Blog, Speaker Repair Info

What is Speaker RECONING?

Posted on by Cathy
speaker cross section identification 150x150 1
20
Feb

What is Speaker RECONING”

Speaker Reconing is the replacement of all the moving parts in the speaker frame.

When a speaker is originally made, a frame is attached to a magnet. A voice coil, spider, cone (with surround), tinsel lead, dustcap and, in most cases, gasket is installed.  The magnet is then charged.

Speaker Reconing is the removal of all the original above mentioned moving parts, and then the reinstallation of new parts in the original speaker frame.

If the original manufacturer’s parts are still being made, then reconing returns the speaker to EXACT new specification. (For example, this is true with many JBL and Electro-Voice + other brand models.)  If the original parts are no longer being made, then reconing repairs the speaker as close as possible to the original.

Sometimes new parts are an improvement over the original due to changes in manufacturing techniques. Older parts often used paper voice coil bobbins. New voice coils can be made of aluminum, capton, etc and dissipate heat better.  Speaker wire has changed, adhesives, cone materials, etc.

Changes can also be purposely made. We could use stiffer or taller spiders which will allow less or more excursion as desired. You can change a foam edge cone to a Cloth edge or all paper cone to avoid a future dry rot issue or just to change from a stereo woofer to a PA woofer. We can change from 4 ohms to 8 ohms, and the list of possible alterations continues.

Sometimes changes are a necessity. If it is not possible to find the exact parts originally used in a vintage speakers because they are no longer being made, we match as closely as possible with the current parts available.   Also many of the speakers produced overseas have metric parts that were never made available. When we recone, we match to the closest standard size parts that can be found.

Each and every moving part can be changed to alter the sound. Will you hear the differences” Sometimes. This all  depends on what changes are requested and how well you hear.

Cathy

Cathy grew up in NY, moved to Florida in 1975 and graduated from the University of South Florida, with a degree in broadcasting. She and her husband Glenn started The Speaker Exchange in 1977. (Glenn later moved into Audio/Video sales and installations). In 1979, Cathy went to California for JBL speaker repair training and later received advanced training from Frank Spain, the then head of the Electro-Voice service department. She has continued to advance her audio education through many CES, NAMM, and CEDIA trade show classes.

2 thoughts on “What is Speaker RECONING?”

  1. David Raphael says:

    Hi Cathy,

    I am the original owner of a pair of B&W DM602 speakers, I bought them about 25 years ago, and I still love them. But. … My mid ranges are suffering the curse of age and very loud music. I play drums, so I make a lot of noise …. I digress … I have some separation around the bottom of the left speaker where the cone meets the rubber and a tear in the rubber for the right one ….

    Please advise what you think I should do here, Is it something I can do myself ??? I am not a complete idiot and am capable of hanging ceiling fans, setting up a wireless network and changing oil.

    Please help me get back the sound I fell so deeply in love with when I first heard them … I have a néw Yamaha A-S801 just waiting to drive them ..

    Thanks

    David

    • Cathy Satin says:

      Hi David,
      Which version DM602 do you have? These are two way speakers so I assume we are discussing the woofers. Some woofers are still available new so once I have the version info we can see if a new woofer is the better option. If not, then we can probably repair, but I would like to see the problem. Please send us a picture showing the speaker and areas of concern. Once I have a visual, I can advise if I think a DIY repair is feasible or not.
      Cathy

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