Speaker rattling, how to fix?

[calvin006]

I found a post about fixing speaker rattle on this forum (http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34743) and it seemed like a good place to turn for my own speaker rattle problems.

I have an old '51 Jensen P12R that is rattling on bass notes at high volume. It is definitely the speaker and not something else in the amp, as I removed the magnet cover and can hear the rattle coming from the magnet area. At first I thought this was a loose magnet assembly, but after reading the above post, it seems more likely that it is a loose spider?

Only trouble is I'm not exactly sure what a spider is, and I don't want to mess up this speaker as it still sounds good at low to medium volume. Does anyone have a good resource on speaker repair/troubleshooting? Thanks!

[Wattever]

The spider is the large brown corrugated part in the picture below.


(Cone removed for easier viewing)

[calvin006]

Got it. So how would I go about securing it? Would I have to remove the cone?

[Wattever]

DON'T REMOVE THE CONE!!!

That's just one I took apart for another reason, and it made for a good pic to show what a spider is.

Gently check around the outer edge of the spider where it's glued to the metal frame to see if it's loose in any places. Don't loosen any places that aren't loose already. if it's completely loose, or if you separate it all the way around, you'll have to remove the center dust cap and shim the coil former to center it before re-gluing it. if it's just one spot, you MAY be able to just re-glue that area.

I'm not sure what the best glue would be for repairing it if it is just a loose area, but hopefully someone here will have some suggestions.

[calvin006]

Haha, don't worry, I'm not doing anything until I know exactly what I'm doing. It's the original speaker for my '51 Fender Deluxe, so I'm being careful. And I know this is a Plexi forum, but y'all seem to have the goods on speaker repair

Anyway, I haven't taken the speaker out of the cab yet, so I'll do that and see if that reveals anything while I wait for any more thoughts.

[BaronGreenback]

heres a very common problem on old celestions:



glue corrodes away and the spider comes loose. test the support by lightly trying to lift the edge with your fingertip, dont push too hard or you might break it off yourself.

to repair it I normally use a rubber based white glue or contact cement. you can wedge the support spider up with matchsticks while you glue. then try and clamp it down by resting small metal weights on the rim where you have glued. the magnet will help clamp it if you use metal.

you need to be careful though, if the whole spider is loose you are in a world of trouble. also if the speaker is rubbbing when you press on the cone, world of trouble. send to a professional for repair. you can only usually get away with glueing it yourself if it is lifting in one or two small areas, and the movement is still completely free with no rubbing. when the whole spider is loose, the voice coil needs to be re-aligned.

[calvin006]

I removed the speaker and everything looked good, including the cone and spider. In the process of removal, I also popped off the bell cover that you find on these old Jensen. Sure enough, when I put the speaker back in the cab, the rattling was gone. So the cover was the culprit. Duh.

[Wattever]

Cool!

Good for another 60 years!