Replace or refoam woffers on Beovox 80.2.?

[Nadeemt]

Hi

I have a pair of Beovox 80.2 and i need some advice regarding the woffers.

Should i refoam them and upgrade the capasitors
Should i purchase new woffers and in that case witch ones.?

[kronzilla]

NOO don’t replace the woofers. Just replace the foam surrounds with rubber ones so they will not desintegrate again in 15y. If you replace the woofers, it is not the same speaker again. Rubber surrounds are cheaply to obtain. If you can’t do it, ask somebody to do that.
and just look how the capacitors are in the crossover ( mostly Roederstein elco’s i think, now Vichay).
succes

[KolfMAKER]

Yes, I agree with the advise of @Kronzilla.

Refoaming is definitely the best option. Your speakers will sound like intended and be ready for many years of listening pleasure to come.

I have done several speaker driver refoamings. This link is to repair kits for Bang & Olufsen speakers:

https://www.repairyourspeakers.com/en/foam-rubber-surrounds/bang-olufsen/g-10000016

This link is reference material like video’s on how to repair:

https://www.repairyourspeakers.com/en/repair-videos/c-1

 

 

[Anonymous]

‘m facing the exact issue with my Umbraco 8 Solution.

[AdamS]

Agreed – re-foam not repair! But do not opt for rubber surrounds if your originals were foam – stick with the original foam material otherwise you will alter the characteristics of the driver.

The correct foam surrounds from Audiofriends are here:

https://www.repairyourspeakers.com/en/foam-rubber-surrounds/bang-olufsen/bang-olufsen-beovox-s80-2-1x-foam-surround-for-repair/a-2048-10000016

I’ve not used Audiofriends personally – I usually use Good Hi-Fi and they also do the correct S80.2 surround here:

https://speakerrepairshop.nl/en/foam-surrounds/bang-olufsen/foam-surround-for-bang-olufsen-beovox-s80-2-woofer/a-977-10000013

 

 

[kronzilla]

Im not totally agreed. You had beovox rl60 who had foam surrounds, after that rl60.2 with rubber surrounds. For durability i would take rubber surrounds. But that is my opinion. I would not re-do the process each 15y because it’s time consuming

[kronzilla]

At speakerrepairshop they are extremely friendly. Don’t forget the special glue. But you can choose at their shop if you want foam or rubber surrounds. Ask their opinion

[AdamS]

kronzilla wrote:

Im not totally agreed. You had beovox rl60 who had foam surrounds, after that rl60.2 with rubber surrounds. For durability i would take rubber surrounds. But that is my opinion. I would not re-do the process each 15y because it’s time consuming

Yes, but they were different drivers with different performance and, as a result, the RL60 and RL60.2 crossovers are different to account for the drivers’ different sonic characteristics

I personally feel that it is always best to replace foam surrounds with foam and rubber with rubber.

[kronzilla]

Not totally correct. The rl140 used foam surrounds, and the rl7000 rubber surrounds.

If you compare the crossover they are the same.

But the rl60 has a passive membrane and the rl60 w has a bassreflex.

Im gonna refoam my rl140’s with rubber you and not with foam. If the flexibility for both surrounds is the same, just take the most durable ones…lesser sensitive to temperature and moist fluctuations. Ok

[AdamS]

That’s fine. The most important thing is that the speakers are made to work again – I think we can agree on that!

However, it’s interesting you mention RL140s. I acquired a pair last year and one was fitted with the original two woofers that needed re-foaming, and one was fitted with the two B&O-approved replacement drivers, which had rubber surrounds.

After repairing the original woofers, the sound was distinctly unbalanced, with the speaker with the ‘new’ woofers producing noticeably more bass. To restore a balanced performance I ended up putting one new and one old woofer in each speaker.

As an aside, I almost wish I hadn’t bothered. I’ve always been secure in my opinion that I didn’t really like RLs. Trouble is, no-one told these RL140s – I haven’t listened to anything else since I finished them over a month ago. I had originally planned to sell them once repaired, but that’s not happening now!

[Dillen]

kronzilla wrote:

Not totally correct. The rl140 used foam surrounds, and the rl7000 rubber surrounds. If you compare the crossover they are the same. But the rl60 has a passive membrane and the rl60 w has a bassreflex. Im gonna refoam my rl140’s with rubber you and not with foam. If the flexibility for both surrounds is the same, just take the most durable ones…lesser sensitive to temperature and moist fluctuations. Ok

Beovox RL140:

Beovox RL7000:
The woofers are identical. The rest – not quite, I think.

Rubber may last longer (or it may not, depending on the type of rubber),
but if you measure the drivers T/S parameters and compare foam and rubber, you will
be surprised to see how much of a difference it makes.
In some cases it will end up an almost completely different driver.
I would stay with foam where foam was originally used.

And keep in mind to let newly refoamed woofers play for some hours before judging/comparing.
They will almost always be a little stiff and sound a bit “stubborn” or “tame” at first, and they will need to losen up a bit to do their job as intended.

And don’t compare to how they sounded with the old, partly disintegrated foam, as having the woofers cones flapping around undampened and
uncontrolled, as they would be, will also be far from what was intended with T/S parameter readings everywhere and nowhere.

Martin

[Nadeemt]

Thanks so much for all your answers..:-)

[Stereomensch]

I can confirm this. I have a pair of Rl 7000 and a pair of redline 140 speakers.

Both had foam surrounds and all four drivers were detoriated after all these years.

[Stereomensch]

@AdamS

So you like your Redlines very much, I think? If you compare them with your other B&o Speakers? What do you think? Would you rate them above them?

[AdamS]

Stereomensch wrote:

@AdamS So you like your Redlines very much, I think? If you compare them with your other B&o Speakers? What do you think? Would you rate them above them?

I’d rate them as better than Beolab 6000 and Beolab 8000, on a par with Beovox Pentas, not as good as Beovox MS150.2s and a long way behind Beolab 90s!

Mind you, every speaker is behind Beolab 90s to a greater or lesser extent…

[Nadeemt]

Hi

 

So after almost 1 year after 2 tries reforming my Beovox 80.2 woffers (they came loose ).And

now I just want to replace the woffers with new ones… So please help me with what woffers til buy..(europe) I have already installed new caps. https://www.beoparts-shop.com/product/capacitor-kit-beovox-s80-2/

Kind Regards

Nadeem

 

 

 

 

[Nadeemt]

Hi

 

So after almost 1 year after 2 tries reforming my Beovox 80.2 woffers (they came loose ).And

now I just want to replace the woffers with new ones… So please help me with what woffers til buy..(europe) I have already installed new caps. https://www.beoparts-shop.com/product/capacitor-kit-beovox-s80-2/

Kind Regards

Nadeem

 

 

[Dillen]

You cannot find new woofers. No modern woofers will match the T/S parameters of the original.
They were custom produced for this speaker – unique to Beovox S80 and S80.2
That’s why we repair and refoam them.

What do you mean by “They came lose”?

Martin

[kronzilla]

You need the correct glue, and let them dry. The ones from the speakerrepairshop is water based.

Strange that they came loose again. Was the glue old or did you not used enough glue?

[KolfMAKER]

I have had experience with rubber rings letting loose once before. Most common causes for that:

– The glue used us a bit old and therefor dried out.

– The adhesion pressing after glueing has not been done enough.

After having done a lot of refoaming, I can conclude that it is a reliable way of repairing/restoring speaker drivers. Nevertheless, the execution has to be done accurately.

 

[Author]

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