Hi everybody,

 

I just purchased a pair of (visually) mint condition RL 140s. But when I brought them home and hooked them up to my Beosystem 9500 one of the speakers is making a "flapping" sound. SOrry for the lack of technical terminology.

 Does this mean I have bought a pair of speakers that are "blown"? Is it possible that it could be because the cords I am using aren't that great? Is this something that can be fixed without huge $$$?

 any help would be appreciated as these babies sound amazing other than the flapping that occurs with low bass.

 

THanks

 

Dave 

I doubt the cables are responsible. Take them apart and have a look at the drivers. They unscrew into two halves and you can then see the back of the drivers. Possibly a damaged driver but it should not be that expensive to fix.

Very probably foam rot on the woofer/s

I am told that these particular woofers are difficult for the novice to repair but there are commercial re-cone specialist who will do the work.

They are a magnificent (my opinion!) speaker when working to spec.

Re foaming the woofers is not difficult!  Having done a pair of CX50s I tackled these next!

I would suggest doing one speaker at a time so that you have a template with the second one to see where the baffle goes. 

Take care with the removal of the straps around the speaker as these are probably brittle by now.  Use a large flat surface to leave the speakers on - perhaps spreading an old dust sheet under them.  There are two woofers in each speaker - so buy enough for 4 speakers!

Brian

The RL140 bass drivers are a completely different kettle of fish compared to CX's. The tolerance is very very tight and will require shimming to ensure getting them just right. Not a job for the novice I'm afraid.

 

Chris.

Hi there Chris, do you do paid repairs for other people? My woofers need re foaming and would rather have somebody  who knows what they are doing repair them. i.e not me

All the best 

Paul

Hello folks,

Just joining the dicussion. I'm in doubt about the condition of the speakers inside my Rl 140's.

With a conventional speakerbox, you just flip off the frontcover. But how do open these RL speakers ??? Do you have to take them completely apart with the risc of damage to all kind of parts. Can anyone give me some clear and explicite instructions.

Also I'm hearing about people replacing the foamrings on speakers. Others say only an expert can do this. What are the votes on this issue. Anyone who tried it and messed up the speaker completely ??

The answer might be of help to many RL owners.

Thanks and I will appreciate answers soon.

TeeJee

I'm in the process of renovating a pair of RL 140s. and will share what I have learned so far in response to your ?s concerning disassembly and woofer refoaming.

Disassembly:

Set speaker face down on a flat surface protecting the forward edges it will be resting on. The rear of the speaker is facing up. All screws to be removed are Phillips head. Near the center are two recessed bars that hold the straps on, remove the screw from the center of each bar. My straps were gone, but it appears that as the bar is removed it would loosen the strap allowing the bar/strap to be moved sideways and laid over out of the way. The straps are attached to the bars by screws the removal of which would allow the straps to be removed without raising the speaker.

Remove the 2 screws in the recess the bars came out of. Remove the screw in the central recess. The metal mounting plate around the central recess may be left in place. Remove all screws that are found in the circular openings around the periphery of the speaker and in the center of each side. I'm away from my 140s, but I believe the count is 10 screws (not counting those under the bars and in central recess) per side.

The back is now ready to be removed. The gap between the redline and the speaker back is the seperation area. I used my fingers to apply pressure to raise the back up and away from the rest of the speaker. Be patient, working your way around the perimeter to raise the back as evenly as possible. There is a foam gasket between back and body of the speaker, take care not to tear it. Once the back is clear, the leads to the external connection jack must be dealt with. They are barely long enough to raise the back far enough to disconnect them. Mark the terminals, then pull the leads (spade type connector) from the jacks on the speaker back, which can now be lifted clear. Make note of the wrapped fiberglass blocks positions to enable correct relocating when reassembling. All components of the speaker are now accessible.

Woofer surround replacement:

I'm not a complete novice nor an expert as the woofers from my RL 140s were the 3rd & 4th pairs of drivers I have replaced foam surrounds on. Yes the clearances are tight, and I shimmed the voice coil/cone (also on the first 2 pair of woofers I did) to ensure success. I am quite pleased with the results in all cases and the RL 140 woofers sound very good. I have not played them much, however, as I was dissiapointed to find one tweeter of only approx. 50% output. I'm in the process of dealing with that problem, but that's another thread.