Broken Tensil at terminal: Easily fixable?

[CleaveTheGreat 10+ year member]

12" SSA Dcon D4. Started hearing rattle on deep bass notes, pulled the sub out of the box and sure enough, one of the tensil wires is broken. But unlike most of the threads I've seen, mine is broken at the terminal, not the cone. What I'm wondering is if this is somehow fixable without removing the wire where it is connected to the cone. I'm horrible with a soldering iron and don't want to attempt to run a new wire from the cone to the terminal. Would it work if I took a new piece of tensil wire, soldered it to the wire where it broke, and then to the terminal? I'm thinking that would probably be too brittle and just break again. Any ideas are appreciated. Pic is below.

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

if there is enough of it left , it needs to be resoldered

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

i'd prob recommend a new set of tinsel leads myself, if it's snapped once and you shorten the lead it'll just snap again

 

[CleaveTheGreat 10+ year member]

Thanks. I guess I'll try to resolder it since there is still a bit of a lead on the terminal.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

Most likely it will break again. You will have to dial down the gain or keep the volume lower unless you extend the lead some. I had a similar problem with a cheap sub once and could never get the leads to solder together properly. I ended up using a piece of speaker wire wrapped and soldered to the lead and connected to the terminal. I'm not suggesting you do this, just saying it was a pain trying to work with the tensil wire. I'm sure maybe someone with more experience has a better way to go about it though.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

you start by un-soldering what is left on the terminal (de-soldering braid along with low-temp solder works well).

then you will need to add some length to the tinsel lead to prevent re-breaking. the real challenge is soldering the new lead to existing.

 

[DonH 5,000+ posts]

i can tell from the picture the driver was seeing large amounts of excursion and your other tinsels looks as if its been stressed at the same point....

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

that is norm fi they use too short of lead wires. i can fix it for you but you cant just resolder because it will be even shorter and next time rip at the cone...

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

i can tell from the picture the driver was seeing large amounts of excursion and your other tinsels looks as if its been stressed at the same point....

Correct. I would check to see it the driver is unloading or playing below tuning at all. As listed above, back off the gain a pinch and pay attention to the sub woofer once you have cleaned off the old solder and put new on. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

that is norm fi they use too short of lead wires. i can fix it for you but you cant just resolder because it will be even shorter and next time rip at the cone...

Um, the lead length is just fine if the Dcon is not being over driven.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I would solder an inch or so of new tinsel to the terminal and use a crimp connector to connect to existing. Most tinsels don't take solder well and they'll be very prone to breaking at the solder joint where it'll flex.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

^ the prob with most lead is it takes solder too well and wicks too far if too much heat used **** as this. it wicked .250" up the leadwire on a already too short leadwire.

most all subs these days are over driven cant have the leads be the failure point. it has to thermal or mechy limit the spider to basket or coil out of the gap...

 

[CleaveTheGreat 10+ year member]

Thanks for all of the replies. I had a hell of a time trying to get the existing tinsel to take the solder so I got irritated and took it to a local speaker shop for repair. Hopefully their repair tech is a little better with a soldering iron than I am. And Denim, thanks for the input. I'll turn the gain down and most likely replace the amp I'm using at some point in the near future. I've been less than impressed with it.

 

[DonH 5,000+ posts]

if they cant do it send it to me ill fix it no charge. pay shipping back and forth

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

most all subs these days are over driven

Isn't that the truth !