Welcome, all! This new blog is designed to address some of the many questions I receive regularly from musicians about technical issues. We’ll cover a variety of topics, and I welcome comments and questions.

Bad Speaker?

It’s my guess that there are few musicians who haven’t been faced from time to time with the unfortunate reality of a speaker that cries for attention. Perhaps it’s a blown speaker that succumbed to too much power, which means it is now totally silent due to an open voice coil, or it may be badly distorted due to a burnt coil that is rubbing the magnet or perhaps locked in place. Or, it could be a speaker damaged by accident – dropped, torn, rain-damaged or punched through. Or, there is that vintage Jensen in your prized blackface Fender Deluxe whose age has caught up with it, and the paper cone is slowly turning to dust. Whatever the situation, the speaker is in serious need of attention, and your attention is drawn to the choice you need to make: Recone or replace?

Speaker reconing is a repair technique which was popular back in the 60’s and 70’s, but then seemed to decline for a period of time. More recently, however, it is again a viable option and in many cases is worth your consideration.

First, let’s talk about the reconing process and what it involves. In a nutshell, speaker reconing involves replacing all of the moving parts of a loudspeaker - these are the parts that typically fail over time with use (or in some cases, abuse). In the diagram below, the cone, surround, dust cap, spider and voice coil are replaced in a speaker reconing project. The speaker basket, pole piece, top plate and the magnet are normally not damaged and therefore are not replaced.

Recone your Speaker?
In most cases it is best to consider reconing your old speakers. They are the speakers that the cabinets were designed for. Someone spent a great deal of time and money designing the cabinets. A great deal of math was involved in building the cabinets with a certain amount of air space. The manufacture “tuned” the cabinets by building the cabinets specifically for the old speakers. If you grab other speakers and throw them in the cabinets, they will not sound the same as your old speakers. Reconing is the best method to reclaim the sound of your original speakers when they were new.

What about the cost? For most name-brand speakers used in good quality musical instrument or pro audio cabinets, the cost of reconing is anywhere from 30% to 50% less than the cost of replacing the speakers with new speakers of exact or similar specifications. Now, there are exceptions to this, and cases where reconing could cost about the same as replacement – those situations are with lower wattage speakers, small voice coils and small magnet speakers. In such situations, replacing the speaker would be the cost-effective solution. However … if we are talking about a vintage amplifier with a low wattage speaker (think 1960’s Fender Princeton or Champ), it would be economically wise to recone the speaker rather than replace it. The incentive here is to maintain the vintage value of the amplifier. Replacing the original Fender-branded Jensen or Oxford speaker in a Fender amp with a current-day Eminence replacement could drop the resale value of the amplifier by $150-$200. Having the original speaker professionally reconed maintains the value of the amp.

There are professional speaker technicians across the country who will take the time and care to recone your speaker and restore the original sound. I personally have reconed a lot of speakers over the years and take personal satisfaction in listening to the sound quality of the speaker when audio is first applied after the reconing process is complete. Reconing is truly an art, and the reconing artists take pride in our work.

Replacement
If replacement of the speaker is the chosen option, try to get the original speaker if still available. Many OEM speakers of more recent vintage were made by Eminence, and the Eminence factory offers a service to their dealers in which they will make a recommendation as to the closest Eminence replacement speaker based on the make and model of your unit. If your old speaker is Celestion, many of their vintage speakers are still being made (such as the classic G12M “greenbacks”). Jensen is back as a brand name, and they are making many speakers which emulate their original vintage lines. (It may be worth noting that this is not the same as the original Jensen company – the new Jensen manufacturing facility is in Italy). Another good guitar amp speaker company with is Warehouse Speakers, located in Paducah, Kentucky. Warehouse specializes in making “British” type speakers which emulate the Celestion sound – at very reasonable prices.