean up the aluminum.

This is a comparison of what the speaker looks like before and after the cleanup.

The kit comes with the glue you need. It is basically a super glue that isn't quite as super.

I applied a thin layer of glue around the underside of the surround that touches the cone.

Then I quickly turned it over and tacked it loosely in to place with my fingers. You will notice that I used the gaskets to make sure everything is centered.

After about twenty minutes the glue was sticky enough that I could push down on the cone and line it up. The trick is to have no vibration, noise, or contact when you push down. it should just be smooth and silent. This method works just as well as using shims but you don't have to replace the dust cover or clean the driver.

Next I applied the glue to the frame and tacked down the edges. 

I made sure to check again that I was centered before tacking it fully in place and leaving it to dry.

While the surround was drying I prepared the gasket. The main focus was to get a smooth surface free of any old foam or glue, just like i did with the cone and frame. Mine were made out of compressed glued paper. Some are made from plastic and others from wood. I had to be careful not to gouge them.

And here it is finished.

Just add glue and put in place

Once all the gaskets were in place I used the other speaker to hold them down while they dried. Notice how I offset the screw holes. This provided even pressure at the points where they split and left a nice even finish. You only need to do this for about 30 minuted before the glue is sticky enough to set it upside down on the floor. Full cure time for the glue is an hour though.

Comparison of completed speaker vs. old and busted.

I then did the same process on the other speaker.

Because the new surround doesn't have the cutouts for the screw i just pushed them though. If i were anal about it I could have cut them out with my knife but this works just as well. 

Speakers completed and ready for testing.

Perfect album to test them with. Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy for those that don't recognize the album art.

Here they are pumping out great tunes.

Review

The Tamon TS-808N speakers put out plenty of sound. They are rated for 300w but my amp only outputs 100w to 5.1 speakers so the full depth of their sound is currently unreachable to me. As far as the quality goes I'd say they are what audiophiles call "Kabuki" which means the speakers are too large for the box so the sound is muffled by jarring base and treble is washed out. In a 5 speaker setup with a sub there is just too much base for clean music and in that case i prefer my 12" Sansui stacks. That being said, as a stand alone 2 speaker system they shine. The base is a lot more balanced without the sub amping it all the way to 11. When I get my Sansui 2ch 200w amp working these will be used exclusively for my vinyl.