My speakers have crumbled apart!

Mundu · 23 Jun 2009 at 23:57

Got these pioneer HMP-700s frpm and friend and connected them upto my CA 540A. Cranked them up and thought not too shabby untill the sound went flat and I looked down and saw the woofer had cracked and whatever had been sealing it had become brittle and had just crumbled away.

I'd like to get these fixed but I think I'll need to replace the woofer seeing as it's cracked itself.

Has anyone got any experience with such a repair or is it not worth it?

Abyss · 24 Jun 2009 at 00:11

It might be cheaper / easier to replace the drivers. Try contacting Wilmslow Audio, they are good at replacement parts for speakers and may be able to help with replacement kits for the foam membrane (although this is difficult to replace).

Also what is the RMS wattage of the Pioneer speakers? I would hazard a guess that the Cambridge amp is far too underpowered for them and risks damaging the coils.

For reference I would suggest changing where your pictures are hosted, it took me to an advert with lots of boobies and offerings of webcams before letting me click to see the image.

MagicBoy · 24 Jun 2009 at 00:14

I'm guessing it was foam (dodgy link!). Unless you can find replacement drivers then forget it.

MikeHunt79 · 24 Jun 2009 at 02:08

You may be able to get recone kits... It can be a messy job so you might want to get a professional to do it.

jmhduck · 24 Jun 2009 at 07:30

Abyss said:
I would hazard a guess that the Cambridge amp is far too underpowered for them and risks damaging the coils.

Is it possible to harm speakers by using a lower power amp then? I thought it would be the other way around... I've just bought some acoustic energy evo 3's for use with my yamaha av receiver which outputs 95w the speakers go up to 150w though, is this a problem?

MikeHunt79 · 24 Jun 2009 at 10:59

jmhduck said:
Is it possible to harm speakers by using a lower power amp then? I thought it would be the other way around... I've just bought some acoustic energy evo 3's for use with my yamaha av receiver which outputs 95w the speakers go up to 150w though, is this a problem?

It won't be a problem, you're more likely to blow your tweeters also.

http://sound.westhost.com/tweeters.htm

jmhduck · 24 Jun 2009 at 11:11

MikeHunt79 said:
It won't be a problem, you're more likely to blow your tweeters also.

http://sound.westhost.com/tweeters.htm

Ah okay that's cool. I think it seems like I'll be okay unless I've got the volume really really loud anyway.

jack.mitchell · 24 Jun 2009 at 22:13

I've refoamed speakers before with no problems just give it a go, you've got nothing to lose. Its not as hard as you would think.

Edit:

Mundu · 24 Jun 2009 at 23:36

I did not know you could blow your tweeters that way either! I would refoam but the left speaker woofer has a crack in it so it'll need replacing completly.

Wish I hadn't plugged the amp in now.

I'll check the RMS tomorrow. Such a bad move on my part.

I'm pretty lucky I haven't done anything like this to my booksehlfs. Luckily my amp has a built in protection feature to stop clipping.

jmhduck · 25 Jun 2009 at 06:38

If your amp has been built in protection to prevent clipping how did you damage the speakers? Or am I completely misundestanding things?

Mundu · 25 Jun 2009 at 09:49

I was using the speakers the night before and obviously at a sensible level. The next day I wanted to test them out a bit and when I looked down I saw the foam had started crumbling away. I think it may have become brittle somehow.

The amp outputs 50rms per channel.

MikeHunt79 · 25 Jun 2009 at 11:07

jmhduck said:
If your amp has been built in protection to prevent clipping how did you damage the speakers? Or am I completely misundestanding things?

It could just be due the speakers' age. Often the foam just rots away with older speakers...

Dup · 25 Jun 2009 at 11:23

MikeHunt79 said:
It could just be due the speakers' age. Often the foam just rots away with older speakers...

This happened to my dads very old JCV speakers and we just replaced the drivers. Never knew they could be refoamed.

MikeHunt79 · 25 Jun 2009 at 13:28

Dup said:
This happened to my dads very old JCV speakers and we just replaced the drivers. Never knew they could be refoamed.

If the drivers are cheap and easy to obtain, driver replacement is quick and east.

Reconing can be done, but takes longer and can go wrong.

Reconing kits are more often found on PA speakers where each driver can cost £250+ and a recone kit is only around £20.

Mundu · 25 Jun 2009 at 15:22

A recone kit should work for me then. Don't know if I should fit it myself or get a professional to do it. Obviously the later will cost a lot more but I wouldn't have a clue where to start.

I'll have to source the right kit though first and I doubt I'll be able to find an exact replacemnt. How would I go about finding a compatible alternative?

MikeHunt79 · 25 Jun 2009 at 18:34

Mundu said:
A recone kit should work for me then. Don't know if I should fit it myself or get a professional to do it. Obviously the later will cost a lot more but I wouldn't have a clue where to start.

I'll have to source the right kit though first and I doubt I'll be able to find an exact replacemnt. How would I go about finding a compatible alternative?

See if you can find replacement drivers first, and if you can't then it may be worth contacting Pioneer and ask if they do a recone kit...

There's youtube vids on how to recone, if it looks to daunting then get a pro to do it.