El Cheapo Speaker Repair

[CWAnderson]

I purchased a combo amp with a 12 inch speaker that rattled on low notes. I finally narrowed down the rattle to the speaker and eventually found that the spider was disconnected from the basket. This came as quite a surprise as the speaker is very clean, firm and free of any other apparent defects. The glue simply appears to have failed for one reason or another.

Anywho, I ordered some parts with the thought of re-coning the speaker. As I'm waiting for the parts I thought, why not just try gluing the sucker back down? A couple interweb searches later and I had some Simply Speakers - Speaker Repair Adhesive #MI-3035 delivered to my door within 2 days.

Here are a couple pictures of the surgery.

I was able to flex the spider up enough to get a brush under it and wedged in chop sticks.

I also painted glue on the top joint.

The result is astounding! Amazingly enough the coil must have stayed centered and the glue is holding tight. The rattle is gone and the combo sounds great as hoped. I don't expect to push the speaker very hard and I'm sure a re-cone is in it's future.

 

[Bander]

Good intuition. It may last many years. I've done repairs that are decades old.

 

[agedhorse]

You are very lucky, though on cheap speakers the gap clearances are often larger which improves the odds.