Repairs to Heybrook speakers

[fuaimrian]

Hello all. I'm new here and this is my first post.

I have a set of Heybrook stereo speakers which I love. Unfortunately, someone (who shall remain nameless!) was playing around with the amplifier and accidentally exposed them to a very high volume; the result is that something blew and the bass sound is now totally distorted.

I took them to a repair shop in Stillorgan; after six months they came back to me and said they couldn't get the parts to fix them.

I then sent them to a shop in Rathmines. They charged me €40 and after three months came back to me saying that they couldn't find anything wrong. When I took them home, the problem was still very much there.

Can anyone recommend a good and honest repair shop (in Dublin or beyond) where I could get my speakers fixed properly and for a reasonable price? I can't afford a new set and would like to keep the ones I have.

Thanks in advance.

[Ivor]

It sounds like you have a blown woofer. Try Cloney Audio in Blackrock http://www.cloneyaudio.com/ or http://www.thehifihospital.com/ in Blanchardstown. While this is a fairly straightforward repair I suspect you've been going to TV repair shops who don't really know what they're doing when faced with real hifi.

[Ivor]

Oh... and welcome on board!

[fuaimrian]

Thanks Ivor. I hadn't thought about those. I'll give them a try. And you're correct, they were both TV shops!

[JAW]

You can try Wilmslow Audio for replacement woofers or equivalent. I've used them for parts and always found them very easy to deal with and very helpful on the phone.

http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk

As a test, if you gently push the cone in on with a finger on either side of the dust cap and you feel the voice coil grating against the speaker frame it's definitely a damaged or unaligned voice coil.

[fuaimrian]

Thanks JAW. I'll give that a try first.

This is a very helpful site.

[Fran]

Wilmslow are very helpful I believe - especially for older UK made speaker like your heybrooks. I recently had god service from www.speaker-repairs.co.uk - I did the rotten foam surrounds on a vintage set much like your own.


There's a number of tests you can do to check out what the problem is.

1. As JAW said, press the woofer in an out (in a straight, piston like manner). It should move in and out smoothly with a springy feel. If you press heavily on either side of he cone you might feel/hear some rubbing, so you need to move it "straight".

2. If it moves in and out OK, the next step is to remove that driver from the cabinet and hook it up in the known good speaker - if it sounds OK then its not the driver.

3. If those tests don't show up problems (and most likely, #1 is the problem) then its likely a component in the crossover.


Try those out and let us know for more info.


Fran

[fuaimrian]

Thanks Fran. I'll give that a go.

[JAW]

Wilmslow are very helpful I believe - especially for older UK made speaker like your heybrooks. I recently had god service from http://www.speaker-repairs.co.uk - I did the rotten foam surrounds on a vintage set much like your own.


There's a number of tests you can do to check out what the problem is.

1. As JAW said, press the woofer in an out (in a straight, piston like manner). It should move in and out smoothly with a springy feel. If you press heavily on either side of he cone you might feel/hear some rubbing, so you need to move it "straight".

2. If it moves in and out OK, the next step is to remove that driver from the cabinet and hook it up in the known good speaker - if it sounds OK then its not the driver.

3. If those tests don't show up problems (and most likely, #1 is the problem) then its likely a component in the crossover.


Try those out and let us know for more info.

You must have access to a higher authority than I have! :-) I've used speaker-repairs as well. I'm not sure that they sell speaker units, I thought that they concentrate on foam surrounds.

If you're taking the speaker out of the cabinet you could put a 1.5v battery across the terminals on the speaker. The cone should move in or out according to the polarity. Listen for grating as you do this as well. Be careful of the gasket when you take out the speaker, they can rip or tear very easily.

[giant haystacks]

I have a set of heybrook i think hb1 is the model with rotten speaker surrounds .
i know an american company which do repair kits but im not sure if heybrook are well known in usa .I think the valve engineer Guy seargent does some sort of work on these speakers he may be worth a try also
if anyone has any ideas