acoustic 106 speaker repair issue...

[oreopithecus]

so I bought an old acoustic 106 cabinet today that had tons of cabinet buzz from loose hardware but otherwise sounded ok.

the speakers are original. look like the cts's I had in my old tuck-n-roll kustom. and, with all the background noise from the loose hardware, no initial indications of any issues with the speakers.

I finally got all the hardware and other bits tight and realized that there are some (a handful) of fine cracks in one of the speakers. not in the paper part of the cone but in the gummy area that mounts the cone to the outer part of the frame, out near the edge.

this creates a very mild buzz on the e (open and 12th fret only). I am not expecting this to get any better with playing and I have two gigs coming up this weekend...

the other speaker is great. and I do like how the cabinet sounds.

any advice? (aside from don't buy 40 year old gear...)

is there a quick fix that will hold these little tears or am I looking at major speaker surgery?

[oreopithecus]

next question... what is a good replacement 15 for this cabinet?

something at 8 phms with a ceramic magnet, low to mid price point, sounds good with a retro feel, and does not have to carry a lot of wattage.

Running too much power/wattage is likley not good for the ports on this cab, as I have seen in other posts.

I am assuming any speaker repairs I attempt will be short lived, so I am exploring all options.

[jungleheat]

For the short term, if the buzz is tolerable, I would just beat on the cab until the speakers go and then replace them with something more modern. You could try fixing the cracks if you could find an adhesive that's got a bit of elasticity to it when it cures.

I have the same cab that I bought a few months. One original Eminence, and one Pyle that is very similar, at least cosmetically. No problems I can detect with the speakers, but I'd like to replace them with something with a bit more power handling and probably a bit more modern characteristics. Someone on here has some similar but higher rated vintage Eminences that I might pick up, or I might just go all out and put in a pair of older EVs or JBLs. Personally, I think people here make too much of a big deal about "building the cab to the driver", which can certainly yield good results, but the numbers are kind of abstracted from what your ears will experience anyway. Typically, "average" speakers in an "average" cab, will probably sound pretty good. Case in point, I bought an old vintage Carvin 1x15 from the 80s a while ago. It came loaded with an old Black Widow, which sounded great actually. But I got a super steal on an EV 15B. That also sounded great, and I was a little more confident driving the cab, because it was rated for twice what the Peavey (presumably) was. Then I got another great deal on a JBL M151, so I put that in. It ALSO sounds great.

This Carvin cab is not really anything special. Just a smallish simple ported box (the 2 ports are just circular holes cut in the baffle). But I have a feeling if I tried the same with my giant Trace 1518, I would get similar results.

Anyway, one model I have seen mentioned a few times for older cabs like this is the Eminence CB15.

Oh, I just saw that you do like the sound of the original speaker that is still fine. In that case, if you want, I could sell you my original (assuming they're the same or close, if you give me the part number on the back of yours I can confirm). PM me if you're interested. That would be a cheap and easy way to "restore" the cab and then you could decide whether or not you want to replace the speakers based on performance rather than necessity.

[hulchihulch]

As the seller of this beautiful beast I say crank it and don't worry about a thing. It's always had buzzes but you never hear it in the live mix. It's survived for 40 + years from people just like us pushing it to the limits. I'd leave it intact for sure. Your set up sounded great through it at about 300 watts... I'd leave it and love it.