ESS woofer repair...

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This isn't really about planars, although the speaker does have that sort of driver in it. This is really question(s) on how best to proceed in repair of woofers in a pair of ESS Classic speakers.

The speakers in question are ESS Classic CS 1 Heil Air Motion Transformer speakers. The problem is the woofers (10") have what looks like Butyl rubber surrounds that appear to have been sliced around the outside edge with a razor knife. About 60% of the perimeter of one and about 33% of the other seems sliced (or torn very neatly.)

I see a few options;

1) Try to repair surrounds.

2) Replace surrounds.

3) Measure speaker parameters, and find the closest match possible.

4) Measure the cabinet and port, freq check the tweeter for high pass, and reverse engineer the best driver possible.

What says the collective wisdom of DIY Audio?

Paul
 
Henry,

Thanks for a 5th option.

I guess the real question, is what is the best approach?

Should I look at acheiving the original sound via repair or replacement of the woofers?

or

Should I try to improve the sound by using a different, better designed woofer?

Paul
 
have u explore option no. 4?

the woofer have limited x-max = 4mm. if change woofer, u prob need to change crossover.

are u using them for a long time? if ur happy with their sound, i suggest replace them with original woofers.

if change woofers, prob better to change the box and xo.

cheers
henry
 
I picked up the pair with the damaged woofers, so I have no idea whether I would like the sound when repaired. The cabinets are in moderate shape, with some damaged corners. The grills are in bad shape, but they really look like they wouldn't have been very sonically transparent when new (and a bit ugly by my taste).

The tweeters do not look like the one's currently sold by PE. They are flatter without the 90 degree waveguide looking bit on the front & back.

So, one alternative could be to build something from the ground up, using only the tweeters.

I looked at the woofers on PE, and they look much nicer than the ones in the cabinets I have. Mine have stamped metal baskets, and the rounded square front is detachable from the driver.

Paul
 
You could try repairing the surround with a Flowable type silicone rubber sealant.

I have done this with good success on a couple of my woofers recently.

I used Part NO. 75009 flowable silicone clear windshield & glass sealer from VersaChem.
This stuff has the consistency of epoxy and I just smoothed it on with my finger and (as well as a toothpick for the tight spots) built it up with a few layers until I got the thickness that I required.
You may be able to apply it with a small paint brush,I couldn't find one at the time I had used it.

I used it on a foam rubber surround and that had lifted from the basket around 30% of the circumference as well as a little hole that eventually turned into a large tear.

It cured very nicley just as the regular stuff would, but was much much easier to work with as it is Flowable.

It is very soft and has not failed yet.

I may have gotten a little to much on it but it works good.
I used super glue to repair the crack in the paper cone now they play solid with no nasty rattling any more,Some thing that I tolerated for far to long.

Good Luck !!

jer :)
 

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Gerald,

That sounds like a good low cost solution. I might do this, if for no other reason than to get a sense of what the speakers sounded like originally. If I like it and it looks good, I can stop there, or buy a surround kit and repair it "properly."

Thanks for the heads up on "VersaChem 75009 Windshield Sealer."

Paul
 
Well at least you can get them working again with a minimal amount of change of characteristics should you decide to measure them for a suitable replacement.

Also it is a good glue should you choose to go through the procedure of replacing the surrounds as well.

I would mend them with a very thin coat to start with as the stuff was stronger than I expected it to be.

You see I did make it a little thick and it is a bit firm because of this, But this shouldn't be to much of an issue if you are mending a crack along the edge where the flex point is as long as you use it sparingly ( thin coat).

Cheers !!

jer :)
 
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