Repairs
In addition to manufacturing loudspeakers, we offer expert repair
and upgrades of vintage loudspeakers. Most of the these repairs
fall under the categories of crossover upgrades
or surround replacements.
Crossover Upgrades
An increasingly popular
service we provide is upgrading the crossovers
and internal wiring of vintage loudspeakers. In
many cases the crossover components simply fail or slowly
drift out of spec over time. Even if the parts
are still in spec, modern day parts such as
capacitors and inductors are often of a much higher
quality than was available to loudspeaker
designers decades ago. We work with you to
decide what would yield the best audible
improvement to your vintage loudspeaker. Since
this is very much a custom service, please call
us and we can discuss.
Surround Replacement
While there have undeniably been great strides in
speaker technology over the years, many would be surprised at the sound
of refurbished quality speakers such as old ARs or Advents.
Unfortunately, the surrounds on the majority of these speakers have
severely degraded over time, making them unusable.
In
the many of cases, replacing the surround will bring the driver back to like-new
performance.
We strongly recommend that you repair
the original driver of your loudspeaker. Replacing the driver with a
different one may seem easier or even cheaper, but will result in worse
performance 99 percent of the time. This is because all design
parameters for a loudspeaker are tailored for the specific drivers
employed. A different woofer may sound different, but almost never
better.
If only one woofer is showing signs
obvious signs of deterioration, do yourself a
favor and have them both redone. Experience has
shown us time and time again that if only one is
repaired, you will eventually turn up the volume
to the point where the new woofer will sound
great, and the surround on the other one
will fail, and then require repair. It might not
happen today, or even tomorrow, but it will
happen sooner rather than later. So repair
them both.
Van L Repairs
vs. DIY Kits
Surround repair kits available from various
sources on the net, and we have re-repaired
many drivers that have been fixed with these
kits. There are a few key things to keep
in mind when comparing the DIY method with our
expert repair service.
-
Sound. We *mechanically*
center the voice coil when repairing your
driver. Physically centering the voice coil with
shims, etc. in most cases will not correctly
align the voice coil. The result will be voice
coil rub and increased distortion.
-
Materials. We use a special
type of flexible glue designed for this
application.
This is not the same glue you get with the
surround kits!
- Experience. We
started out building our own drivers many years
ago, so we are familiar with every driver-related
problem to be aware of. You can trust we will do
it right the first time.
We can also custom fit
surrounds for drivers that are hard to find or
that do not conform to U.S. standard sizes, such
as the A/D/S 7" drivers
Tips for
Shipping Your Repairs
If you would like us to repair your drivers,
follow these basic steps to ensure your
equipment will reach us safely. Remove them from
the cabinets and mark each positive and negative
wire prior to disconnection.
Then place them so
the surrounds face each other, using wire
to hold them firmly together for shipping. Use
enough packing material or newspaper to support
the frames during shipping.
In some cases (for example, some speakers with wrap-around grill
cloth) it may not be possible to easily
remove the drivers. We can perform this service
but there may be additional labor costs in those
instances.
Please give us a call
before shipping so we can discuss any special circumstances and make sure
the repair is the correct course of action.
Surround
replacements are backed by a 5 year
warrantee on parts and labor
Repairs require seven working days.
Surround
repair
price list*
|
Size |
Price |
|
4
inch |
$60 each |
|
5 1/2
inch |
$70 each |
|
6 1/2
inch |
$75 each |
|
8
inch |
$85 each |
|
10
inch |
$90 each |
|
12
inch |
$95 each |
|
15
inch |
$110 each |
|
18
inch |
$125
each |
*
Prices for passive radiators are the same as for regular drivers
