How to Re-Cone Your Speakers

Speakers have a number of moving parts, making them highly susceptible to ware and tear over extended periods of time. As the cone of your speaker dries out over time, it can develop cracks and holes that can disrupt sound quality. If fixing the cone with adhesive has been unsuccessful, try to re-cone your speakers using a re-coning kit unique to your speaker.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Re-coning kit
• Soldering gun
• Utility knife
• Index card
• Masking tape
• Glue

1. Locate a speaker re-coning kit on the Internet or at a music repair shop. A basic re-coning kit will include a replacement cone, a replacement gasket (which holds the cone in place), a replacement dust cap and probably some glue.

2. Disassemble your old speaker. Slide the blade of a utility knife around the outside of the damaged cone to pop it out and peel it back. Use the knife to cut out the old cone, slicing through the wires from where it is connected to the voice coil.

3. Remove the old cone. Pop the old gasket out by sliding the blade of the utility knife along the space between the gasket and the inside of the speaker. Throw out the old cone and gasket.

4. Use the knife again to remove as much glue as you can from the inside of the speaker frame. Use an acetone solvent to clean the entire frame of all glue. Remove the tape covering the voice coil gap.

5. Create a shim out of an index card to place in the voice coil gap. Make the shim about 2 inches wide and about the length of the diameter of the voice coil gap. Place the shim in the voice coil gap.

6. Move the shim around in the voice coil gap to loosen any debris. Remove the shim and shake out the debris from the voice coil gap. Put the shim back in the voice coil gap.

7. Secure the shim with masking tape. Roll a piece of masking tape in your palms into a cylinder shape. The tape should be the length of your shim diameter.

8. Place your new cone into your speaker with the shim in position to check the fit. Remove the replacement cone and apply a steady bead of adhesive to the outer and inner rims of the speaker frame. Reset the new cone onto the glue, keeping the shim in the voice coil gap. Allow it to dry overnight.

9. Remove the paper shim. Glue the gasket back on and flip the speaker upside down to let it dry for about 1 hour.

10. Apply glue around the voice coil and the inside edge of the cone. Lower the dust cap into place over the voice coil. Once the dust cap is dry, solder the wires back to the wire terminals.

Tips & Warnings

• When gluing your new cone in place, make sure the wire terminals are pointing out so you can easily solder the wires back into place.
• For a more secure fit, try putting a weight on your dust cap while it is drying.
• When re-soldering your wires, make sure they are not in contact with the frame or cone.
• Maker sure the new cone is centered in your speaker frame around the voice coil. If it is leaning to one side, the sound quality will suffer.
• Be careful not to damage the voice coil when removing the old cone.