Has anyone successfully used the diaphragms available on Ebay from China to replace faulty units on the D-260?
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/155073132755?hash=item241b1438d3
While the Ebay item does have a 28mm, 8 Ohm voice coil there are some slight differences to the original diaphragm. Firstly, the Ebay item is only 42mm overall diameter compared to the original at 45mm. On the D-260 diaphragm terminal plate there is a raised plenum area with a diameter of exactly 45mm so it is easy to ensure a genuine diaphragm is correctly centred. With the Ebay item you would need to accurately inscribe a circle onto the plenum surface to match the outer diameter of the new 42mm diaphragm. Get the centre point a fraction of a mm off centre and the voice coil will scrape down the side of the magnetic gap.
On the original diaphragm the lead wires from the voice coil are brought out to the front side of the diaphragm but on the Ebay item they are left on the underside. This means that small holes must be made adjacent to the voice coil so that the lead wires can be poked through the diaphragm to get to the top side.
Now if one can overcome these problems it should be possible to fit replacement diaphragms from Ebay to the venerated Esotec D-260 and restore them to near new performance.
I welcome any input and advice from those who may have tried this operation.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/155073132755?hash=item241b1438d3
While the Ebay item does have a 28mm, 8 Ohm voice coil there are some slight differences to the original diaphragm. Firstly, the Ebay item is only 42mm overall diameter compared to the original at 45mm. On the D-260 diaphragm terminal plate there is a raised plenum area with a diameter of exactly 45mm so it is easy to ensure a genuine diaphragm is correctly centred. With the Ebay item you would need to accurately inscribe a circle onto the plenum surface to match the outer diameter of the new 42mm diaphragm. Get the centre point a fraction of a mm off centre and the voice coil will scrape down the side of the magnetic gap.
On the original diaphragm the lead wires from the voice coil are brought out to the front side of the diaphragm but on the Ebay item they are left on the underside. This means that small holes must be made adjacent to the voice coil so that the lead wires can be poked through the diaphragm to get to the top side.
Now if one can overcome these problems it should be possible to fit replacement diaphragms from Ebay to the venerated Esotec D-260 and restore them to near new performance.
I welcome any input and advice from those who may have tried this operation.
I would also have appreciated if there was a substitute voice coil for esotec tweeter. I have got two of a kind in need of repair.
Was contemplating on Morel spare assemblies to be modified for the very purpose, never got to be sure it would pay off.
Was contemplating on Morel spare assemblies to be modified for the very purpose, never got to be sure it would pay off.
I must admit that resurrecting dead tweeters - for which there are no genuine diaphragms - is a bit of a hit-or-miss affair when trying to adapt generic after market parts. But then if you don't try then you still have dead tweeters lying around which are useless to anyone - too good to chuck, but still useless.
Anyway, I figured I would give it a go and ordered a pair of diaphragms at around AUD40/pr. all up. If it doesn't work then I will have found out something useful at the very least. Hopefully I will have success and can report back here with a smile on my face.
I successfully replaced a diaphragm on one D-260 tweeter and it sounds good when connected to a signal generator. I can't tell the difference when comparing it to the tweeter which is original. See pics.
I bought the diaphragms on Ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/155073132755
I bought the diaphragms on Ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/155073132755
