Proac/Seas woofer surround crack

[banana]

Proxc/Seax woofer surround crack

Read from another forum that there are cracking occured in the woofer surround from a well known speaker brand. The speaker have only been used for 3 months. See attached pic.

I'm not the owner of that speakers, just borrow the photos.

Some even said this problem occured in other pairs too (the same model). Though I'm not sure about this.

I'm quite sure the woofer is produced by Seas Norway. But this is not a complaint. The woven fiberglass like cone should be a custom made, and wouldn't be available to us diyer. I'm just curious if similar problem might occur in other standard models

From my pass experience, Seas was having excellent quality and consistency. Generally better than Vifa, Morel, Dayton, Fostex. I have a pair of CB17RCY now still in good shape after 3 years of usage. But I still would like some guy from Seas could say something about it..........

 

[banana]

Another pic.

 

[R-Carpenter]

From the big “ProAc” stamp on the basket its kind of obvious who is a big commercial manufacturer. I’ve heard 10 years ago that they had problems with their customized drivers. For the legal reasons I will say “don’t know if its true or not”. I would think you need to contact them directly and try to resolve the problem with them. It may also be that they got a bad batch of drivers from S. ProAc should be the first one to know about this problem. I would forward it to Seas also to se what they have to say.
I’ve only used 6 standard woofers from Seas and not this particular one and never had this problem.

 

[ShinOBIWAN]

Bjorn Idland of Seas is a member on here. He doesn't post very often but does visit frequently. But rather than leave it to chance it's probably better to email Seas and/or Proac about the issue.

PS. Looks to me like the glue reacted with the rubber surround in some way, causing it to become brittle and crack. Maybe the glue leached something out of the Carbon fibre cone and transferred it through to the rubber? Just guess work of course.

 

[ShinOBIWAN]

Banana, I fixed the typo in the thread title for you.

 

[banana]

Thanks ShinOBIWAN.

Again, I'm not the owner of this particular pair of ProAc. A replacement should settle it nice and easily.

My major concern is whether the quality of Nextel 5" would be affected, as I'm planning to use it for my next project

I too suspect the woven fiberglass (or carbon fiber) cone might be the source of crack, or might be it's the black resin. Seas have creased to use fiberglass cone long ago, though that decision could be of commercial reason only.

 

[JDeV]

I now got my Seas W18E001 drivers ( 4 of them on the THOR's) and they are also cracking on the surrounds. Are there anyway to save them? Can it be repaired or the cracking stopped from getting worse.?

 

[jerome69]

Not very cool for a high price driver.

I don't have any idea how to save the driver. The best solution is to change the rubber. You can't repair them because the rubber is dead.

You should send these photos to SEAS. I think they could have a solution. The best would be a free repair ?

 

[gornir]

I now got my Seas W18E001 drivers ( 4 of them on the THOR's) and they are also cracking on the surrounds. Are there anyway to save them? Can it be repaired or the cracking stopped from getting worse.?

I would say these have been affected by strong sunlight for a relatively long period.

Always put on the grills after listening and try to avoid direct sunlight and then you don't have such problems. I have used SEAS drivers extensively over the years and never had such problems.

/Goran

 

[JDeV]

I would say these have been affected by strong sunlight for a relatively long period.

Always put on the grills after listening and try to avoid direct sunlight and then you don't have such problems. I have used SEAS drivers extensively over the years and never had such problems.

/Goran

Actually not at all. No sunlight ever, avg. room temperature of 24deg. C. I got them since 2005. Any ideas how to preserve them now? I read about some 3M spray glue, will it help?

 

[rob g]

What about the drying effect of air conditioning?

 

[gootee]

Problems with speaker surrounds must be common because there's a guy on ebay who sells a lot of surround-replacement kits, for all kinds of speakers. He includes the foam/rubber rings, glue, instructions, and a few other needed bits. They're not too expensive and apparently it's not too difficult to replace them.

 

[jerome69]

Actually not at all. No sunlight ever, avg. room temperature of 24deg. C. I got them since 2005. Any ideas how to preserve them now? I read about some 3M spray glue, will it help?

mineral oil ... but i am not sure.
I think it is a shame for a driver at this price .

 

[rob g]

Problems with speaker surrounds must be common because there's a guy on ebay who sells a lot of surround-replacement kits, for all kinds of speakers. He includes the foam/rubber rings, glue, instructions, and a few other needed bits. They're not too expensive and apparently it's not too difficult to replace them.

They have to be the right type of surrounds, profile, mass, etc.
The drive unit response is not merely the effect of the cone and motor system.

 

[gootee]

They have to be the right type of surrounds, profile, mass, etc.
The drive unit response is not merely the effect of the cone and motor system.

Of course. The guy has different surrounds for each make and model of speaker that he supports.

 

[JDeV]

What about the drying effect of air conditioning?

I don't have airconditioning (we have very pleasent climate in Cape Town ) but lives 2km from the ocean. Can the moist air be a problem?

 

[jerome69]

The problem is large temperature variation of bad rubber...

 

[rob g]

Of course. The guy has different surrounds for each make and model of speaker that he supports.

Which probably covers a lot of classic models well enough. It is worth pointing out that there are significant variations even amongst apparently similar models.

Some manufacturers have to reject batches of the surrounds offered to them based on the formula used in the manufacture of the surrounds offered.
Some surrounds will not suit hot tropical countries for instance, room temperature will change response.
As Jerome69 points out this is variations in rubber. Some will harden with age but you have to be wary that the design parameters of the drive units are not based around that stiffness.

Also apparently similar foams vary significantly. Some foams will rot away in years, other will last decades.

That said replacing drive unit surrounds will be fine in many cases.

 

[JDeV]

I now got my Seas W18E001 drivers ( 4 of them on the THOR's) and they are also cracking on the surrounds. Are there anyway to save them? Can it be repaired or the cracking stopped from getting worse.?

I got some good news, directly from SEAS:

"Dear Johan,

This type of cracking has nothing to do with sunlight (ozone).

The reason for this is a chemical reaction between the magnesium cone, the glue, and the rubber.
We have seen it happen before, but do not fully understand the reason why it happens on a few drivers.

The good thing, is that this should not influence the acoustical properties of the driver. We have tested a similar driver, and no repair is needed. It’s just a cosmetically issue.

We believe that you still will have many, many years of the perfect listening experience. "

 

[rabbitz]

My major concern is whether the quality of Nextel 5" would be affected, as I'm planning to use it for my next project

I did have a problem with a poorly fitted surround on a 5" Nextel W15LY001 but SEAS Norway sent a replacement to Australia. I'm sure it's not a common problem as every other SEAS driver I have had has been perfect.

The thing is to inspect on receipt and yell out quickly to the supplier if there is a problem.