Notice the foam around the speaker appears to be torn and separated from the frame, does that mean it needs to be replaced? it sounds like crap.

 

If it makes sounds, it can be repaired, I've done this myself-not too hard.

DIY Speaker Repair Kits, Re-foam, Re-edge, New Foam Surrounds

 

Maxcichon, This sounds promising, which kit did you buy from the website?

 

I repaired an old pair of ESS speakers-25 years old. You'll have to figure out, using the diagrams, which to buy.

 

I used to assemble loudspeakers as a part time time when i was at university .... to repair this you will need some glue in a conically-nozzled squeggy type bottle, and another squeegy bottle with some some strong solvent ... we used to use MEK or tolulene ... acetone would also probably work .. also you will need you make a gap filling spacer. If you can't find any strong solvent then pvc pipe cleaner/etch will have these solvents in it, but also a coloured dye which will stain plastic ... these solvents are very strong and best used outdoors .. your cone looks like it is made from polypropolene so should resist dissolving, not sure about the plastic surrounds though .. maybe replace it with cardboard (ones)

First run a dribble of solvent around the surround material, leave for 5 minutes or so and remove the surround plastic and foam.

To ensure everything is free then do this ... if you think you can get away without doing the below step , you need to be very careful when you reglue the foam surround, as the inner part of the voice coil should not rub against the inner part of the magnet's pole piece

Run some solvent around the central dustcap and remove (a stick with some double sided or doubled over tape is useful here) .. Avoid excessive solvent as you dont want to deglue the coil from the cone . Once removed, you will see the inner part of the magnet's pole piece, there is gap between the central portion of the pole piece and the coil which must be maintained to stop the coil rubbing against the pole piece ... we used thin plastic glued to a stepped cylindrical piece of aluminium or brass (ie non-magnetic) which had the same diameter as the central portion of the pole piece, the step in the alumimium sets the position of the voice coil ... though just a thin piece of plastic sheet, cut & bent into a circle would probably do if you are careful .. but this does not by itself set the position of the voicecoil ... i would precisely determine this manually ,, if it is too low it will bottom out during extreme bass, crush the bottom of the coil former and rub against the pole piece, ... in this case, because the disk shaped dampener at the bottom of the coil assembly is already glued to the speaker frame, the coil will already be well positioned ... what you are trying to maintain here is that the inner part of the coil former is precisely parallel to the inner part of the magnet's pole piece, and the gap between them is even

reglue the surround foam with the spacer in place and leave to dry overnight ... the cone needs to have free movement in both up & down directions when set (so maybe first just reglue the foam to the speaker cone, then temporarily clamp parts together, without the gap filling spacer and check the vertical freedom of movement before glueing the foam to the speaker frame) leave overnight to dry .. , test for freedom of movement, reglue the surround plastic, then reglue the central dustcap ... doing all this on some sort of turntable is the easiest method .. be careful of the thin voice coil wires if they get exposed by the solvent as they are very fragile


good luck

 

HOLY S^*% Thanks for that awesome extensive write up!