Need new driver

[ekkoville]

I just recently had an issue from one of my Advent Prodigy II speaker. I heard some slight rattle from the right speaker, and what did I find? Foam surround cracked around entire woofer. Left speaker is fine for now, but I am interested in replacing both woofers. They are about 13 years old, so I don't know if what just age or a burst of power that blew it. I have looked around for manual information to get the crossover info, but can't find any. I know it has a 7 3/16 cut out and the inside is not very complex. Certainly not a high end speaker, but had very good performance. Whatever the option, I need it to handle my Rotel 1095 during HT viewing. Any suggestions would be great.

Here are some photos:







Erik

[Kevin P]

Foam surrounds deteriorate with age and eventually crack. There are companies out there that will "re-foam" (replace the surrounds) on drivers.

If they aren't high end speakers, you could probably just replace the driver with one with similar specs (and same size) and get good results.

I had a circa-'81 pair of Cerwin Vegas which had that problem, after about 15 years or so the surrounds on the woofers started to fall apart. I went to RadioShack and picked up 12" woofers (on sale) and dropped them in and they work great.

[ekkoville]

Hey Kevin, hope all things are well with the house decisions. Many choices.

I have looked around at Parts Express and thought of doing just that. I just am not sure where the two drivers were crossed over. I guess I would want to a gap in there. The Dayton Reference 8" I have seen posts on here seems interesting and affordable. Maybe John and the rest of the DIY guru's will chime in also.

Erik

[ThomasW]

Unless you plan to rebuild the crossover to match any new woofer, you should just get your existing drivers refoamed.

[Feyz]

. I just am not sure where the two drivers were crossed over. I guess I would want to a gap in there. The Dayton Reference 8" I have seen posts on here seems interesting and affordable..
Erik

I would suggest trying a re-foam done on the woofers first. A friend of mine had those, with the foams rotten. I had checked out the physical built of the woofers. They are of decent quality, worthy of salvaging in my opinion. I had refoamed them with Parts Express 8" refoam kit and given them back to my friend. Now that you reminded me, I should contact him to find out how they worked out back in their boxes.

Other than the issue of how well a newly bought woofer will work with the current xover, another problem I saw finding a replacement woofer for them was that, Advent box was a sealed one. Most of the modern 8" woofers would probably be suited more to ported boxes than sealed.

Parts Express (PE) sells foam replacement kits, you can give it a try before trying out new woofers. One caution though, PE foam replacement directions will tell you to cut out and throw away the current dust cap of the woofer and glue one of the dust caps that comes with the kit. You shouldn't do this with this woofer, because its dust cap is semi transparent cloth, allows air moving in and out, and I believe that is part of the woofer's design. The replacement dust caps that comes with the kit are solid, won't allow any air movement. So try to remove the dust cap by dripping small amounts of acetone to where the dust cap is glued to the cone, and try to pry the dust cap from the cone without damaging either one, so that you can reglue it back once you are done with it. You may also look for a professional to do the work. This was the first time I did a foam replacement, so this is from my limited experience.

[ekkoville]

There is a company that offers replacement drivers for it, but it is their own driver. If the specs match the old driver, it should work, right?

[ekkoville]

That is a good observation about the dust cap. It is semi-transparent. Noticed it when the driver was removed, but didn't think of the air movement. I am a little nervous about refoaming, have never gave it much thought although I did see kits. Thanks for the insight, it might be worth trying first.

Erik

[Feyz]

Here is a place for refoaming

Check out these guys

http://www.simplyspeakers.com/2doityourself.htm

$26.95 for the refoam kit including shipment. They have the refoam instructions on their website, and their instructions don't require removal of the dust cap. For that amount of money I think it is worth trying it yourself.