my lame excuse? sorry! bad week

I replaced the foam speaker surrounds on a pair of bookshelf speakers a couple of years ago.
It wasn't difficult, and the speakers sound great.

Joe, I am with you. 2017 is already sizing up to bankrupt me. First it was the leaking basement all of a sudden. Estimate to completely solve the problem? $23,000. Solution I decided to try? $4,000 project of installing sump pump and buried, extended downspout gutters. Result -helped but not solved and it looks like a couple of days of torrential downpours. One week ago to the day - total hip replacement. Last Saturday while daughters and sister are here to take care of me, sewage back-up! $299.00 Roto-Rooter clean out. Daughters decided that they could not effectively clean up floor. Roth-Rooter called back on Sunday to start restoration. Fans and scrubbers are still going. Surgery bill and restoration bill still out. And walking around on the walker has really inflamed the shoulder which also will be needed to be replaced. Oh my. At least the trains were not affected.

Rick

Yep, I hear yah, foot surgery last week and I am hobbling around, and while I was off work the furnace decided to break down! Need a new one after 22 years of service, and just after I replace the brakes on my car.... last year the Aluminum siding was a must and now the payment is due! ... this year its a new driveway.

But I am still going to YORK!

Sometimes if it weren't for Bad Luck, we would have no Luck at all......LOL

Oh yeah, I forgot another biggie....paying for the actual divorce after 6 years of legal separation. I think I need a rewind for 2017!!!!!!!   And it has just started!  :-(    But, on the good note, Shady Hollow Railroad is coming along pretty good! 

Rick

J Daddy, I am beginning to believe that you and I have the same guardian angel assigned to us!!!! Hopefully he/she has better things in store for us the rest of the year!

Rick

Rick-

I take the good with the bad. And working on the railroad and playing with the kids makes me get up everyday!

Engineer-Joe posted:

  I pull the grilles to see what's up:

I've experienced plenty of this over my career. In Arizona my Infinity speakers suffered a similar fate. I blamed it on the "dry heat".

I hate foam surrounds but they became widely accepted.

The difference now is there's a user repair kit available just for this problem. So my to do list just got bigger. Now I have to learn a new trade that I used to reserve for my buddy John M. that worked at Unistage in Buffalo years ago. I could always depend on him to do the job right each time.

If anyone wonders why I'm away, I'm not. Another reason I can't play right now!

I have a pair of Polk SDA-1A's and I am afraid to take the grills off for this very reason. I know they have (or had) the foam surrounds. They sat unused for a couple of years in our old house while it was being worked on. Then we moved 3-1/2 years ago and they have not yet been put back in service. They were ob borrowed time when I un-hooked all the audio equipment a few years ago. I have no idea how to fix these either and I think all the good old audio stores around here are now gone. The one that I used to take things to for repair is definitely gone. I got a lot of my equipment there too. Good luck on the repairs!

As for everyone else, I also feel your pain. We moved to a new home because of the old money pit we used to live in. Everything was going bad and needed constant maintenance, remodeling or repair. Hoping the new house lasts long enough and doesn't need anything until we are gone for good! However, we have already had to replace the sump pump and the battery on the back up sump pump. Good luck to everyone else too!

Arggg...my Gf called me in a controlled panic...she had stopped to check on a car with the side glass blown out..it was a homicide and she was first to see it and report it. Bullet behind the ear and exit wound out the neck. Life hands out some stuff sometimes

http://wgme.com/news/local/por...ng-west-end-homicide

It follows me too.

willygee posted:

Arggg...my Gf called me in a controlled panic...she had stopped to check on a car with the side glass blown out..it was a homicide and she was first to see it and report it. Bullet behind the ear and exit wound out the neck. Life hands out some stuff sometimes

http://wgme.com/news/local/por...ng-west-end-homicide

Then, I don't think I can complain!

Ranger Rick posted:

Joe, I am with you. 2017 is already sizing up to bankrupt me. First it was the leaking basement all of a sudden. Estimate to completely solve the problem? $23,000. Solution I decided to try? $4,000 project of installing sump pump and buried, extended downspout gutters. Result -helped but not solved and it looks like a couple of days of torrential downpours. One week ago to the day - total hip replacement. Last Saturday while daughters and sister are here to take care of me, sewage back-up! $299.00 Roto-Rooter clean out. Daughters decided that they could not effectively clean up floor. Roth-Rooter called back on Sunday to start restoration. Fans and scrubbers are still going. Surgery bill and restoration bill still out. And walking around on the walker has really inflamed the shoulder which also will be needed to be replaced. Oh my. At least the trains were not affected.

 

Rick

  you win!

Joe, I agree!

Hey Joe, so how was the "Peanuts" movie?

I had to replace or repair my front big Infinity cones three times. Finally gave up on them.  Don

PAUL ROMANO posted:

Hey Joe, so how was the "Peanuts" movie?

I enjoyed it greatly. I think that they did a fantastic job covering most everything I remember about the shows.

Being a big snoopy fan, the movie makes a lot of his great work look.... great!!

scale rail posted:

I had to replace or repair my front big Infinity cones three times. Finally gave up on them.  Don

Wow, Did they dry rot or did you burn the coils out?

Just a follow up for anyone who cares. I bought the kits on ebay for redoing the foam surrounds. I wish I had put more glue around the edge of the paper cone to the surround. I did put a decent bead but the shape and the old glue kept it from being perfect. They do sound brand new again so I may forget about it in a few weeks.

before:

and after:

The speaker surround kit that I purchased came with a nice sized tube of glue. I saved the extra. The glue seems to work well for gluing the drive washer in place on rotating searchlight cars and the like.

I see there are a bunch of choices on EBay these days. I don't recall which one I used.

I have a pair of Polk SDA-1A's and I am afraid to take the grills off for this very reason. I know they have (or had) the foam surrounds. They sat unused for a couple of years in our old house while it was being worked on. Then we moved 3-1/2 years ago and they have not yet been put back in service. They were ob borrowed time when I un-hooked all the audio equipment a few years ago. I have no idea how to fix these either and I think all the good old audio stores around here are now gone. The one that I used to take things to for repair is definitely gone. I got a lot of my equipment there too. Good luck on the repairs!

The kit I used came with good instructions. It wasn't hard to do. If you decide to try a rebuild yourself, just take your time.

I have some rather old speakers that are just fine.
There must be environmental factors that determine whether the surrounds go bad or not.

C W Burfle posted:

I have a pair of Polk SDA-1A's and I am afraid to take the grills off for this very reason. I know they have (or had) the foam surrounds. They sat unused for a couple of years in our old house while it was being worked on. Then we moved 3-1/2 years ago and they have not yet been put back in service. They were ob borrowed time when I un-hooked all the audio equipment a few years ago. I have no idea how to fix these either and I think all the good old audio stores around here are now gone. The one that I used to take things to for repair is definitely gone. I got a lot of my equipment there too. Good luck on the repairs!

The kit I used came with good instructions. It wasn't hard to do. If you decide to try a rebuild yourself, just take your time.

I have some rather old speakers that are just fine.
There must be environmental factors that determine whether the surrounds go bad or not.

Thanks, that's encouraging. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to look behind the grills. It's nice to know that you didn't think it was too hard to do. And E-Joe's pictures look like he did a good job there too. It has always looked like it would be difficult to me, but I've never tried it.

Before I got the Polks I had some Marantz speakers that were only about 10 years old. ALL the foam had deteriorated on those. I replaced the speakers in those and sold them in the early '80s. I got the Polks in about 1984-1985 and htey were still just fine as of about 5-6 years ago (last time they were in operation). It is interesting and I do wonder why some last longer than others.

I'll have to look around on ebay. I guess you order the foam repair kits by speaker size? Nothing type or brand specific I suppose? For the ones I replaced years ago I was able to get the exact same speaker from an electronics supply (McGee Radio) place that is now long gone. The pricing was very reasonable too. I don't think we have an equivalent around to them here today. Those have mostly disappeared like the hobby shops.

Joe, the foam just rotted. We lived in the Bay Area then but where we lived wasn't damp. Don't know why it happened. They were 10 inch speakers. One facing down and the other out. Happened to all of them. I had two sets of those towers. Used them for my surround even. I switched to the bigger Infinity Crescendo CS 3007s and don't have the problem. They are amazing. Don