Uh oh, bad sounds from my old Tannoys

rongon · 1st October 2010, 05:59 PM

I have an old (ca. 1982) pair of Tannoy T185 Dorset. I've enjoyed them for about 15 years now, but I think one of them has developed a rub in the voice coil or possibly the black rubber surround is coming away from the plastic cone.

The noise is like a fuzz on certain sounds, especially on low to midrange piano notes. Also noticeable on acoustic and electric bass as sort of a fuzz riding on top of the note. It's started driving me crazy.

I'm hoping someone here knows of a shop accessible from NYC that can repair these old Tannoys. Or maybe I'll need to ship the drivers. At any rate... Any recommendations?

Many thanks in advance...

-=|=-

sreten · 1st October 2010, 06:19 PM

Hi,

With careful inspection and comparison you can diagnose the problem
yourself, and for most easy cases fix them yourself, just be logical.

rgds, sreten.

rongon · 1st October 2010, 06:30 PM

Thanks for your vote of confidence. Well...

How to proceed? First is diagnosis. I think the problem might be a misaligned coil in the gap, due to surround "sag." Does this sound correct to you?

Fixing this requires careful realignment of the coil in the gap, correct? I've tried this on less expensive speakers, and found that I could only get them working for a little while until the problem recurred. It might be that I don't know what I'm doing.

Any pointers for aligning the voice coil in the gap?

Is it possible the surrounds have softened up so much that the cones are misaligned? I've rotated the drivers in their cabinets several times over the years, but this one is not responding to that treatment any more.

---

Charles Darwin · 1st October 2010, 06:31 PM

Sometimes it can be enough to just turn the driver through 180deg. It might take a couple of days of usage though.

Charles Darwin · 1st October 2010, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rongon

Is it possible the surrounds have softened up so much that the cones are misaligned? I've rotated the drivers in their cabinets several times over the years, but this one is not responding to that treatment any more.

---

In this case forget what I just posted!

rongon · 1st October 2010, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles Darwin

In this case forget what I just posted!

Well, it could be that a really humid warm front came in and caused the problem to flare up. I rotated the driver around last night, so maybe it will take a day or two to "take". I'm hopeful.

In the meantime, I really don't know of any reputable speaker repair shops that can handle something like a 30 year old Tannoy. There are lots of speaker recone shops that can handle guitar amp and PA speakers. Maybe even car stereo subwoofers. But this really nice old Tannoy? I dunno...

--

Charles Darwin · 1st October 2010, 07:39 PM

The one guy guaranteed to be able to service or fix any Tannoy driver made in the last 50 years is Roger of Lockwood Audio. However they are in London!

Lockwood Audio

You could try and ring him, he is very helpful!

sreten · 1st October 2010, 10:24 PM

Hi,

First look for the easy problems to fix, loose dust caps, loose surounds
etc, obviously if it voicecoil rubbing that is not easy to fix at all, and
can be caused by too much power delaminating the voicecoil, when
this happens the coil is far more likely to simply burn out, which will
happen eventually if they are given too much stick.

rgds, sreten.

Face · 1st October 2010, 10:50 PM

I've flipped vintage Tannoy drivers 180* before and it's done the trick.

I purchased a pair of Tannoy HPD's a few years ago that were re-coned by someone in CT, I'll look for the receipt.

If you don't mind shipping your drivers, check out Lockwood Audio and Speakerbits.

rongon · 4th October 2010, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sreten

Hi,
First look for the easy problems to fix, loose dust caps, loose surounds
etc,

Dust caps are good. I think there's a spot on the surround that is coming off from the cone (diaphragm). What's a good glue to use for this? The cone is black plastic, the surround is black butyl rubber. Very 1980s British. I wouldn't want to use a glue that would eat away at the materials, but I would like it to stick...

Quote:

Originally Posted by sreten

obviously if it voicecoil rubbing that is not easy to fix at all, and
can be caused by too much power delaminating the voicecoil, when
this happens the coil is far more likely to simply burn out, which will
happen eventually if they are given too much stick.

The good news is that I really doubt it could be this. The speakers have only ever been powered by my two low power triode amps (one's 10wpc, the other 6wpc) playing jazz and classical mostly.

Thanks for the tips on Lockwood and Speakerbits, I'll check them out.

1st October 2010, 05:59 PM	#1
rongon diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Across the river from Rip's big old tree...	Uh oh, bad sounds from my old Tannoys I have an old (ca. 1982) pair of Tannoy T185 Dorset. I've enjoyed them for about 15 years now, but I think one of them has developed a rub in the voice coil or possibly the black rubber surround is coming away from the plastic cone. The noise is like a fuzz on certain sounds, especially on low to midrange piano notes. Also noticeable on acoustic and electric bass as sort of a fuzz riding on top of the note. It's started driving me crazy. I'm hoping someone here knows of a shop accessible from NYC that can repair these old Tannoys. Or maybe I'll need to ship the drivers. At any rate... Any recommendations? Many thanks in advance... -=\|=-

1st October 2010, 10:50 PM	#9
Face diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2007	I've flipped vintage Tannoy drivers 180* before and it's done the trick. I purchased a pair of Tannoy HPD's a few years ago that were re-coned by someone in CT, I'll look for the receipt. If you don't mind shipping your drivers, check out Lockwood Audio and Speakerbits. __________________ "If it measures good and sounds bad, -- it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, -- you've measured the wrong thing." Daniel R. von Recklinghausen

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1st October 2010, 06:19 PM	#2
sreten diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Brighton UK	Hi, With careful inspection and comparison you can diagnose the problem yourself, and for most easy cases fix them yourself, just be logical. rgds, sreten.

1st October 2010, 06:30 PM	#3
rongon diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Across the river from Rip's big old tree...	Thanks for your vote of confidence. Well... How to proceed? First is diagnosis. I think the problem might be a misaligned coil in the gap, due to surround "sag." Does this sound correct to you? Fixing this requires careful realignment of the coil in the gap, correct? I've tried this on less expensive speakers, and found that I could only get them working for a little while until the problem recurred. It might be that I don't know what I'm doing. Any pointers for aligning the voice coil in the gap? Is it possible the surrounds have softened up so much that the cones are misaligned? I've rotated the drivers in their cabinets several times over the years, but this one is not responding to that treatment any more. ---

1st October 2010, 06:31 PM	#4
Charles Darwin diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Birmingham, UK	Sometimes it can be enough to just turn the driver through 180deg. It might take a couple of days of usage though.

1st October 2010, 07:39 PM	#7
Charles Darwin diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Birmingham, UK	The one guy guaranteed to be able to service or fix any Tannoy driver made in the last 50 years is Roger of Lockwood Audio. However they are in London! Lockwood Audio You could try and ring him, he is very helpful!

1st October 2010, 10:24 PM	#8
sreten diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Brighton UK	Hi, First look for the easy problems to fix, loose dust caps, loose surounds etc, obviously if it voicecoil rubbing that is not easy to fix at all, and can be caused by too much power delaminating the voicecoil, when this happens the coil is far more likely to simply burn out, which will happen eventually if they are given too much stick. rgds, sreten.

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