replacement woofer

[koski]

My wife has an aged pair of Clarior Model 10 speakers that have shreaded their 8" woofers. I should probably toss them and start over, but my Mr. Fixit urges kicked in. I'm looking for a pair of 8" woofers rated at 8 ohms and 50 watts rms. The speakers are three-ways non-reflex and the cabinets says crossovers are at 3300, 7500, 10,000 Hz.

Do any of you have a recommendation about what woofers to buy to replace the shreaded ones. That would be a fairly good match for the original Korean cones (Solar 8 ohm, 10W with the number 126-00965 stamped on the back.) I don't think putting a lot of money in these boxes is a very good idea.

[kelticwizard]

Depends what you mean by shredded cones.

If you mean the surround has gone, that is the round flexible piece attached between the cone and the outside frame, then you can repair both surrounds for $22 at Parts Express.
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=373

As far as giving a replacement, there is the hitch that the stock woofer might roll off naturally at 3000 Hz. Some brands manufacture their woofers to do this. In which case, any replacement would also have to roll off naturally, and I don't know of any.

You would have to go into the crossover and modify, and it sounds like a lot of effort to replace a woofer that is rated at only 10 watts in the first place.

[sreten]

Depends what you mean by shredded cones.

I agree. PVA wood glue can work wonders with drivers not too far gone.

sreten.

[wintermute]

Originally posted by sreten


I agree. PVA wood glue can work wonders with drivers not too far gone.

sreten.

Been there done that Although the driver I was fixing was definitely too far gone, I had to add some tissue (as in the ones you blow your nose on) to the watered down pva to help patch it up. Still it sounded a lot better than the 2" speaker in my clock radio, that it was replacing

Tony.

[koski]

Thanks for the input. The paper is totally detached around the circumference of the speaker. Repaining the speaker will not be feasible. The only option is to replace the entire speaker. I find a number of 8" woofers available on line for less than $50 per speaker, but most rate their highest frequency response from 2-3000 Hz with many below even that. The crossover for this box is 3300, if I comprehend the label on the box correctly. I suspect that means a fairly substantial chunk of missing audio spectrum. I want cheap, but I'd rather have listenable cheap.

I found one set of replacement speakers that have a frequency response rating up to 7700 Hz. My meager undrestanding of audio engineering tells me that such a speaker would be fine because the crossover will kill off sound about 3300 Hz anyway. Am I correct?

I'm also a bit confused by the 10 watt rating of the original speaker. The entire box is rated at 50 watts RMS. The lowest power rating on a speaker I've found is 50 watts. Will I have efficiency problems with speakers rated about 10 watts?

Finally, I have many more choices if I don't need to restrict my search to 8 ohm speakers. How important is it to stay with 8 ohm speakers? For instance I've seen some 6 ohm and 4 ohm speakers. Would it be imperative to put a resister in the line to use either of them?

I would appreciate any expertise you can share on these issues.

-- Steve