Speaker Refoaming

I offer speaker refoaming. The cost is normally between $80 and $150  for the pair depending on the speaker. I can quote these jobs up front predictably. Unlike many repair shops, I order foams made for your speaker instead of using generic ones for everything. This is very important for many mid to high end speakers because the generic foams can be a poor fit and the speaker cone won’t move as intended and the sound will suffer. I do still use the generic foams as they are a perfect fit for some drivers.

If you are comfortable removing the woofers from your speakers, they are all I need. Otherwise you can bring the cabinets and I can remove and reinstall them.

What is Refoaming?

Many older speakers used a foam woofer surround. This is the ring that holds the cone to the basket of the woofer. This foam deteriorates over time and needs replacing. Some speakers used rubber of cloth surrounds instead, these ones withstood the test of time.

Note it is important to refoam both speakers at the same time, even if only one surround has failed. The second surround will be soft and ready to fail as well. And we want both speakers to be well matched.

Don’t use your speakers if the foam had failed. This can lead to voice coil damage requiring a much more difficult and expensive repair. You can get away with testing them briefly at low volume to make sure all the drivers work though. Maybe lie them on their back.

This is a job many people consider doing on their own. Can you? I don’t know enough about your skills to say. But what I can tell you is that I see many refoam jobs where the voice coil has not been centered properly and it is rubbing. This can lead to the coil needing repair as well. Refoaming can be a bit touchy to get right. If you bring me your speakers for refoaming I can ensure they are done properly. I can also ensure the foam is glued neatly and securely. If you attempt this first and don’t get it right, you’ve made the job much more time consuming as removing fresh foam is much more difficult than removing old deteriorated foam.

Speaker Recapping

I also offer speaker recapping. Most speakers used electrolytic capacitors in the crossover and they dry out just like they do in other equipment. It is always a good idea to recap speakers, and all electrolytic caps need to be changed for long term reliability. However most of the time I recommend having your amplifier or receiver restored/recapped first as you will hear the most improvement from this. The cost of speaker recapping varies greatly depending on the speakers and what parts we choose. I’ll often use Solen capacitors. But you can pay whatever you want for crossover capacitors.

Special Case: Tannoy HPD Drivers (Berkeley, Cheviot, Arden, etc)

These drivers require a much different refoaming procedure than other speakers, and they take special care. They are special drivers, and it is important to get them right. The cost for refoaming these is $350. $100 of that is for the foams. The cones are fully removed from the basket, and the new foam is neatly tucked under the struts on the back of the cone.

Reconing and Voice Coil Repair

I can sometimes do these jobs, but they usually cost a lot more than people are expecting.

Reconing means replacing all the moving parts in a woofer. Cone, surround, spider, voice coil assembly. Aftermarket kits are around $100 each or more plus shipping from reconingspeakers.com or simplyspeakers.com. Labour is around $150-200 per driver as it is a delicate job requiring everything be aligned exactly right. Kits are not always available. If the issue is a blown voice coil, often the coil its self can be replaced while preserving the cone but this means detaching both the spider and surround from the basket without damaging them and I’ve not yet mastered this. (I can however do it on the Tannoy dual concentric speakers described above as the spiders are bolted down not glued)

I can only fix blown tweeters if I can buy a replacement diaphragm made for that specific tweeter. Some people can rewind them but I’ve not yet mastered this. Simplyspeakers.com sells replacement diaphragms and/or reproduction tweeters for a select few models.

I do not recommend trying to fit different tweeters or woofers as the speaker is designed around the original drivers and substituting different drivers may give lesser results even if they are higher quality drivers. 

*Unless you know the right parts are available at a price you are willing to spend, I strongly advise against buying speakers with voice coil damage due to the cost and difficulty of repair, see my buying guide for more information on how to identify these issues prior to buying*