Author Topic: Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair  (Read 2240 times)

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Offline Mr.Golden

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Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair
« on: May 20, 2005, 06:24:11 pm »
I have a mid 1970's 2-15" Cab with JBL D130F model speakers in itrunnig at 8 Ohms each. My problem is that the top spreaker clips to no end but only really in the treble end. It sounds like a piece of loose metal rattling away louder than anything.

Is there any way I can go about repairing this without buying a new speaker? I don't think I'll find that model of speaker anywhere ever.

Futhermore, how important is the continuity of the speakers in a cabinet?  Or more accurately, if the top speaker was to be replaced, would the different model of speaker affect the cab's performance and tone drastically and would there be compatability issues?

The head for the Cab is a Sunn Sonic II.

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Offline Don T.

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Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2005, 10:13:23 pm »
Hello:
 Typically if the speaker is rattling with a metalic sound there are a few possibilities.
1. Chips, small metal flakes of zinc and steel floating around in the flux gap.
2. The speaker has been thermally overloaded and the glue holding the voice coil wire has let go.
3. The voice coil has separated from the cone.

Sorry, these problems require reconing.

If you move the speaker cone in and out slowly by hand can you hear it scraping?
Don T.

If it's too loud, you're too old.

Offline Soundmasterg

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Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2005, 05:35:09 pm »
If you don't care about being original, then you could replace that D130 with something else. The sound will change quite a bit as nothing sounds quite like the D series JBL. If the speaker is bad, you could get it reconed for around $150 max I would guess. Ted Weber at Webervst is the best and the widely acknowledged expert on speaker reconing and has very fair prices too, but he recently stopped reconing speakers other than his own brand and recommended a couple places in California to do it instead of him. If you want another speaker in there instead of the D130, but you want it to have the same apparent volume level, then you need to get something with the same impedance rating, and the same level of efficiency. Something around 100db and 8 ohms should work fine. I would personally recommend to get a Weber California type speaker, which is around $170 or so I believe. They are his imitation of a JBL sound and sound reasonably close. You could ask Mr. Weber himself some of these questions by emailing him or posting something on his bbs. Check it out at www.webervst.com.

If it was up to me, I would get the speaker reconed, if that is what is wrong with it, and put it back in the cabinet. JBL D series speakers sound very nice and are worth a bit of money nowadays too. You can find them on ebay but prices tend to climb quickly. If you need more volume, I would either get a second cabinet, or get a different amp with more power, or mic it through a PA once you have your tone as you like it.

Offline Mr.Golden

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Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2005, 05:35:18 pm »
I can here scraping but it doesn't sound like metal, it sounds like cardboard tearing. Also, the scraping sound occurs on the other speaker too but the other speaker doesn't have the shrill clipping sound at all.

Offline Mr.Golden

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Sunn 2-15"Cab Repair
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2005, 05:39:26 pm »
How drastic would the tone change? Is reconing that much of a involved process? Could I do it myself?