Can I Have My Money Back?

Yes, You Can Replace Rotting Speaker Surrounds!

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 13, 2018

Recently my mother-in-law's good friend needed to sell her late husband's audio gear and record collection so I went over to see what was there. She had a mint Denon DP-59L turntable fitted with an ADC XLM MKII cartridge, a Panasonic SA HE100 AV Control receiver and a pair of Boston Acoustics A100s, big floor stander two ways.

The receiver has little value (under $100 on Ebay, though it appears very well made and reasonably powerful), the speakers also weren't worth much and would be a pain to ship and the turntable and cartridge should fetch about $700.

I was able to sell the turntable to a friend but nobody wanted the other stuff so I told her I'd offer it to my neighbor's kid. She was good with that. The records were mostly big band 50's stuff. Good music but not collectible and mainly mono. I told her "Goodwill".

The speakers looked to be in perfect condition in her air conditioned lower level. I had no other place to store them but in my hot, humid garage, where I'd planned to keep them for a day. By the next day when I removed the grills I noted that the surround on one woofer had just about melted and fallen away from the cone.

So I went online and found SimplySpeakers.com. The site has replacement foam surrounds, replacement cones and replacement speakers plus a lot more. I ordered the surround kit for under $30 and a few days later it arrived.

The repair was quick and easy, the instructions excellent. The key is to carefully remove all of the old adhesive leaving a smooth surface. Prep time was the longest but as with car body work, it always pays off. It was easy to glue the new foam surround first to the cone and after an hour dry time, then the surround's outer lip to the basket. Within a few hours it had sufficiently dried to play. Sounded great! The neighbor hauled off the speakers and the kid's thrilled. He's got a turntable.

It's easy to recommend SimplySpeakers.com so I am.

COMMENTS
Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Mon, 2018-08-13 16:23

They are always worth saving if you own them. Even if you have moved on to something you like better, fix them and give them to someone and make them an audiophile.

foxhall's picture
Submitted by foxhall on Mon, 2018-08-13 16:35

I ended up sending my speakers to a great place in California to replace some completely eroded surrounds. Results were impeccable on a 1980's pair of Mission speakers. Adding the URL for reference.

www.nealspeakerservice.com

Stu Morgenstern's picture
Submitted by Stu Morgenstern on Mon, 2018-08-13 18:28

Using new foam surrounds from Simply Speakers to bring vintage speakers back to life is the best bang for the buck in audio. I have salvaged a few including AR 18’s and ADS L 400’s. For audiophiles on a budget, there is no better deal.

OldschoolE's picture
Submitted by OldschoolE on Tue, 2018-08-14 08:25

around $1000 in near mint to mint condition around these parts. That neighbor kid now has one hell of a table! I have a mint Denon DP47f I use (currently fitted with a Ortofon 2M Bronze) and I still get people wishing they had it! I don't know why, I mean it is a nice table indeed (and I am not giving it up), but there are plenty out there that could best it and if one is looking to change the arm on these Denons, forget it. Perhaps it is a price issue? I paid $400 for it and it now goes for almost double. Being direct drive, a new similar TT would run $1500 easy.

vclements's picture
Submitted by vclements on Tue, 2018-08-14 16:58

Yup, used them to get some surrounds for my cheap AV stuff and they were great!

DISCALIMER TO FOLLOW:
while a fan of Simply Speakers..NOT a fan of AV stuff, but I suppose today it is a necessary evil

jkingtut's picture
Submitted by jkingtut on Wed, 2018-08-22 21:18

noticed on one of my 19 year old VMPS model 4 speakers at certain lower volumes a noise that reminded me of a foam surround problem. For their age and history (used for a few years as speakers in a customized Ford F-150 driving to various festivals with a load of drunken maniacs throwing beer and everything else, including NOJF where we rode around the city with the sliding door open and the music cranked to 11 and never got stopped) the surround looked immaculate (as did the other undamaged one) but it did have a clean 3/4 inch slice or tear in the middle of the foam. I watched several Simply Speaker videos before recalling that I had "repaired" a previous similar issue with either a cornerhorn woofer or a Morel car coax that ended up working perfectly. I went to HD and bought a smaller tube with the nice snout of their best clear 100% silicone. I gently warmed it up to improve consistency and applied it very judiciously and in very little thickness through the sliced area of foam and slightly beyond. The next day all was well and has stayed that way.

davip's picture
Submitted by davip on Tue, 2020-03-17 01:52

Replacing these surrounds is not always as straightforward as suggested. Some designs, and I'm thinking of acoustic suspension types in particular, must have a surround of exactly the same compliance and seal as the original or the bass will suffer (Fs goes up, thus the dip in the low-end -- by as much as 15 Hz [measured] up with it). The experience in the DIY community is that these things are super-variable in this respect. For instance, it's yet to be shown -- despite the 100s (or 1000s) of people who've refoamed Ed Villchur's wonderful AR18 and the plethora of those who sell such kits on Ebay, or from a business, e.g., Parts Express -- that a kit of the right compliance exists anywhere.

There's no interest in doing this despite the compliance of the original being a matter of record when you can sell tuppence worth of foam for $30 to willing buyers...

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