Voice Coil Repair: A Lost Skill?

[sholto76]

Hello all,
Hoping that everyone's enjoying the sunshine.

I'm a sucker for a tricky project and picking up speakers that have been given up on, but tweeter voice coils are way to fiddly for me. The idea of trying to wind that teeny tiny gauge wire on to the bobbin by hand confounds me, but does no-one offer this service in the UK anymore?

I've spoken to a few companies and they all turned the work down (inc Wembley and DC Boultons). They say that it is too fiddly and not worth their while, but how can this be so? With second examples of classics like the Celestion HF1300 and Coles 4001 fetching from £50 - 100 +, and given that they already have the machine, surely there is a market for this?

Is there anyone on here who has the ability to re-wind HF voice coils? It surely isn't beyond the wit of man to carry out this repair, after all they were originally manufactured by one!

Maybe I just need to concede to the disposable age.

P

[Puffin]

Just watch this. Simples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qjcIXaE7gc

[RothwellAudio]

I've spoken to a few companies and they all turned the work down (inc Wembley and DC Boultons). They say that it is too fiddly and not worth their while, but how can this be so?

They probably know their own market and their own business better than anyone else.

[sholto76]

Fancy having a go? I certainly wouldn't be able make a 20mm tweeter coil. I wouldn't know how to start.
P

[sholto76]

Hmmmm...kind of. He actually said that it was just a bit of a pain because it was fiddly and that sometimes the wire snaps. I understand that, but this repair used to be possible and it appears now that people just don't fancy doing the work.

I blame the government

[spendorman]

http://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=coles

[spendorman]

Believe it or not, the tweeters (Audax) in these work pretty well to replace the Coles. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JPW-Mini-Monitor-2-WAY-Bookshelf-SPEAKERS-6-OHM-Black-WOOD-Cased-HI-FI-Stereo-/352091557360

The ones in the JPW Gold Monitor also work quite well. These are Peerless (India)

The original DM2's used a Peerless DT10 HFC in place of the Coles. The DT10HFC is not too dissimilar to the tweeter in the Gold Monitor.

[spendorman]

Might be worth asking this guy if he can supply for the Coles and HF1300, as to whether they will perform to spec. afterwards, that is another question.

[Arkless Electronics]

It's likely they have found people unwilling to pay a commercially viable rate to have the work carried out...

[Beobloke]

We often used to wind our own voice coils by hand at Goodmans when making prototypes and it was indeed a fiddly, time-consuming process but hugely rewarding. The problem is that you really need the correct materials for formers, plus the correct mandrels to locate them on. Our coil wire came pre-varnished and you doused it with IPA as you wound, then put the whole thing on its mandrel into an oven to bake the varnish hard. The smell was epic when you forgot about it and left it in there too long!

I still wonder what happened to the coil-winding setup when Goodmans closed, as I don't remember seeing it at the stock clearout auction.

[Minstrel SE]

Yes it sounds like one of those jobs thats not worth the risk/effort for what people are willing to pay. My dad uses someone that rewinds transformers but thats not a fine wire, fiddly job on tweeters.

I would love someone to set up a Royd driver refurbishment process (even just doping them) at a reasonable price but its not going to happen. I realise thats its not easy or straightforward. Just tooling up for that process vs the demand would rule it out.

I had a guy make some Coniston foam grilles. The price was so reasonable that Im not sure how he made any money on the deal. he seemed a low volume operator so I wondered if it was even worth his while

These are the sort of jobs I know I would cock up despite my best efforts so If nobody else will do it Im stuffed.

[ianlenco]

Hi Patrick,
Not sure if this company does tweeters but worth a try, they say they do HF units. They gave me a sensible price for repairing the voice coils on some Kef drivers although I didn't take them up on it in the end.

http://www.audioloudspeakers.co.uk/boultons.shtml

[sholto76]

Thanks Spendor!

[sholto76]

Interesting. I have a pair of JPW's Golds gathering dust...first speakers i ever paid for after my mum banned the Ditton 25's after 9 o'clock

[spendorman]

This may be worth bidding on if it does not go too high: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Single-B-W-BOWERS-WILKINS-DM4-3-Way-Loudspeaker-Wooden-Cabinet-P26-/382138271331

[sholto76]

Thank you gents, all good comments and food for thought.

[spendorman]

Interesting. I have a pair of JPW's Golds gathering dust...first speakers i ever paid for after my mum banned the Ditton 25's after 9 o'clock

Have a look here, scroll down to last photo:

https://mxlml.home.xs4all.nl/projects.html