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What to Do With Creased Acme Drivers?

Folmeister

Folmeister

Knowledge is Good - Emile Faber
May 7, 2003
2,538
352
62
Tomball, Texas
home.netcom.com
#1
I have two Acme 10" drivers that I replaced a while ago, but neglected to send them back to Andy. Now they sit in my garage taking up space. I contacted Andy about this and he has refused to accept them back. No big deal, I waited too long. I contacted him to see if I could get them reconed, either through him at my expense or by anyone else. I didn't think that a speaker like that should be just disposed of. He was kind of evasive with answers, so I assumed that if I just bought two more functional ones I could recycle the old baskets. It doesn't say anywhere on his website that you can't do that. Bad idea. Now Andy thinks I am trying to scam him to get "spares" or DIY parts. Great! Now I have to worry he won't sell me replacements for the two cabs I have when I do crease the drivers. Anyway, before I simply chuck them in the garbage, is there anything that CAN be done with these to give them new life?
 
#7
Why not get all available info off of the speakers and contact Eminence directly for a recone kit price or reference to a supplier of one?

All they can say is:
1) Sure,they cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$
2) Sure, they cost $
3) No way pal
4) OK, here's an authorized reconer in your area...

PS:
Can you post pix. I'm curious(got a few B-2's).
Also, how'd you crease 'em?
 
#8
My 2001 Acme manual lists a damage charge of $50 for a blown woofer if returning a cab under the two week evaluation period.

Andy told me once "Riis, stupid behavior results in speaker damage. Period." I'll assume you want to return the cab to its proper operating specs, correct speakers and all. I'd suggest you contact Andy again, explain what might have happened, offer to return the speakers, and pay the $$ for a new pair. He might cut you a break, who knows? Its certainly worth a try.

Riis
 
#10
Folmeister said:
Now I have to worry he won't sell me replacements for the two cabs I have when I do crease the drivers.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I don't have anything useful to add, I expect those creased cones are garbage bound, but your statement above scares me a bit. Are you expecting to crease them again or was the other time an accident or component failure? I've had a pair of B2s for several years being powered by smallish tube amps, larger tube amps, solid state heads and ridiculously overpowered pa amps. I would never "expect" to crease the cones unless I was doing something very strange with them. Are you just being hyper-paranoid that you might not get help from Andy if something crazy happens again? If so, I understand that entirely. If you honestly expect to crease the speakers regularly, there is another issue in your signal chain or use of the speakers that needs to be addressed.
 
#13
Kindness said:
I'm sorry I don't have anything useful to add, I expect those creased cones are garbage bound, but your statement above scares me a bit. Are you expecting to crease them again or was the other time an accident or component failure? I've had a pair of B2s for several years being powered by smallish tube amps, larger tube amps, solid state heads and ridiculously overpowered pa amps. I would never "expect" to crease the cones unless I was doing something very strange with them. Are you just being hyper-paranoid that you might not get help from Andy if something crazy happens again? If so, I understand that entirely. If you honestly expect to crease the speakers regularly, there is another issue in your signal chain or use of the speakers that needs to be addressed.
Click to expand...

I bought my B2 second-hand and the cones were already creased. I got new drivers but buried the return drivers in a pile of garage stuff and totally forgot. Now I have a B1 and fear the crease! It would be really nice If I could have a set of spares for that occasion, but I guess that's not going to happen. Dang! I HATE having to throw away good gear.
 
#16
KJung said:
Yes, if you've ever watched the cones move when turned up and given a good 'slap wack' on the E string without a hi pass filter, you can see that you can get into trouble with these if you are not careful.
Click to expand...

I've had my B-4 for 6 years and play primarily finger-style so I've really never run that risk. Thanks to the voicing of the cab, I'm rarely required to boost any of the EQ on my bass or RBI.

Sorry to temporarily derail the thread but can you suggest a decent quality inexpensive rack-mounted hi-pass / low pass filter? I had a Boss SE-50 which had said feature but that's long gone. I read somewhere that if you set the hi-pass filter at 50-60 hz you can really accentuate the low-mid presence.

Thanks

Riis
 
#17
Zooberwerx said:
I've had my B-4 for 6 years and play primarily finger-style so I've really never run that risk. Thanks to the voicing of the cab, I'm rarely required to boost any of the EQ on my bass or RBI.

Sorry to temporarily derail the thread but can you suggest a decent quality inexpensive rack-mounted hi-pass / low pass filter? I had a Boss SE-50 which had said feature but that's long gone. I read somewhere that if you set the hi-pass filter at 50-60 hz you can really accentuate the low-mid presence.

Thanks

Riis
Click to expand...

The Rane parametric EQ has a nice adjustable hi pass filter, and a great, full parametric multi-band EQ. However, I'm sure there is a less expensive and smaller solution if you are only interested in the hi pass feature.
 
#19
If you use a filter on the Acmes make sure it's set at ~30Hz. If the filter is set much higher than that, like at ~50Hz, you could actually increase the risk of over-excursion and cone creasing by increasing the power demands an octave above the tuning frequency where the excursion is greatest.

Alex
 
#20
KJung said:
Yes, if you've ever watched the cones move when turned up and given a good 'slap wack' on the E string without a hi pass filter, you can see that you can get into trouble with these if you are not careful.
Click to expand...

Which is precisely why I moved away from these cabinets. Too much fear of being able to damage them just from ordinary everyday gigging. It really became no fun having to set up my cabinets in the living room every night after a job and run test signals through them to search for damaged cones and crossover bulbs. Yes, these are great for certain applications, but easy to tax them to the limits.

Lonnybass
 

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