Internal wire broke in half in RE XXX, any way to fix it?

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

i've been fusing the speaker leads for years...back in the day RF and PG use to fuse the speaker leads from inside the amps...maybe other companies as well...Boston has started adding fuses to their sub leads....others need to follow this as well...it will protect the subs....

Fusing the output leads of an amplifier for what purpose exactly? Do you not know how to control output via the gain? And who is to say this problem did not occur simply from over excursion?
Companies who put fusing inside the amplifier do it for those of us who do NOT know how to properly set the gains. Are you one of those people LCRX?

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

Re Audio can recone the speaker for 160 bucks (probably 220 or so after shipping). Does this sound like my best option? According to them, you can replace the tinsels, but it won't be reliable according to them. 200 dollars to repair a sub is a lot of money, but i need a sub, and 200 dollars on the market will not get me anything close to a sub of this level.

Apparantly Fi Audio also recones the old XXX's, emailed them a price quote request, but would either RE or Fi do a good job on the recone?

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

This is a stupid question, but my RE XXX was reconed when I bought it, I'm assuming it makes no difference how many times a sub has been reconed though? This would be the second recone.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Re Audio can recone the speaker for 160 bucks (probably 220 or so after shipping). Does this sound like my best option? According to them, you can replace the tinsels, but it won't be reliable according to them. 200 dollars to repair a sub is a lot of money, but i need a sub, and 200 dollars on the market will not get me anything close to a sub of this level.
Apparantly Fi Audio also recones the old XXX's, emailed them a price quote request, but would either RE or Fi do a good job on the recone?

Sure, a recone is an option. But that's a pretty drastic fix for the problem. Its like swapping the engine out on your car because the fan belt broke.
Try this. You sound like you are already set on paying for a recone... for less than $20 (iirc) they will ship you some new tinsel leads. Cut the old ones at each end, and try soldering the new ones on. Best case scenario, you just fixed the sub yourself, and for like 20 clams. Worst scenario, you mess it up... and have to pay for that recone. *shrug* You dont know what you can do till you try it. It doesn't require much in the way of tools, and there are always people here willing to help with instructions. This is common issue, and a common DIY fix. Consider it.

Lastly, didn't I hear you cant get a recone of the original XXX's anyone that include the logo on the dustcap? Or is that just if you get it from Fi?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

This is a stupid question, but my RE XXX was reconed when I bought it, I'm assuming it makes no difference how many times a sub has been reconed though? This would be the second recone.

Makes no difference. Some SPL competitors rebuild their subs more times than that in one weekend.

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

Sure, a recone is an option. But that's a pretty drastic fix for the problem. Its like swapping the engine out on your car because the fan belt broke.
Try this. You sound like you are already set on paying for a recone... for less than $20 (iirc) they will ship you some new tinsel leads. Cut the old ones at each end, and try soldering the new ones on. Best case scenario, you just fixed the sub yourself, and for like 20 clams. Worst scenario, you mess it up... and have to pay for that recone. *shrug* You dont know what you can do till you try it. It doesn't require much in the way of tools, and there are always people here willing to help with instructions. This is common issue, and a common DIY fix. Consider it.

Lastly, didn't I hear you cant get a recone of the original XXX's anyone that include the logo on the dustcap? Or is that just if you get it from Fi?

Just the idea of taking apart the sub worries me ( I am NOT inclined at all to work with my hands, and I would probably expect to mess something up or break something accidently on the sub). People here have already offered me like 150 bucks for the sub when I posted that it was blown a few weeks ago, and now it's probably worth more since this is an "easy" fix.

I'd love to do the 20 dollar fix, even if it only works for just a year or less, i can do it again and again, but potentially ruining the subwoofer is my only concern. I just wish I could do it without taking the sub apart and just sticking in a sodering iron through the opening, the idea of taking apart the sub and having to put it back together scares the crap out of me.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Just the idea of taking apart the sub worries me ( I am NOT inclined at all to work with my hands, and I would probably expect to mess something up or break something accidently on the sub). People here have already offered me like 150 bucks for the sub when I posted that it was blown a few weeks ago, and now it's probably worth more since this is an "easy" fix.
I'd love to do the 20 dollar fix, even if it only works for just a year or less, i can do it again and again, but potentially ruining the subwoofer is my only concern. I just wish I could do it without taking the sub apart and just sticking in a sodering iron through the opening, the idea of taking apart the sub and having to put it back together scares the crap out of me.

You wont ruin it in a way that a recone wouldn't fix. Chances are you wouldn't ruin it at all.

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

You wont ruin it in a way that a recone wouldn't fix. Chances are you wouldn't ruin it at all.

ok well you motivated me to order the tinsels. Are there any picture threads on here with step by step instructions on how to do this?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

ok well you motivated me to order the tinsels. Are there any picture threads on here with step by step instructions on how to do this?

I believe so. Do a search, Im confident you'll find some solid information, and probably pics. Id help look, but I gotta go for a while. Let us know if you have any specific questions.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

OP.. the fix described is more desirable.. but tearing the cap off and digging leads out of CA or epoxy to fix a frigg'n lead is a complete PITA..

I would take some speaker wire and strip it.. twist some strands together and weave it together with the split tinsels.. soder at the juntions and coat with some flexable glue like contact cement or use some liquid electrical tape..

Better is to get some new lead and cut the old off at the cone.. solder there and coat with epoxy..

I've fixed leads both ways and I'd rather have it fixed with a teardown.. but quite honestly it's really not worth the trouble..

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

OP.. the fix described is more desirable.. but tearing the cap off and digging leads out of CA or epoxy to fix a frigg'n lead is a complete PITA..

I would take some speaker wire and strip it.. twist some strands together and weave it together with the split tinsels.. soder at the juntions and coat with some flexable glue like contact cement or use some liquid electrical tape..

Better is to get some new lead and cut the old off at the cone.. solder there and coat with epoxy..

I've fixed leads both ways and I'd rather have it fixed with a teardown.. but quite honestly it's really not worth the trouble..

Good post.

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

OP.. the fix described is more desirable.. but tearing the cap off and digging leads out of CA or epoxy to fix a frigg'n lead is a complete PITA..

I would take some speaker wire and strip it.. twist some strands together and weave it together with the split tinsels.. soder at the juntions and coat with some flexable glue like contact cement or use some liquid electrical tape..

Better is to get some new lead and cut the old off at the cone.. solder there and coat with epoxy..

I've fixed leads both ways and I'd rather have it fixed with a teardown.. but quite honestly it's really not worth the trouble..

the first way you described, I'm assuming I can do that by just doing it through the opening in the side of the sub w/o taking anything apart? I am probably just gonna do that, and if it doesn't work, just get new leads and put them in.

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

the first way you described, I'm assuming I can do that by just doing it through the opening in the side of the sub w/o taking anything apart? I am probably just gonna do that, and if it doesn't work, just get new leads and put them in.

soldering speaker wire in place of the gap for the lead will not work. i've tried this before using new run of tinsel lead and had it fail rather quickly.

look. if there is a short peice of lead sticking out of the underside of the cone then you are gold. all you need is 1/4" of lenght sticking out of the side of it. what you should do is start by removing the tinsel lead on the speaker wire terminals.

next, take a peice of new tinsel lead and measure it from the cone to the speaker wire terminal on the side that has the NON-broken lead to get a proper/matching length that you will need.

just mark the tinsel with a marker so you know your lenght.

next lay the tip of your new tinsel side by side with the existing lead that is 1/4" long. solder them up heavily so they have 1/4" in lenght worth of contact. after they are soldered take some heavy duty 2-part epoxy and glue the soldered portion down to the CONE of the basket or the felt pad. allow the epoxy to cure properly. after the epoxy has cured you may now snip the lead to the proper lenght at the mark that you made and solder it onto the wire terminal. you can add just a little more lead if you need to conpensate for the amount that has been glued to the cone.

if you understand what i tried to explain it should hold and function like new. i did this to my XXX and it has yet to break. the epoxied part is still attached to the cone, and i've abused the living shit out of that speaker too.

 

[ls1pimp 10+ year member]

soldering speaker wire in place of the gap for the lead will not work. i've tried this before using new run of tinsel lead and had it fail rather quickly.
look. if there is a short peice of lead sticking out of the underside of the cone then you are gold. all you need is 1/4" of lenght sticking out of the side of it. what you should do is start by removing the tinsel lead on the speaker wire terminals.

next, take a peice of new tinsel lead and measure it from the cone to the speaker wire terminal on the side that has the NON-broken lead to get a proper/matching length that you will need.

just mark the tinsel with a marker so you know your lenght.

next lay the tip of your new tinsel side by side with the existing lead that is 1/4" long. solder them up heavily so they have 1/4" in lenght worth of contact. after they are soldered take some heavy duty 2-part epoxy and glue the soldered portion down to the CONE of the basket or the felt pad. allow the epoxy to cure properly. after the epoxy has cured you may now snip the lead to the proper lenght at the mark that you made and solder it onto the wire terminal. you can add just a little more lead if you need to conpensate for the amount that has been glued to the cone.

if you understand what i tried to explain it should hold and function like new. i did this to my XXX and it has yet to break. the epoxied part is still attached to the cone, and i've abused the living shit out of that speaker too.

the leads both were a clean break, not frayed. Looks like someone just snipped them in half with scissors. So there is no way to get this working again without having to take apart the nose cone and stuff?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

the leads both were a clean break, not frayed. Looks like someone just snipped them in half with scissors. So there is no way to get this working again without having to take apart the nose cone and stuff?

fbi90909 just described how to do it without removing the dustcap. Read what he said again.