Speaker Reconing

[Cliff Schecht]

Anybody here recone their own speakers? I've got two Celestion "Custom Design for Line 6" G12P-80's that were given to me by a friend after his friends wife decided to stab a hole in each speaker in the 4x12 cab. The model on the side is "T5235" and they are 8 Ohm speakers, apparently just relabeled Seventy 80's. I have not been able to find a recone kit for these speakers though and was wondering if I would be able to just use a kit from a different model, say a G12M recone kit, to reassemble these speakers. Obviously this will alter the tone but I'd like to use this to my advantage.

I've seen another option is to buy the components individually from Ted Weber but since I've never reconed a speaker before, I'm a bit weary about retrofitting parts that may need modification. I'd prefer a preassembled drop-in kit but my Google-fu tells me that these don't exist for Celestion stuff.

The other speaker I'd love to recone is an ancient speaker that I was using for a while with my Express before the dried out cone cracked badly. I didn't pay much for the speaker but it would be great to get it fixed, the middy sound of the speaker really cut through well without being TOO loud. I'm attaching a few pics of the older speaker although aside a few codes on the speaker and cone, this thing is unlabeled. The label on the edge of the speaker frame says "523464" and on the back of the magnet it says "B-50751", also the back of the cone says "1551".

Any help is much appreciated .

[Structo]

Cliff did you see this thread where we discussed reconing?

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

[Cliff Schecht]

Yeah but there is no mention specifically for Celestion stuff, which apparently is much harder to find parts for. That's really the point of this thread, I'd like to know what others experiences are with getting the parts required for Celestion stuff and wanted to see if others know about the interchangeability of the different cone/spider/voice coils between different Celestion G12 series speakers.

[Structo]

Ah, you're right they don't have anything for Celestians.

You might try contacting Weber.

They build the Scumback speakers for Southbay.

[Bear]

I don't know that they're any better than Weber, but there is ASW: http://www.austinspeakerworks.com/services.html And you are around Austin some of the time, right?

[guitardude57]

I don't know if you ever found a kit for your Celestion Speakers.......anyway, I found a company (Sound Speaker Repair) that makes drop-in replacement kits for numerous Pro Audio and guitar apps.

Here is a link to request a kit not shown in their list.

http://www.soundspeakerrepair.com/speak ... not+listed

Look around their main site. Good resource, and decent prices for DIY

Mike

[billyz]

If they still work , it might be best to repair them rather than Recone . Holes , tears and cracks are pretty easy to repair.

[Cliff Schecht]

One has already been repaired, the other has a good 2" x 1/2" chunk taken out from the outer edge of the cone and the surround. This would be a tricky repair because at the outer edge I need a flexible yet strong glue like E6000 and in the center I need a stiff glue like a cyanoacrylate (although this is probably too hard). But maybe I will try a repair first as neither cone rubs and I'm pretty sure the voice coils are intact..

[billyz]

That speaker looks like a nice Alnico, along the lines of a Jensen p12n. Probably from an organ. Actually that chunk missing on the edge does not look too bad. You could try building it up with layers of paper and the adhesive CE sells for tolex. Or stabilize the edges with elmers. As long as it it does not grow and tear further. If you had a sacrificial cone that matched you could cut a small piece and lay it over with the Tolex glue around the edges. Probably still sound better than a recone with modern materials.

As for the celestion, Weber seems to have a good selection of parts, like the Kurt Mueller stuff.

And ASW does great work. Ron is a master and Travis is friendly.

If you do recone them yourself, CLEAN the gap, then clean again and again. Also, go easy on the glue. I have seen more than a few where the glue was so thick it deformed the cone and coil.

[Cliff Schecht]

For the older speaker, I need to get with someone more knowledgeable than myself to try to find the correct parts for the job. My goal is to practice on the Celestions before I tackle the older speaker. I understand the basics behind how to recone a speaker (including keeping that gap CLEAN) but I am a student and tend to try to do things on the cheap if I can (i.e. design/build/repair things myself instead of paying others). So maybe I'll talk to the local guy about helping me find the correct parts.

I think Weber is definitely an option too, he's got very reasonable prices for his stuff. I just don't know exactly what to order yet..

[billyz]

Speaker reconing is not rocket science. You will need some shim material, to center the voice coil in the gap. Cleaning the speaker is the hard part. I made myself a gasket scraper from an old butter knife, cut , sharpened and bent just right. A lot of close pins to hold down the edge after gluing etc.

I learned from an old VHS video from WVS I think ,many years ago. Now they want you to join a club before they will tell you how to do it and sell you parts.

[Structo]

Some tutorials.

http://www.simplyspeakers.com/speakerre ... ctions.htm

Video instructions.
http://www.soundspeakerrepair.com/speak ... tructions/

They have recone kits for JBL and EV speakers.

This place recones Celestians.
http://www.simplyspeakers.com/speaker-r ... estion.htm

This place seems pretty cheap!
http://legacysoundservice.com/catalog1/ ... =4a&page=1

[UR12]

Speaker reconing is not rocket science. You will need some shim material, to center the voice coil in the gap. Cleaning the speaker is the hard part. I made myself a gasket scraper from an old butter knife, cut , sharpened and bent just right. A lot of close pins to hold down the edge after gluing etc.

I learned from an old VHS video from WVS I think ,many years ago. Now they want you to join a club before they will tell you how to do it and sell you parts.

I have reconed too many speakers to count through the years. I have 2 CV 189es, a jbl 2226 and a jbl2123 to do this week for customers. If you are going to do it yourself, please do yourself a favor and get a kit that is a "drop in" replacement. The Voice coil and spider and cone come already glued together at the proper alignment and it make is a lot easier. Some kits supply you with a seperate cone, dust cap, voice coil and spider that have to be assembled . Getting the voice coil lined up to the proper depth in the gap can sometimes be a challenge if you have never done one or don't have the original cone assembly to go by..

I can also remember when some manufacturers wanted you to come to "their school" to learn how to recone their way. (Some still do) JBL wanted me to pay to fly out to CA and stay a week to go to their school. It was going to run me about 5 grand and that was back in the 80s. The internet has made access to the parts a lot better.

[Cliff Schecht]

That's exactly what I'd like to find for the Celestions, a drop-in kit, but from my googling around I can't find a single place that sells one! WTF!

[UR12]

That's exactly what I'd like to find for the Celestions, a drop-in kit, but from my googling around I can't find a single place that sells one! WTF!

If you don't see it on their webpage then send them an email or call

http://legacysoundservice.com/catalog1/ ... ath=66_161