Cone edge repair

[Guest jolyon]

Hi,

I have had some success with cone edge repair so I thought I'd pass on what I've found.

I bought a pair of AR5s recently. The previous owner started the job of surround replacement but then gave up on it. Looking at his work I saw that with the remains of the old foam some of the cone material had been removed as well. At most of the places on the periphery the cone was as thin as a single sheet of paper from an old Bible and in one or two areas chunks were missing. In most cases the missing material was inboard of where the new surround would be bonded.

I thought of leaving it as is and using a lot of glue in the weak areas to hold the surround but was worried that the cone may deform here. I noticed that it is made of pulped paper and its thickness seems to have very well controlled over the cone's entire area. Therefore, I thought it necessary to do what I could to restore it.

I haven't heard the results yet but they look encouraging. I made some loose fibres by filing a piece of MDF with a coarse single cut file. Then, I mashed these into some black Silicone "Instant Gasket" automotive sealant. The damaged areas of the cone were backed with a strip of Insulation tape tom keep it in shape. Then, I pushed the MDF fibre and Silicone mix into the parts of the cone that needed rebuilding. Looking at it a day later it has adhered excellently and added mass and strength where needed. Now that the excess has been trimmed it looks fine, albeit a little darker and shinier than the paper original.

I now feel happy about bonding the new surround to the cone.

Yours,

J.

[SOSHS]

No picture to appreciate your good work though