repairing woofers in Wilson Audio Watt Puppy V

[diglloyd]

Looking for advice on whether to repair or replace woofers:
1. If repairing the rubber surrounds, which ones best.
2. Best to cut the wires instead of desoldering?
3. Replace the drivers? If so, still a soldering risk?

Cost is an issue for me—once I could afford these, but I don’t have thousands to spend on a repair.

Full details and pictures here:
Wilson Audio Watt Puppy System V Woofers Distintegrated, How To Extract and Repair?

 

[microstrip]

We can easily get the Dynaudio foam surrounds that are adequate for this job. The question is finding someone with the adequate expertise to carry the repair. I have paid arround 100 euros each for a perfect re-foaming of my vintage Wilson's. Try getting someone that does not remove the dust caps for the coil alignement.

 

[diglloyd]

Recommended to me by a Wilson Audio representative was Speaker Repair Pros in Garden Grove CA.

But I am reluctant to cut the thick wires as recommended, and more reluctant to try to desolder them, as I am told there are no replacement parts should that go wrong.

 

[diglloyd]

What are the "dust caps" and what does "coil realignment mean? Sounds like more fooling around once repaired...

 

[lem321]

I've replaced the foam surrounds on the four Dynaudio woofers on my Wilson Watt/Puppies 5.1. With some help from videos on youtube and using authentic Dynaudio surrounds, the task took some time but was not "complicated." The first one or two I did turned out a bit sloppy with some glue showing on the cone but structurally, the repair was solid. The last two were almost perfect. I did desolder the speaker leads which is really not very difficult...I would not cut the wire. Investment is mostly in time and not materials. As someone above suggested, having a pro do it may be the better option if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Occasionally used woofers appear on the market but they may be prone to the same foam deterioration. Wilson Audio usually carries replacement speakers and the new woofers they recommended may be even better than the originals but they're not cheap. Try calling them to see if they have a used set. BTW, I didn't have to touch the dust caps or do a realignment.

 

[analogsa]

You should really remove all the rotten diffraction foam while you're at it. It probably makes sense to replace it on the Watts but on the Puppies it doesn't do much more than provide a placeholder for the velcro. Btw the same foam is used internally for damping and that has obviously also turned into dust.

 

[diglloyd]

Agreed on the sticky mess of diffraction foam, but that's a secondary issue.

 

[diglloyd]

I've replaced the foam surrounds on the four Dynaudio woofers on my Wilson Watt/Puppies 5.1. With some help from videos on youtube and using authentic Dynaudio surrounds, the task took some time but was not "complicated." The first one or two I did turned out a bit sloppy with some glue showing on the cone but structurally, the repair was solid. The last two were almost perfect. I did desolder the speaker leads which is really not very difficult...I would not cut the wire. Investment is mostly in time and not materials. As someone above suggested, having a pro do it may be the better option if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Occasionally used woofers appear on the market but they may be prone to the same foam deterioration. Wilson Audio usually carries replacement speakers and the new woofers they recommended may be even better than the originals but they're not cheap. Try calling them to see if they have a used set. BTW, I didn't have to touch the dust caps or do a realignment.

I'm good at software development (35 years)... but I suck at any kind of home repair... pretty sure I'll F it up. And... my time is more useful to me than trying to learn it. So I'll figure out who can do it and get it done... after my very busy autumn of travel (photographer).

 

[lem321]

I'm good at software development (35 years)... but I suck at any kind of home repair... pretty sure I'll F it up. And... my time is more useful to me than trying to learn it. So I'll figure out who can do it and get it done... after my very busy autumn of travel (photographer).

Sounds like a good plan Diglloyd! I've actually learned how to do a number of tasks by F...ing it up first! That's part of the fun!