Reconing speakers. Is it hard?

Cirrus

So I recently bought a couple of speakers which turned out to faulty - one's got a warped cone and sounds a bit growly in the low end, the other one crackles horribly at any volume. Seller was very quick to refund me and told me just to keep the speakers, so no quibbles on that front!

That does however leave me with two broken speakers sitting round at home. They're Mesa mc-90s, so I think getting the actual Mesa cone assembly will prove pretty much impossible. I spoke to Celestion who said the best bet would be the CL-80 recone kit, at which point I'm guessing they won't be MC-90s any more but at least they'll work and presumably still be pretty respectable.

Question is, has anyone here done a recone themselves? Is it hard? easy to screw up? The kits are available, I was considering doing one as a test then the other if I was happy with the result. I guess I'm also wondering if it's even worth it - at the moment I'm not out anything, if I try and fix them and they sound rubbish I am!

guitarfishbay

Do you stand to save a lot vs paying another company to do the recone? If there's a local place that does PA speaker repair they might be able to do it. Shipping to/from seemed to be a big cost in speaker repair when I last looked into it, but if there's somewhere local that could work out.

jpfamps

It's one of those jobs that really benefits from experience.

Also after you've bought the kit and right glues for the job, you wouldn't be saving much money over getting someone else to do it.

Bygone_Tones

Yeah its a lot of work, and financially is not beneficial. Apart from the cost of the kit, you might find extra hidden costs such as the glue, and you will need sandpaper & compressed air to clean up the old chassis and coil gap properly.

Fwiw not all speakers can be repaired by reconing. If you have a 'warped cone' that usually goes hand in hand with a warped chassis. So check it is not bent. Not unusual if you buy loose speakers on ebay because people are always crap at packing them and they get damaged in the post. Celestion chassis are very soft and it doesnt take much to bend them out of shape.

Damaged magnets etc, also cannot be saved by reconing.

ESBlonde

@jpfamps is right, if this is likely to be the one and only occasion you will do this pass it to a pro and pay the rate. If you try it yourself and end up cocking it up (lets just say its a possibility), then you either have to buy another cone or hand it to the pro anyway.
If you run a hire business and are likely to get some practice regularly then yes have a go. It's not so much difficult as requiring care and patience. Cleaning off all the old glue, cleaning the magnet gap, getting the spacers aligned then glueing the new cone in place accurately and leaving it to set. You'll save about £6 a cone if you get it right iirc.
Changing diaphragms in horn units is usually easier because they are rarely glued into place.

Cirrus

Thanks all. I literally had no idea what might be involved, I guess it was an expression of my spirit of adventure.  B-)

I guess the question then becomes, if I get the MC-90s professionally reconed with CL80 kits, what do I end up with? Neither one nor the other? I guess I don't know what the actual difference between the speakers are (and probably couldn't find out since that'd be between Celestion and Mesa). And if the warped one actually does have a warped frame, I guess it's toast anyway.

bignorm

Personally I'd chalk it up to experience as you've been refunded.
I'd list the speakers on eBay as in need of repair with a 99p start price shipping cost on top and let someone else take a punt on being able to get them fixed.
If they don't sell you're no worse off, you've already got the packing to send them out so anything made is profit.

DartmoorHedgehog

I did a DIY recone of a V30 a couple of years ago.  It had failed because of a blown voice coil, so I knew the chassis and magnet were fine.  It wasn't a particularly difficult job IMO as long as you do it carefully but, as people have mentioned, the parts cost very close to the price of a good used speaker.  

If you want to do it as an interesting project (if you're as sad as me and you find that sort of thing interesting ) then I'd say go for it, but financially it's not much of a saving (and that's without counting your time and the fact that it may go horribly wrong if you're unlucky).

Short answer is I'm glad I did it once, but probably wouldn't bother doing it again.

Winny_Pooh

Celestion charge way too much for the recone kits...

Dominic

Even done professionally is hardly worth it - not a lot cheaper than replacement to get a proper job done

guitarfishbay

Dominic;990864" said:

Even done professionally is hardly worth it - not a lot cheaper than replacement to get a proper job done

For a standard celestion maybe but Mesa Celestions cost about as much as 2 regular ones. You can only get them via Westside Distribution.

Dominic

Yes but you are paying for the label

guitarfishbay

The speakers are actually different. I do think they're too expensive new but they do sound different.

Bygone_Tones

there is a single c90 on ebay at the moment.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mesa-C90-Celestion-Black-Shadow-8ohm-Uk-made-speaker-/231863558337

If you buy that speaker make sure you tell him how to pack it properly. If he is just going to tape that box up that its photographed in, then it will arrive damaged.