About 2 months ago, I bought a pair of used JBL C1 bookshelf speakers for my son.
Whenever you buy used speakers, you should check the woofer cone and foam surround, as these are usually the first parts to deteriorate and cause terrible distortion in certain situations. In my case, the speakers must have been stored in someone's garage for a few years, so the foam wouldn't last long.
I looked into my options for re-foaming the speakers (since I was happy with their looks):
I found https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foam-Speaker-Surround-Repair-Kit-For-JBL-Control-1-/150776862757 on eBay, and the kit comes with two foam surrounds, a tube of seriously sticky foam glue (it's almost like superglue!), and some instructions.
The DIY foam replacement route seemed easy enough, things were off to a great start after I had the foam in hand:
The first step in replacing the foam is the removal of the old foam. I used my fingers to grab away the majority of the foam, then I soaked the remaining foam in 91% rubbing alcohol, and carefully scraped off what I could from the metal ring with a sharp wood chisel.
The next step is to put a ring of glue on the edge of the cone, then quickly message the inner part of the foam onto the top surface of the cone. After waiting an hour for the glue to dry on the cone, I went to work quickly getting down some glue on the woofer's metal basket, then squishing the outer part down flat.
So finally... after all glue has dried up, assembled the speaker and hooked it up. Now enjoying the crisp sound of “brand new” C1s!
Damaged foam on both the woofers:
After replacing the foam:
Connected the speakers to the amp:
...
Whenever you buy used speakers, you should check the woofer cone and foam surround, as these are usually the first parts to deteriorate and cause terrible distortion in certain situations. In my case, the speakers must have been stored in someone's garage for a few years, so the foam wouldn't last long.
I looked into my options for re-foaming the speakers (since I was happy with their looks):
I found https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foam-Speaker-Surround-Repair-Kit-For-JBL-Control-1-/150776862757 on eBay, and the kit comes with two foam surrounds, a tube of seriously sticky foam glue (it's almost like superglue!), and some instructions.
The DIY foam replacement route seemed easy enough, things were off to a great start after I had the foam in hand:
The first step in replacing the foam is the removal of the old foam. I used my fingers to grab away the majority of the foam, then I soaked the remaining foam in 91% rubbing alcohol, and carefully scraped off what I could from the metal ring with a sharp wood chisel.
The next step is to put a ring of glue on the edge of the cone, then quickly message the inner part of the foam onto the top surface of the cone. After waiting an hour for the glue to dry on the cone, I went to work quickly getting down some glue on the woofer's metal basket, then squishing the outer part down flat.
So finally... after all glue has dried up, assembled the speaker and hooked it up. Now enjoying the crisp sound of “brand new” C1s!
Damaged foam on both the woofers:
After replacing the foam:
Connected the speakers to the amp:
...
