This how-to guide is intended to give the customer a basic guideline of how to rebuild a subwoofer using a drop-in recone kit from FixMySpeaker.com.
Drop-in recone kits from FixMySpeaker.com are built as direct replacements, and should install into your frame with little to no modifications.
Please read this guide in its entirety BEFORE attempting the repairs.
It is the customer’s responsibility to test fit the assembly BEFORE applying any adhesive to the speaker or parts.
If you have not used our adhesives before, please refer to our Glue Instruction Sheet before using them to build your speaker.
Tools needed:
Razor Knife
Small wire cutters
Small pliers
Angle grinder with flap disc (or other tool for parts removal, see below)
Small clamps (in some cases)
Materials needed:
Drop-in Recone kit
Adhesives – We always recommend that you use FixMySpeaker adhesives.
Shim material
Soldering iron (unless direct connect wiring is used)
Solder (unless direct connect wiring is used)
Soldering Flux (Recommended, unless direct connect wiring is used)
Acetone or other solvent
Rubber Gasket
Rebuild Process – You will use most of these steps in the process of rebuilding your speaker. Some steps may or may not apply, depending on the actual speaker itself.
Clean the frame – The first thing that you need to do is to get rid of the old moving parts from the speaker.
Cut away the old parts using a razor knife or other cutting tool to remove the bulk of the assembly from the frame.
Once you’ve gotten the majority of the old parts out of your way, you can clean the glue flanges of the frame. We use an angle grinder with a flap disc attachment to clean the old parts and glue from the frame. You may also be able to do this with a small hammer and chisel, a wire brush attachment for a drill, or with a razor knife. You just want to remove all of the old junk, and leave yourself with a clean, flat flange to place the new parts on.
De-solder and remove pre-existing leadwires – It is a good idea to remove the old leadwires from the terminals while the subwoofer is apart. Just heat the solder joint and pull the wire with a small pair of pliers. Make sure to clear out the hole in the terminal as best you can. This will make re-installing the new leadwire much easier.
If your speaker uses direct connect wiring (and you will not be re-using them), you can remove them from the frame at this point.
Clean – At this point, all of the old parts should be out of the speaker, old wires removed, and ready to be cleaned up for building.
Make sure that there is no trash inside of the motor assembly. Blow out the gap with compressed air, turn the speaker upside down, do whatever you have to do to ensure that the gap is entirely clean!
Wipe the glue flanges of the frame with acetone, alcohol, or some type of solvent to remove any residue from them.
If the frame is not properly cleaned, do not expect the glue to stick to it!
Shim – Your new coil will need to be properly shimmed within the motor until the adhesives are fully dry to ensure proper operation of the speaker after rebuilding it.
The shim will need to fit snugly between the inner part of the voice coil, and the outer part of the pole piece.
FixMySpeaker.com sells shim stock for common sizing, or you can make your own shim. If making your own, we recommend using manila office folders. As an example, a 3″ voice coil would need a shim that is roughly 9″ in length to properly wrap around the pole piece. You could cut a section from the folder that is 9″ long, and roughly 5-6″ tall. This would get you a layer of shim for a 3″ voice coil.
The coil should slide over the shim, and over the pole, but be a snug fit. You want to be sure that the coil is not able to rock or move from side to side while the glue is drying.
Be sure not to make the shim too tight, or you might not be able to remove it!
Test Fit – Place the shim into the gap, an slide the coil down over the shim. The shim should be INSIDE of the coil, touching the coil and the pole piece of the motor. In this position, you will be able to remove the shim from the top of the cone after the adhesives are dry. Do not put the shim on the outer side of the coil!
Once you have test fit and determined that your shims fit the coil and motor together snug, take a look at the spider and surround. Ensure that the are both sitting on their respective landings within the frame. In some cases you may need to apply slight pressure to spiders or surround to fully seat them onto the frame.
This is your last chance to make sure that everything fits properly! We advise that you test fit the parts into the frame with the shim in place a few times to familiarize yourself with how it will need to go together once you have applied adhesives to the frame. Basically, we advise that you test build the subwoofer with no glue until you know EXACTLY what you need to do once the glue is in place! Practice by following this entire how-to, just without any glue or solder.
Apply Glue – Once you are confident that you are ready to glue the new parts into the frame, apply your adhesives to the frame.
In most cases, you will be using our CA glue for the spider to frame joint, and our Rubber adhesive for the surround to frame joint.
Try to use roughly a 3/16″ bead of CA glue for the spiders to rest on, and (2) 3/16″ beads on the surround landing.
We recommend applying both adhesives at the same time, and dropping the complete assembly in place all at once.
Install the new parts assembly – Drop the parts into the frame, again making sure that the shim is properly in place.
Be sure to properly align the leadwires with the terminals or holes in the frame!
At this point, the new parts should be resting on the frame, in your glue beads, with the shim inside of the coil.
If the spiders sit slightly too high you can usually make good contact by pressing down on the center of the cone.
If the surround sits slightly too high, you can use the rubber mounting gasket (or clamps if you do not have the gasket) to hold the surround down to the frame.
Install gasket or clamps – We recommend using the rubber gasket to hold the surround properly in place as the glue dries. Our Rubber adhesive will shrink and pull the surround down tightly to the frame as it dries. There is no need to use clamps if you use our Rubber adhesive and a rubber gasket for the surround.
Unless the spiders are sitting above the glue flange, you normally do not need to clamp them down. You can if you want, but be sure that your clamps do not move or distort the spiders.
Check again – Now that everything is in place, and in wet glue, take another look! Make sure that everything is where it needs to be.
Set CA glue – Spray activator on the CA glue used on the spiders. We usually place a small amount of pressure on the top of the con while setting the CA, to ensure that the spiders are sitting flat to the glue flange (we do not use clamps on the spiders to build).
Let the assembly dry – We recommend letting the adhesives dry for no less than 4 hrs before moving forward in the process of assembling the speaker. At this time, the adhesives will be cured enough to hold the parts in place without the aid of the shim.
The CA glue should now be hard to the touch, and the rubber adhesive should have shrank, holding the surround tightly to the upper portion of the frame.
Leadwires – If you are using terminals to make your connection to the speaker, now is the time to solder the leadwires to them.
Pull the leadwire through the hole in the terminal. You want a little slack here, to allow for any movement of the wire, but be sure not to leave too much slack. If the leadwire moves enough to short to the frame or the other leadwire, it could cause serious damage to the speaker, and to your amplifier!
Once the wire is in the proper place, add a small drop of flux to the terminal, and solder the leadwire in place. Clip any excess leadwire away from the terminal to avoid shorting to the frame.
If you are using direct connect wiring, just pull the wires through the holes in the frame until you reach the pre-installed zip tie. Make sure that the leadwire is not twisted, and install another zip tie on the wire underneath the frame, to hold it in place. We also recommend a small drop of glue on the top zip tie to keep it in place permanently.
Remove shim – Now is that all important step of removing the shim from the gap. If all has gone well for the build up until this point, you should be able to pull the shim straight up and out of the gap. The assembly should now be able to move within the frame and motor without making contact of any kind.
Dustcap – Install the dustcap using the appropriate adhesive. In most cases, we will pre-mark the cone to show you where to apply the glue. Always test the fit and centering of the dustcap yourself before applying glue to the cone!
We have outlined a few install types below:
For 1 piece dustcaps (standard dome and dish caps) we recommend the use of Rubber adhesive. Lay a 3/16″ bead of adhesive on the cone, and drop the cap directly on top of it. Apply a small amount of weight and allow to air dry for 24hrs.
For 2 piece dustcaps (centering ring and dome), we recommend that you first glue the top dustcap into place with CA glue, activate and dry. Then apply another bead around the outer edge of the two dustcaps, holding them together and to the cone. This technique will result in a very strong dustcap connection.
Completion – You should now be finished! Always let the speaker dry for at least 24 hours before use! If you do not wait for the adhesives to cure, the speaker will fail!
CONGRATS! You’re DONE!