Replacing a bass driver - fitting.

cjr

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Dudess some advice if you’d be so kind. Over the weekend fired up the Richmonds with some Gorrilaz and one of the bass/mid range drivers started rattling/rasping. This stopped when I placed a finger on the rubber surround of the driver, so in effect bass driver frazzled. I removed the driver could see nothing untoward, re-installed but still goosed. So ….. Been in contact with Castle about a replacement driver. Is it simply a case of de-solder the connection as it stands and re-solder the new driver ?

Anything else I should look out for dudes ?

They say bad luck comes in 3s, last week was the Phono Stage nose diving into the turf, wonder whats next.

 
E

Effem

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Surprised that the wires are soldered direct onto the speaker chassislugs. Usually they have spades (sometimes 2 different sizesfor polarity)that fit onto the lugs because otherwise the heat from the solderingiron travels up the thin wire voice coil wireand melts the insulation around the voice coil- back to square one.

If the wiresare directly soldered onto the chassis tags your soldering technique has to be spot on. Nice hot iron, plenty of fresh solder to both parts, then whack it on quick and get the iron off quick too. If you have freezer spray handya dose of that will cool it down smartish before any damage is done

 

penance

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mOST I HAVE SEEN ARE SOLDERED, NO PROBLEM WITH THE THIN WIRE AAS THE TERMINAL IS LARGE ENOUGH TO ACT AS A HEAT SINK. (oops caps lock).

I would strongly advise against using freeze spray, it will be to sudden a change and may adversly effect the solder joint by cracking.

Pretty much as you say, unsolder the old one, resolder the cable to the new one and refit in the box.

 

TIU

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Gary
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What speaker cable and i/c's are you using? How old are they and the Castles? Not having much luck are you.
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I don't suppose contents insurance covers it?

 
A

Alex A

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I had the exact same problem when I blew one of my bass drivers on my Auditors. Bought the new driver (at a rediculously high price!), unscrewed the old one, and found that it was soldered very solidly in place (on unusually large connectors on the driver) instead of clipped.

Make sure you use a good quality very hot soldering iron, because I found it impossible with the first one I tried (which was underpowered), but it depends on the size of the solder joint that you have to melt. And otherwise just make sure that you get a nice mould on the joint when you're finished.

 
E

Effem

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Aha, just remembered this . . . . . . . if you have a pair of surgical forceps then clip them on to the thin wire just behind the solder tag so it acts as a heatsink
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Beobloke

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Effem wrote:

Surprised that the wires are soldered direct onto the speaker chassislugs.
It's the best way of doing it. I've always been surprised that hifi bods can be almost driven to murder by speaker cable discussions but no-one seems to give a stuff that once inside the speakers the signal generally passes through some fairly average cable and then through a wobbly spade connection.

Whipping the drivers out of your speakers and hard-wiring the connections is one of the simplest upgrades you can make and costs very little, but you are quite right in that it needs to be done carefully and speedily, especially with tweeters, when i wouldn't even consider doing it without some form of heat shunt like the aforementioned tweezers.

 

kingsxfan

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cjr wrote:

Dudess some advice if you’d be so kind. Over the weekend fired up the Richmonds with some Gorrilaz and one of the bass/mid range drivers started rattling/rasping. This stopped when I placed a finger on the rubber surround of the driver, so in effect bass driver frazzled. I removed the driver could see nothing untoward, re-installed but still goosed. So ….. Been in contact with Castle about a replacement driver. Is it simply a case of de-solder the connection as it stands and re-solder the new driver ? Anything else I should look out for dudes ?

They say bad luck comes in 3s, last week was the Phono Stage nose diving into the turf, wonder whats next.
When my old cat decided to shredtherubberdriver surroundson my old MA Silver 5i's, it was a case of unscrewing the drivers and pulling the lugs off. They just slid on and off no solder involved. This may not necessarily be the case for all speakers but I'd guess it would be for a lot!!

KxF

 

cjr

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Thanks chaps for your combined opinion/wisdom. Spoke to Castle today, they comfirmed that its simply a case of de-soldering the internal wiring (looks like 2mm2 twisted core T+E) on the driver, as I am returning the old driver (they can recycle the parts) it will cost me £42.59 for a new driver (postage included). I love Castle Acoustics I really do. They will also send instructions for me for the task. No lugs or spades Im afraid, just big blobs of solder where the + & - cables are attached.

 

Dik Dolan

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Does the new driver come with a new gasket too? The driver will need to be airtight, so if no new gasket and the old one looks torn, you can use window draft excluder. When tightening the mounting screws, try to do them up evenly...dont screw one down tight then move onto the next, you could distort the frame. Nip down one, then nip down the opposite one etc.

Careful with the screwdriver too....slips can get bloody/expensive. It's worth checking the tightness of the screws after a couple of days too.

 

Sastusbulbas

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Effem wrote:

Surprised that the wires are soldered direct onto the speaker chassislugs. Usually they have spades (sometimes 2 different sizesfor polarity)that fit onto the lugs because otherwise the heat from the solderingiron travels up the thin wire voice coil wireand melts the insulation around the voice coil- back to square one.If the wiresare directly soldered onto the chassis tags your soldering technique has to be spot on. Nice hot iron, plenty of fresh solder to both parts, then whack it on quick and get the iron off quick too. If you have freezer spray handya dose of that will cool it down smartish before any damage is done
You can purchase little forcep devices designed to draw away heat while soldering from maplins

 

hifikrazy

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Ive often seen lugs that have also been soldered to give the best possible electrical and phsyical connection. The original wires will need de-soldering and if terminated with lugs these will need the solder removing (de-solder braid is probably the best for this). Just make sure as mentioned you have a heat sink attached when soldering and also take your time to avoid mistakes
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Kiang

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only areas you can go wrong here is to not allow for heat transfer and inadvertently let molten solder fall on the cone.

No problems using lugs that are crimped if you are worried.

Far better than RISK blowing a driver if you are not comfortable soldering IMO

 

supercapman

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Replaced the bass drivers in mine, quite a simple job really, I used crocodile clips as heat sinks.I know it's expensive but I have to agree that replacing pairs of drive units are better than replacing single drivers. Drive units can take a long time to drive in, especially 'Scan-speak'.

Don't overtigthen the fixing screws (like I did
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f_doh.gif.2bfa1ec008d0c8800eee305d3a30be23.gif
).

 

Lawrie

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Alex_A wrote:

I had the exact same problem when I blew one of my bass drivers on my Auditors. Bought the new driver (at a rediculously high price!), unscrewed the old one, and found that it was soldered very solidly in place (on unusually large connectors on the driver) instead of clipped.
I am surprised you had to fit the driver yourself as the price quoted for replacement SF drivers usually includes fitting (well at least, aroundthis part of the planet). I don't know anyone who has fitted those SF drivers by themselves ............errr, well I do now.
tongue.png


Enjoy the musicâ„¢

Lawrie:D

 
A

Alex A

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Well I fitted mine, becuase the dealer was a long way away from me, and I had the driver delivered. I bought the speakers in Australia while I was working at a dealers there. But, fear not, I fitted the driver at least as well as the original.

 

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