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Sansui SP-1500 surrounds are stiff


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I have a pair of Sansui SP-1500 speakers, they have the 12" woofers with an inverted surround.

The surrounds have become stiff over the last 40+ years,. ( as have i )

I am not  sure if they are cloth or foam because they are brittle, as in hard but not fragile though. 

I saw somewhere on the intetubes that it is a common malady.

They are not giving the best bass they are capable of, the woofer just can not travel as freely as it should be able  to.

  I am going to order new capacitors and i  would like to get new surrounds, they are not torn or separated so maybe there is an alternative to new ?

They actually sound decent considering,  one is a little better than the other.    

Any input as to what kind of  surrounds i need to order or remedies i can use to address the stiffness would be appreciated.

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You need to replace the surrounds. Simply Speakers is were you need to check. This were I go for such stuff. 
 

https://www.simplyspeakers.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsYb0BRCOARIsAHbLPhH_0bNW6C_iUojduh_B2iGje9J0nSe7vHVRVZtGOBQNC-TdngPdHMYaAs0HEALw_wcB

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Thank you Transmember

I did as you suggested and they do not have any.

They replied

Quote

Sorry we do not have parts available for your particular model. You might try the manufacturer directly to see if they can help you.  If they no longer support your product, you may find helpful information or used and new old stock parts available at one of the websites listed below:

They did say they are cloth but none of their cloth ones will work.

I will check on the forums they listed and eBay.

Any info on where to source them would be appreciated.

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I second the Millersound suggestion but the cure may be expensive.

If they are really stiff you have little to lose so you might try using a small paint brush to apply a bit of MEK to them. Instead of MEK there is Toluene or Xylol/Xylene. It is hard to say what Sansui used although any of them should work.

These were commonly used as solvents to apply the sealant to the cloth which has obviously dried up. Reapplying some of the solvent might loosen it up. Be careful to just apply it to the curved area not the part on the cone or frame. Try a small area on the worst afflicted part and gently prod it to see if it is softening before continuing. Do not saturate it and don't do it indoors.

Interestingly enough, I was going to try the same thing on a set of otherwise good woofers I salvaged. If you want to wait a bit, I can try it on mine first measuring them before and after to check how it works.

 

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31 minutes ago, ChrisM said:

I second the Millersound suggestion but the cure may be expensive.

I've used Millersound for re-coning and re-foaming and I thought his prices were very reasonable. Give Bill a call.

The solvent trick could work. Early AR and KLH woofers were sealed with a toluene based sealant. All that stuff is pretty nasty.

PS: Just checked my records. Cost to re-cone a pair of Cizek (6") woofers was $78 including shipping. Re-foaming some messed up AR-91 12" woofers was $70 + $15 shipping. Well worth it IMHO.

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That is a problem you will have with the Sansui speaker in their day they were not considered to be top line speakers. We considered them too boomy.  So repair pairs are going to be a problem. You need to decide if they are worth repairing. I just checked there are a pile of Sansui's available on eBay. 

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  • 1 month later...

A lot of discussion has been done on the SP line of speakers. There seems to be a way to free up the stiffness. You take acetone and carefully remove the compound on the surround. Larry at AR sells a compound for cloth surrounds that doesn't get hard. People have had success with that. I have a pair of SP 2000's that I want to try this on...as the surround on these woofers is stiff as hell.

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  • 2 years later...

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