Speaker recones

[Audiowonderland]

I have a pair of 70's greenbacks that got dunked in a basement flood several years ago. The cones are obviously warped but I don't know what other damage their may be. Could a recone make these usable or are other components likely shot that would make this a pointless exercise?

[Scumback Speakers]

Usually a recone is all they need, but it depends on if there's any rust or other crap on the frames. The only way to tell for sure is to take out the cone/soft parts and check.

[Ted B]

A recone job replaces not just the paper cone, but all moving parts. If the entire speaker was immersed in water, there may be rust inside the voice coil gap, but this can be addressed. So long as the frame is straight, the speaker cane be restored to proper working order.

For the sake of perspective, I recently had seven speakers that looked like this:



Which I restored to this:



I know all about dealing with flood damage.

[Audiowonderland]

Wow, mine are no where near that bad of shape but given the amount of time there probably is some rust in there. Probably worth having them redone then since they aren't worth squat or of any use to me as is.

Ted, you must be in Nashville.....

[Scumback Speakers]

Ted B, nice frigging restoration on that alnico, sir! rgorke sent me an old Greenback to be rebuilt that wasn't that bad, but it did have some major grunge, a bent frame, and just a stupid amount of glue holding the spider down (try 1/3 inch thick inside the spider landing). When I cut the cone at the frame and the lead wires, the cone pulled up cleanly out of the spider, without ripping the spider at all.

Someone went to the pub for lunch at Celestion on June 20, 1973 (JF20 date code), then came back and made that speaker. LOL

Audiowonderland...not sure if you're local but those frames (assuming they're T1221, or similar) can be rebuilt here at Scumback...or maybe you could ship them to Ted B for a recone if he's inclined.

But they can probably be saved.

[Ted B]

My speakers came out of my previous home in New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina. Restoring these required patience and lots of elbow grease, as one can imagine given the photos.

Basically, I used this to make the point that just anything can be saved, so long as the frame is relatively straight. These were the rarer, more expensive Celestion alnico speakers from the mid '60s (as Jim noted). If what you have are greenbacks, these may or may not be worth saving, depending upon the condition of the frames. If all they require is a recone and some light cleaning, they're probably worth restoring.

I've reconed my own speakers in the past from various components that I pieced together, mostly because I found the Celestion recone kits lacking. Jim now has his own historically accurate kits, so that's what you want. Anything else wouldn't be worthwhile.

[rgorke]

Ted B, nice frigging restoration on that alnico, sir! rgorke sent me an old Greenback to be rebuilt that wasn't that bad, but it did have some major grunge, a bent frame, and just a stupid amount of glue holding the spider down (try 1/3 inch thick inside the spider landing). When I cut the cone at the frame and the lead wires, the cone pulled up cleanly out of the spider, without ripping the spider at all.

Someone went to the pub for lunch at Celestion on June 20, 1973 (JF20 date code), then came back and made that speaker. LOL

Audiowonderland...not sure if you're local but those frames (assuming they're T1221, or similar) can be rebuilt here at Scumback...or maybe you could ship them to Ted B for a recone if he's inclined.

But they can probably be saved.

Sounds like my speaker will go down in the annals of history of speaker restoration. This also represents the level of quality control on products and why certain speakers don't sound exactly like others.

Jim, I think I have some pics of the speaker before I sent it to you. Did you happen to take any of its insides?

[Scumback Speakers]

Roger, I didn't take any pics of it, sorry. It is an old frame built with machine screws and the right construction, though, just like I spec'd for my new frames. I did take pics of the cone & spider, though....that was scary enough! LOL When I get some time I'll post the pics...hell...better yet, I'll send them to you, you can post them. I'm buried in recones/orders/shipping right now.

[Audiowonderland]

Cool guys. One more thing. These speakers are 16ohm but 8ohm would be a lot more useful to me. Can that be changed as part of the recone?

[Ted B]

Yes, impedance is determined by the voice coil, which is one of the items changed with a recone. Reconing an 8 ohm speaker to 16, or vice versa, is just a matter of picking which you want.

[Audiowonderland]

One more question....Do the terminals get replaced on a recone? The vintage style terminals on these celestions are not in the best of shape and won't work with the modern connectors typically used these days. I can certainly solder the connection or create a tail with a modern male connector but modern connectors would be cool.

[Scumback Speakers]

One more question....Do the terminals get replaced on a recone? The vintage style terminals on these celestions are not in the best of shape and won't work with the modern connectors typically used these days. I can certainly solder the connection or create a tail with a modern male connector but modern connectors would be cool.

Usually you can attach the modern "push on" connectors with a screw to the old fiber board. I've had to do that on some of my old Celestions.