Bad smelling cabinet damping S45-2 material!

[RuneP]

Hello.

I removed the woofer from the cabinet of my old S45-2 to glue the magnet, so it doesn’t become loose.

But the damping material smells really bad, as if it’s mold infected.

What kind of new material can I use instead? And what amount to use? Or should I just ignore?

Any other of you had the same problem?

Thanks in advance!

Kind Regards, Rune

 

[chartz]

Hi Rune,

I’d leave it if there isn’t any oxydation inside. Also check whether some of it was burnt by overloaded resistors in the crossover, which could explain the bad smell as well.

You can otherwise use the same wool made of recycled clothes, available from shops that sell fabric.

[Glitch]

RuneP wrote:

What kind of new material can I use instead? And what amount to use? Or should I just ignore?

If you want the speakers to sound exactly like stock, your best bet is to replace the material with what was in there before. If that is not available, consider something like Acousta-Stuf Polyfill.

How much to add depends on what material that you use. For the same material, go by weight (unless there are unusual circumstances like the stuffing being wet). If you change materials, then you will need to go by either rule of thumb or by listening and adding and removing material. Check out some of the DIY speaker forums as the people there are enthusiastic about experimenting with things like this.

You could always just ignore it. However, if it is mold, it might spread to more than just the damping material. Also, keep in mind that the speakers will not sound right if you simply remove the material.

The underlying question is why does the material smell bad? This should be understood and addressed.

Glitch

 

[Dillen]

The smell is caused by airs moisture (most often down to bad storage).
The smell will never go away again, even if vented thoroughly and kept completely dry for years.

If it doesn’t smell when the speaker is closed, you may want to just leave it alone.
But if it smells “out” of the speaker, it will be annoying, and the solution is to remove it all, clean the cabinet inside using a disinfectant/smell remover (as the smell will also be in the wood) and put in new damping material.

Martin

[RuneP]

Thanks to all the three of you for the quick response.

Martin/Dillen hit it right I think – when I was younger, I didn’t had the room for the speakers (bought them new in 1980 for 1045 DKK/piece as a kid, my first real new speakers), so they was stored at my parents place.

Unfortunately, at some point, they placed them in a shed, so here they apparently absorbed the moisture.

The conclusion must be:

1. To follow Dillens advice, or
2. To take out drivers + crossover, and scrap the rest + buy another set of S45-2.

Again, thanks for the comments/advice!

Kind regards, Rune

[matador]

Follow Dillen’s advice has always proved to be te way to go…

[Glitch]

You might be able to salvage the damping material by removing it and placing it in direct sunlight. The UV rays in the sunshine can kill the mold spores and the fresh air will dilute the odor. The same goes for any other speaker parts that might be damaged by a liquid based fungicide. Of course, the effectiveness will depend on the species of mold and how deep the UV rays can penetrate.

RuneP wrote:

2) To take out drivers + crossover, and scrap the rest + buy another set of S45-2.

This seems a bit extreme. It is certainly worth trying the least invasive methods and work your way up to a total loss  ;-).

Glitch

[RuneP]

@matador – I certainly will, unless the cabinets are too physically damaged, or damaged by mold/are too smelly.

The planned working schedule will be like this.

1. Removal of the woofers, they need the magnet glue treatment
2. Removal of tweeter and phase-link unit + crossover
3. Removal of all the damping material – will be thrown out
4. Clean cabinets as Dillen suggests
5. Put it back together
6. Smelling test

If smelling test is passed, I will put in some new damping material – if not, I’ll save the drive-units and crossover as spare parts, and buy a new used set of S45-2.

Here’s a pic of the worst looking speaker, it has some physical damage too, and needs some cleaning, sanding and oiling – but maybe it’s in too bad shape?

What’s your opinion?

Kind Regards, Rune

 

[Glitch]

That sounds like a good plan. Dillen is correct when he says that the odor may never fully go away.

I see the telltale rings that look like the speakers were used as a plant stand. Moisture from watering the plants may be the original cause of the mold. It appears that there was enough moisture for the cabinet seams to separate. There is some good info on audiokarma about how to handle this particular repair if you don’t get suitable suggestions here. Search for GD70 (Glenn) as he usually posts good descriptions/pictures of the repairs.

After you have the speakers repaired put them on tilted speaker stands. I don’t know if the tilt actually does anything for the sound, but it does keep your partner from putting plants on the speakers :-).

Glitch

[RuneP]

Thank you all – I’ll return with a new post when I’m done, could take a couple of weeks due to other high priority stuff.

BTW, here’s what I got so far:

1. BM 900K – incl stereodecoder, given to me
2. BM 2000 type 2801 (mid 70’s model)
3. Another 2000, given to me, bad unauthorised repairing attempts by former owner
4. BM 6000 stereo 80’s model
5. Beocord 1200 R to R
6. Beocord 2400 cassette
7. Beogram 6000 radial type
8. Beovox S45-2
9. Beovox 1702

1,2,5, and 6 are near mint condition – 4 and 7 looks rather good, and 3,8 and 9 looks (very) poor. 7 and 8 bought by me as new in 1980/1983.

I collect audio equipment from the golden period, where they were using genuine wood together with the nice aluminium surfaces, and with Jacob Jensen as primarily designer – thats approx. from ’68 to ’81 (product introduction year).

Kind Regards, Rune

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