Anyone Rebuilt a Subwoofer?

So on my way home the other day (this was in my commuter car, a toyota matrix), it was great weather and with the long drive ahead of me, i rolled down the windows and cranked on some music. I noticed that my bass sounded really bad. It sounded like it was producing a higher frequency of sound than it should. Ahh SHIT.....I turn off the sub on the head unit and make the drive home without the slap.

I get home, start to trouble shoot by checking the resistance across the terminals on the box...checks out at what it should be (2ohms). Check everything around the amp, and the back of the head unit thinking maybe one of the two rca's had come out....nope.
Next on the list was to check the sub itself. Now mind you, its got a mesh grill on it that's a pain to remove so i waited for last.


well, found the problem....blew out the foam surround. I'm fairly surprised at this. the amp i'm running is rated at 500w rms and this JL 10w6v2-d4 is rated to 600w rms, 1200 max.
I have been working this guy hard for the last 8 or so years and it has always sounded amazing, the foam ring must have dried out and given up the ghost.
After looking around to see if there was anything that caught my attention as far as replacing the box and sub, i found a foam ring repair kit for cheap.

I ordered it, and its on its way to me. Has anyone ever repaired a subwoofer's foam ring? Either way, i'll post some pictures of the repair process.

 

8 years is a good amount of service. Good luck.

 

8 years? You got your use out of it haha. Good luck with the repair kit though. Just take your time and clean the mating surfaces off really well and should be ok.

 

This might help - looks easy

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...dUDCAg&uact=5#kpvalbx=_Y2ZiXpO5HcqAtgWjg5Ro37

 

Don’t worry about the repair - buy a new sub and get one with a rubber surround.

 

Looks painless.....except for the sound when he was scraping the basket.

 

You could use something like RTV-108 (silcone) but as others have said you've gotten good mileage...

$16 Momentive RTV108 One Part Silicone Sealant, 2.8 Ounce Tube, Translucent

https://www.amazon.com/Momentive-RT...sr_1_1?keywords=RTV-108&qid=1583508363&sr=8-1

 

I did a couple in my day. Not sure I'd do it again. I'll send one out next time i need a recone. It's a lot of prep. Cleaning the basket is key. Make sure you don't glue the VC to the magnet... That's the worst.

Fixmyspeaker has drop-in recone kits. Give them a call. It's easier than a ground up rebuild.

 

just rebuild it, piece of cake.

 

I replace the foam surround in a pair of these with rubber about 20 years ago. They're still going strong. It's not hard, just tedious.

 

The new poly ring will be here on monday, so i thought i'd start picking away at it today. Got the factory ring cut out and started peeling back the glue. So far i've done one pass around the cone with a chisel and it took off most of the glue. I'm not sure i'll be able to get it down to bare plastic, but i'm hoping a little residual glue wont hurt anything.

 

Heat gun and plastic chisel. Or maybe some orange solvent.

 

I thought about goo gone.....didn't think about a heat gun

 

Be very careful using a heat gun; you can easily compromise the other connections using one of those

 

I e been able to repair the current foam with the clear gorilla glue...

JL has great customer service and can repair it for cheap if the repair doesn’t take just FYI.

take your time and make sure everything lines up and you’ll be GTG!

 

True, maybe a hair dryer. Either way, orange solvent will do it with a bit more elbow grease.

 

Had a surprise in the mail.....a couple days earlier than it was supposed to

 

Just finished it up. Got some glue around the cone and around the edge of the basket. Not worried because there is a grill covering it.

I'll let the glue sit over night and re mount it tomorrow.

 

Looks good maybe u’ll get another 8 years out of it

 

I let the glue sit overnight and just threw it back in the box. Gave it a little bit of power and sounds great again. I'll go easy on it for a while before i give her hell!

 

Did you fit this sub in your Tundra? I'm looking at upgrading my audio and was wanting to see if I can put in 2 12's at the back of the seat? If 2 12" JL Audio W6's could fit back there, because I am really into BASS and want the system to be loud and booming.

 

This was not in his tundra. Behind the seat options are limited. A pair of 12TW3s would fit, W6s would require heavy modification.

 

Do it, a lot cheaper than new speakers. I've re-foamed by Cerwin-Vegas twice in the 40 years I've had them but they do reside inside the house.