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AR94 Pushed in tweeter, easy repair


kenyonbm

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I received a pair of AR94s with one badly pushed in tweeter, as well as the usual crumbled mid and woofer surrounds.

I have heard of the vacuum cleaner, tape and bent pin methods of removing tweeter dents and thought I might be able to save this one.

The dome measures 5/8" and I used a extra deep socket wrench that fit pretty well but nowhere near a seal.

The magnet did not draw the steel socket so I placed it over the dome and sucked through the square drive end by mouth.

This did not work, so I took a tiny paint brush, wet the dome with water and tried again. Success! It dried after a few minutes in the sun.

I think that it is much easier to control the applied suction this way than using a vacuum cleaner.

Wetting the dome greatly reduced the force required and helped seal the socket to the tweeter.

By the way, these are marked AR94s, and have brown socks and vinyl wood grained tops not the black socks with walnut tops.

Ken

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 years later...

Hi,

I know that this is a very old thread. However, I wanted to share a variation of Ken's technique that I found to be extremely effective at treating pushed in tweeter paper cones, even ones that are badly pushed in or crumpled like in the attached image, or worse. My experience is that in such cases the old "pin shaped into a hook" trick is almost useless as you really have to pull on too many areas.

I've had great success with the following technique:

1. Using duct tape, attach a tube of roughly the same diameter as the cone to the end of a vacuum cleaner hose (see image). The idea is to concentrate all the vacuum into the tube. This is essential. The tube may be anything you have in your house - a socket from a socket wrench set works fine.

2. Use a brush to dampen the tweeter dome. The aim is to wet it, not drown it. As Ken said, this is very important, and may well make the difference between success and failure. Don't worry, the water will readily evaporate. Indeed, sometimes you have to re-apply the water as the vacuum tends to dry the dome.

3. Simply turn the vacuum cleaner on and suck the dome out. Move the tube around in a circular motion, and observe how the dome reacts. If your vacuum's power is adjustable, start low and go higher until the dent pulls out. I use a small non-adjustable portable vacuum of 700 watts with very good results. Quite strong vacuum may sometimes be needed. For example, with an AR93 tweeter like the one shown in the image it is probably best to support the assembly by pressing with two fingers on the outer edge of the paper (where the yellow circle is). Exercise your good judgment!

3. In difficult cases, when the dome is crumpled, you may have little success with a tube the diameter of the dome, or (more likely) it will pull most of the dome out but may leave a smaller dent that refuses to budge. The solution is to simply change the tube/socket to a smaller one - roughly the diameter of the remaining dent. It will pull out very nicely.

Using this technique I have pulled out domes that looked even worse than the one in the attached image.

I hope somebody will find this technique useful. And thanks again Ken for the indispensable observation that the dome should be wet.

Ben

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  • 1 month later...

Ben, I just fixed very badly dented caps on a Pioneer HPM150--both mid and tweet. Your method worked perfectly. The key part that I had not tried before was wetting the cap. It all makes me nervous--I can just imagine the vacuum sucking the cap right off or making a hole in the damp paper, but it works like a charm. Making a reducer the exact diameter of the cap seems to be crucial.

Afterward I coated the caps with diluted Aleene's Tacky Glue to stiffen them a bit. White foam surround adhesive (diluted) would work too.

Kent

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Ken, I am happy that this technique worked well for you too. It is always good to get other people's feedback. Thanks!

I was also afraid at first that the vacuum would suck the dome right up, or make a hole in the damp paper, but I never had it happen. Domes and dust caps are made of very thick paper. Obviously, a variable-power vacuum cleaner would be ideal. Also, I guess that if one does not fully seal the connection between the end of the hose and the reducer/socket with duct tape, one can get more or less vacuum applied by blocking/unblocking the intentional vacuum leak with a finger. Anyway, I never bothered to do so.

Ben

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I guess that if one does not fully seal the connection between the end of the hose and the reducer/socket with duct tape, one can get more or less vacuum applied by blocking/unblocking the intentional vacuum leak with a finger.

That's the method I used.

Kent

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