Easy speaker fix

[DavGoodlin]

This Zenith J615W had some really mushy sound due to a rubbing voice coil. The 5" speaker has a special chassis bracket, making it really hard to find an easy replacement. The cone had a slight wrinkle close to the voice coil for some reason, so I suspected the speaker may have gotten wet in the past.

Zenith spkr.jpg

I used a q-tip to dribble GC Radio-TV Service Solvent to soften the cement around the felt cover and gently pull it off to see how bad the coil interference was. I could insert a strip of paper around most of it easily but it encountered major resistance around a 45-degree portion.

Not knowing what to do next, I worked the coil in and out before the liberally-applied solvent evaporated and things seized up again. A few hours later I came back to it and the resistance was much less, so the coil may have aligned itself I powered up and it sounded like a quality speaker again

All this after I spent $$ getting my 11" Philco speaker re-coned by Sound Remedy. Will post that one after it comes back.

[Reece]

That often works. What's even easier: often cones sag over the years due to absorbing moisture and drying out. I've fixed rubbing cones where there was no apparent physical damage by dampening the cone all over with plain water, then leaving it overnight facing upwards. The cone softens, the spider, which was not affected by the years of humidity, pulls the cone and voice coil back into position, and then the cone dries in its new position. Magic! If your cone's not all the way right, try this trick.

[DavGoodlin]

Thanks Reece! The water process was a success. I used a sponge to carefully apply and spread the water uniformly coating the cone, taking care not to let any thru the felt and into the coil.

Loosening the cement around the voice coil was only a temporary fix. The cone warpage seems to be the issue.