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tweeter "drying out"

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dasdoing

dasdoing

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Nice work - Have you measured a brand new/known good tweeter to reference your repair to?

yes, not brand new but less than 2 years old. surface still looks perfect. the treated one actualy looks better then the newer one (this is meassured on the other speaker though). I am not talking about those 2 narrow dips which are caused by some comb filtering but the extension at the crossover region. green is the treated one

bbb.jpg


I actualy decided to treat this newer good looking one, too. it is drying right now
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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no diference with the newer tweeter. small diferences are probably caused by not exact same mic position

ccc.jpg


anyways. if you have a broad dip in the crossover region, you might want to have a closer look at the tweeter, and consider re-coating it
 

Count Arthur

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Nice result.

It will be interesting to see how well it lasts compared to the original coating.

I wonder what the CiaBond coating actually is, their web site isn't very informative.
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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I wonder what the CiaBond coating actually is, their web site isn't very informative.

the labels just says "acrylic emulsion and additives".
the additives are probably to make viscosity lower....it's pretty liquid in the bottle, but dries fast (at least with a thin layer).
and it is water based, since there is no strong smell.
and by the way, the result is not sticky to the touch
 

toddsdonald

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I also did some DIY with an old junk tweeter. Apparently at some point, someone has tried painting it with something funky and it was cracking and all caked up on the surround. It wasn't very loud, sounded muffled and couldn't carry a tune with a bucket.

At first I tried cleaning out the old ferrofluid and adding fresh. BTW even after 30 years the original ferrofluid was still in there. Changing it didn't do anything, except maybe make it quieter.

Then I took the dome assembly and cleaned all that gook off with nail polish remover. I was super careful, used about 50 cotton swabs but got all that gook off and cleaned out the surround, (it must've had a couple mil of buildup).

By that point the dome was essentially just fabric. I could blow through it butt could see through it and it was extremely supple. Put it all back together and it worked and sounded smooth, but very very quiet.

Then I took it back apart and carefully coated the dome with a base coat and then a top coat for nail polish. I figured fabric is organic and pliable so are human nails, so what the heck why not try? Application was easy enough, it went on smooth and didn't seem very thick. I let it dry in between coats. It's still pliable, but certainly stiffer than it was. I put it all back together and it actually works again! It's fairly loud and smooth.

I didn't take any measurements, nor done any critical listening but it does work and what was a garbage tweeter is now usable and I've got it in a project center channel I'm tinkering with.

Here is what the tweeter is supposed to look like, (I've got several that are mint):
IMG_20220618_133824768.jpg


Here's what the junky one looked like:
IMG_20220517_091945.jpg


Here's what it looks like after I got done:
IMG_20220618_133935488.jpg


Viola!
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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I also did some DIY with an old junk tweeter. Apparently at some point, someone has tried painting it with something funky and it was cracking and all caked up on the surround. It wasn't very loud, sounded muffled and couldn't carry a tune with a bucket.

At first I tried cleaning out the old ferrofluid and adding fresh. BTW even after 30 years the original ferrofluid was still in there. Changing it didn't do anything, except maybe make it quieter.

Then I took the dome assembly and cleaned all that gook off with nail polish remover. I was super careful, used about 50 cotton swabs but got all that gook off and cleaned out the surround, (it must've had a couple mil of buildup).

By that point the dome was essentially just fabric. I could blow through it butt could see through it and it was extremely supple. Put it all back together and it worked and sounded smooth, but very very quiet.

Then I took it back apart and carefully coated the dome with a base coat and then a top coat for nail polish. I figured fabric is organic and pliable so are human nails, so what the heck why not try? Application was easy enough, it went on smooth and didn't seem very thick. I let it dry in between coats. It's still pliable, but certainly stiffer than it was. I put it all back together and it actually works again! It's fairly loud and smooth.

I didn't take any measurements, nor done any critical listening but it does work and what was a garbage tweeter is now usable and I've got it in a project center channel I'm tinkering with.

Here is what the tweeter is supposed to look like, (I've got several that are mint):
View attachment 213515

Here's what the junky one looked like:
View attachment 213516

Here's what it looks like after I got done:
View attachment 213517

Viola!

looks almost as if you put too much material on it; but if it worked, it worked.....
 

toddsdonald

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looks almost as if you put too much material on it; but if it worked, it worked.....
I probably did put too much on. It was likely half the gook that was on there, but still likely too much. The base coat by itself may have been enough, (and looked better), but I was compelled to put the top coat on. I'm currently in the midst of swapping it for a compression driver and horn to see what it sounds like.
 
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