Cost/Time/Difficulty of rebuilding a refoaming a pair of AR 9LSI

[Guest gregounours]

Hi,

I can get a pair of 9 LSI for a decent price. They need to be refoamed. I called a shop and they quoted me $150 per woofer to do the job. That sounded like a lot of money too me. Any hints about doing it my self?

I would of course practice on other drivers beforehand.

Greg

[Carlspeak]

If you really want to give it a try, check the re-foam kit seller's web sites. There a a number of them out there. Some even show how to do the job with pictures. Some kits come with a brief video. Those are the best places to look.

If you conduct a search here you'll probably waste a lot of time or get more confused than helped.

It's all about the music

Carl

Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

[Guest Cliff]

If you're located in So. Cal., the place for me was Orange County Speaker Repair. They refoamed my Cello's (11" AR drivers) for $45 each. The cool part was the guy at the counter recognized the driver immediately without even seeing the stamp on the magnet. I must say I was impressed and they did a great job. When they refoam, they also clean the gap between voice coil and magnet, replace dust cap, measure impedance and more. I'm a happy customer.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Cliff

[Carlspeak]

>If you're located in So. Cal., the place for me was Orange

>County Speaker Repair. They refoamed my Cello's (11" AR

>drivers) for $45 each. The cool part was the guy at the

>counter recognized the driver immediately without even seeing

>the stamp on the magnet. I must say I was impressed and they

>did a great job. When they refoam, they also clean the gap

>between voice coil and magnet, replace dust cap, measure

>impedance and more. I'm a happy customer.

>

>Good luck and let us know how you make out.

>

>Cliff

I refer all my potential customer inquiries from the West coast to Orange County. I've visited there. They have an impressive shop.

It's all about the music

Carl

Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

[dingus]

my second refoam job was on a pair of AR-91's. i got a surround kit from Larry, vintage-ar on ebay at Ljlagace@aol.com, and the 11" drivers were super easy to do. the job turned out great and they sound perfect to my ear.

i think its worth the $$ to try the job yourself, if it was easy for me, it will be easy for anyone capable of safely removing the drivers from the cabinet.

[joelongwood]

>i think its worth the $$ to try the job yourself, if it was

>easy for me, it will be easy for anyone capable of safely

>removing the drivers from the cabinet.

I second that! Over the past few months, I've re-foamed 4 Large Advents, a pair of 2ax's, a pair of Advent/1s, and a pair of Marantz HD-770s. Each one got successively easier, but the first pair was pretty easy as well. This is not brain surgery. Just be patient and take your time......spend the money you save on more speakers.

[Guest MarkAnderson]

For the record, $150 per woofer is just rediculous. $15 per woofer to do it yourself seems better, doesn't it? Course, if you don't want to fool with it yourself, $40-50 per is about all you should pay to have it professionally done.

Edit: BTW, Hey dingus. Long time, no "see".

[Guest Ozmoid]

I like the kits from wooferrepair.com if you want to DIY. I used them for my first refoam (AR 2ax) and they came out perfect. Comes with an instructional DVD as well.

For my next refoam, I just ordered the correct surrounds and left the kit off. MUCH cheaper once you've learned how to do it.

[Guest MarkAnderson]

>I like the kits from wooferrepair.com...

>For my next refoam, I just ordered the correct surrounds and

>left the kit off. MUCH cheaper once you've learned how to do

>it.

So, wooferrepair.com will sell just the loose surrounds?

[Guest gregounours]

I am not gonna get these 9 LSi in the end. I just got a KLH Model 24 that is going to keep me busy for a while. I have to much stuff in my basement already. So the 9Lsi are up for trabs in the DC area for $100 If you want them I can send you the picture the seller sent me and his email. mopve fast cose he really wants to get rid of them.

Greg

[dingus]

...

>the 9Lsi are up for

>trabs in the DC area for $100 If you want them I can send you

>the picture the seller sent me and his email. mopve fast cose

>he really wants to get rid of them.

>

>Greg

if you could post or forward the info along it would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[dingus]

update:

thanks to Greg who put me in touch with the seller. the speakers were picked up and are now being stored by a friend in the DC area.

their final destination will be to another friend in the Boston area, who's personal circumstances would not otherwise allow him the ability to afford a speaker of this class. he'll have to do the refoaming himself but he's looking forward to the prospect.

[JKent]

Sounds like a happy ending to the tale.

A little after the fact, but I'd like to mention I have been happy with MSound. The kits are complete (including shims and dust caps), and they are available for email support. For those who don't know, it is not difficult but it does take patience and a steady hand. MSound's directions, posted here are very complete:

http://www.citlink.net/~msound/refoam/

The outfit that supplies a DVD (wooferrepair.com) sounds good too for a beginner.

Refer your friend here and he'll get lots of help and advice!

PS: I just checked wooferrepair.com, and they have a video on their site, so a newbie can see how it's done. Very worthwhile for those thinking about trying to do this job! Check it out!

http://www.wooferrepair.com/faq.html

Excellent! Very thorough! Shows BOTH attaching surround to front of surround AND back (some sellers say you can apply the surround to the front regardless). Also shows the importance of shims, both for spacing and for positioning the cone while gluing. He also demonstrates the importance of keeping dust out of the coil by frequently tapping it out. I like MSound's sugestion on vacuuming, and his use of clamps, but WooferRepair's video is great. BTW, as I've mentioned before, I do NOT like SimplySpeakers. Their kits do not include dust caps or shims, and their directions are not as thourough as MSound's or WooferRepair's.

[JKent]

Bad news! I sent an email to Woofer Repair and it came back as undeliverable!

[JKent]

>Bad news! I sent an email to Woofer Repair and it came back

>as undeliverable!

PS But M_Sound is still around! Will order a double kit for my Allisons today!