Is a repair possible?

[seebert]

Bought a pair of Focal T120 Ti02 from U-NO-WHERE and arrived with a damaged inverted dome due (I later find out) to the seller's young daughter's inquisitive fingers I've searched everywhere on the net for someone who is prepared to have a go at either replacing or repositioning the diaphragm with no luck. As you can see the diaphragm has some shape distortion and also seems to be off-center slightly. Do you think it's feasable to restore the unit to function if I remove the diaphragm completely and 're-form' gently by hand. I was thinking that it may be possible to turn a mandrel (I have a good lathe) using the good part of the diaphragm as a model for (say) an aluminum female former.

The DC resistance is fine and I've found an alternative pair of Focal's but it really irks me that I have one good original Ti02 and this poor thing that was perfect just sitting there in a box. Any advice would be welcomed, or if you are a speaker repairer and could do this please please (and please again) PM me. Many thanks for looking and best to all, Mike.

(The image on the left is of the good diaphragm)

[jerome69]

Try a mail to Focal ?
Perhaps they can repair.

[seebert]

Hello jerome69: yes I contacted Focal and they did reply but it didn't lead anywhere. I contacted their main US distributor (twice) and never heard back. I've hoped to hear from someone somewhere in this big wide world that they had one of these tweeters in their cupboard / partsbox / attic or could repair this one but zero luck I'm afraid. It looks like it's try a DIY repair or mount it on the wall as a sad ornament to vintage JM support.

Dear Sir,

First, thank you for your interest in our brand and products.
For any replacement part, it’s up to one of our authorized dealers to order it from us. They must call our After-Sales Department and order the part for you.
To locate your nearest dealer, click on the link below and enter your ZIP code or city to get a more precise list:

http://grc.focal.com/www/module_v2/recherche.php?Div=2&lang=2

We do hope you’ll go on enjoying our products.
--
Best regards,
Aurélie Bastin
Focal-JMlab Communications Assistant

We do hope you’ll go on enjoying our products.

Ummm, yes sir, that's exactly what I'm trying to do

[UV101]

Have you tried focal directly in France? Or maybe one of their distributors can help. I'm afraid this is far too common. I requested details of one of their later inverted dome tweeters so that I could build an accurate l-pad attenuator but alas it seems the spec's are top secret or I'm not important enough for them to reply to!!!

[jerome69]

Seebert,

Find an other distributor ? The main distributor is not very nice.
Or try on ebay to find an other tweeter ?

Originally Posted by UV101

Have you tried focal directly in France? Or maybe one of their distributors can help. I'm afraid this is far too common. I requested details of one of their later inverted dome tweeters so that I could build an accurate l-pad attenuator but alas it seems the spec's are top secret or I'm not important enough for them to reply to!!!

Look in these pages for the specs : Le Phenix Noir : Le Coin de l'Audiophile > Base HP

[seebert]

UV101 said : Have you tried focal directly in France?

Yes, the email reply (previous post) I got was from Focal JMLabs France. I guess I should be honored that they even replied

jerome69 said: Or try on ebay to find an other tweeter ?

I've got two of the T120 K's (kevlar inverted domes) from eBay but I'm still looking at that needlessly damaged Ti02 tweeter and saying to myself ... got to get it repaired!! I guess it may be hard for anyone else to understand my 'feelings' on this: if the tweeter had 'worn out' or been blown in normal use that'd be sad but okay, whereas this one was absolutely perfect until a little unsupervised girl 'played' with it. Just a waste of a lovely piece of gear.

JMLabs (Focal) are happy to sell their speakers, but like so many successful manufacturers they do seem to have forgotten who made them successful: not just the buyers of their top-end finished products (who have wads of cash to spend in boutique Hi-Fi emporiums) but users of their products and parts who spread the word of 'good stuff' through forums like this one. Ah well, giants fall also. Eventually.

[flyingtele]

PM sent!

[seebert]

Hello flyingtele: thanks, but so far no PM has shown up ... could you please send again? Thanks.

[seebert]

PM arrived - and PM sent. Thanks !!!!

[weltersys]

Originally Posted by seebert

Bought a pair of Focal T120 Ti02 from U-NO-WHERE and arrived with a damaged inverted dome due (I later find out) to the seller's young daughter's inquisitive fingers I've searched everywhere on the net for someone who is prepared to have a go at either replacing or repositioning the diaphragm with no luck. As you can see the diaphragm has some shape distortion and also seems to be off-center slightly. Do you think it's feasable to restore the unit to function if I remove the diaphragm completely and 're-form' gently by hand. I was thinking that it may be possible to turn a mandrel (I have a good lathe) using the good part of the diaphragm as a model for (say) an aluminum female former.

The DC resistance is fine and I've found an alternative pair of Focal's but it really irks me that I have one good original Ti02 and this poor thing that was perfect just sitting there in a box. Any advice would be welcomed, or if you are a speaker repairer and could do this please please (and please again) PM me. Many thanks for looking and best to all, Mike.

(The image on the left is of the good diaphragm)

Since it pops in cleanly, it should pop out cleanly, try a vacuum cleaner adapted to the diaphragm size to suck it back out. If that does not do the trick, your mandrel idea sounds good.