hello there,

i'm in the process of refoaming a pair of woofers on cx 50 speaker. i have finished taking off the old foam and cleaned the supports.

i just had i few questions before setting up the glue workshop:

-do i need to take the woofer drivers off from the speaker in order to glue the new foams properly? can't get clothes pegs around the glueing zone

-i got a set of foams from goodhifi but for cx100s i suppose there is no prob for fit?

-how long does the glue take to dry in general before the speakers can be used again?

thanks very much for any possible help as these will be the first/ hopefully not last speakers to refoam.

rroyce

HI, I just left the drivers on and found glasses that are around the same size to glue the foams to the drivers. They apply just enough pressure and it is constant all the way around.  I let them dry overnight and have also used the CX100s for the CX50s. They are the same woofers. As far as I remember, goodhifi have also an online video or photos showing how to do it

Hello,

Suggest you get in touch with 'Medogsfat' (Chris).  He is a whiz with speaker renovation & also very helpful

John

Just doing some CX100's myself at the moment. What I do is glue the inner part og the ring to the cone. Leave it for 24 hours with a suitable size cup and some weight on it. Then do the outer part to the frame and leave that for 24 hours. Never had any problem so far getting pegs to hold it in place. One other thing I have found useful, is I connect a 1.5 volt battery to the speaker. This pulls the cone in squarly. Then I peg it in place and disconnect the battery. 9 times out of 10 it is in the corect place and no scraping can be heard if I bress the cone in.

Craig

thanks very much everyone for the useful replies...i shall give it a try and keep you posted..

We all do this slightly differnetly I guess!  I prefer to take the drivers out of the speaker to get better access and not let bits of foam drop into the baffle material or the speakers casing. Ihave found using 20+ clothes pegs (ie all round) helps if you cannot find a glass of the right diameter.

I also prefer not to risk scratching the aluminium casing (though of course that may not apply to old second (third, foruth or fifth) hand speakers.  It always saddens me when I see the condition some people allow their B&O kit to become.

Brian

Craig:

Just doing some CX100's myself at the moment. What I do is glue the inner part og the ring to the cone. Leave it for 24 hours with a suitable size cup and some weight on it. Then do the outer part to the frame and leave that for 24 hours. Never had any problem so far getting pegs to hold it in place. One other thing I have found useful, is I connect a 1.5 volt battery to the speaker. This pulls the cone in squarly. Then I peg it in place and disconnect the battery. 9 times out of 10 it is in the corect place and no scraping can be heard if I bress the cone in.

 

 

Craig

Looks like we all do the same thing.

I use a glass of the correct diameter to hold the inner part of the new foam ring onto the cone and leave overnight. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of old defunct CX drivers (which I have removed the surrounds & cones from) which are the perfect thing for weighting down the outer edges of the new foams while the glue sets. I also use a 1.5 V battery to centre the speaker before allowing the outer of the rings to set. I also test the centering after about 5 minutes of the outer edges being glued which gives you the chance of resetting them if there is any slippage. You can test for correct centering by feeling for any rubbing by simply pressing the centre of the dust cap in a straight line inwards. If you feel any rubbing no matter how slight you will need to recentre them as they will not only sound horrible but wear out the drive coils in no time.

Chris.

just done with the first pair of CXs.....! just want to thank you guys for your help. they just sound clear and crisp as they shud...!

cheers

Xseries:

It always saddens me when I see the condition some people allow their B&O kit to become.

Brian

Brian, I know what you mean. At the moment I am in the middle of respraying the cabinets aswell as refoaming the Drivers. These have to be the worst cabinets I have seen on a pair of CX's. They look like they have been used to play football.

Craig

Craig:

Xseries:

It always saddens me when I see the condition some people allow their B&O kit to become.

Brian

Brian, I know what you mean. At the moment I am in the middle of respraying the cabinets aswell as refoaming the Drivers. These have to be the worst cabinets I have seen on a pair of CX's. They look like they have been used to play football.

 

Craig

Just like most in this thread I am doing a pair of cx100's right now and cut some wooden disks that I cut to the exact size and weigh down. ( This would be my 12th pair that I'm refoaming...).
However, the pair I'm doing now is in that clear (brushed?) aluminium. Anyone got any ideas on how best to polishing them up ? 

I have resprayed many myself, but I would like to keep these in their (more-or-less) original state.  Their condition is not that good but they're for my own office.

Thanks in advance

O.

I am glad this thread has appeared!

I am awaiting delivery of a pair of Aluminium CX50's that I won on eBay and this thread looks like it will answer all my questions!

Simon

indeed...everyone has bought a pair of crunchy cx 50s in their past BEO years, but i must say, they are pretty easy to fix and the results are very satisfying....

btw: i just happend to have the right size mugs to hand...:)

cooldude:

Just like most in this thread I am doing a pair of cx100's right now and cut some wooden disks that I cut to the exact size and weigh down. ( This would be my 12th pair that I'm refoaming...).
However, the pair I'm doing now is in that clear (brushed?) aluminium. Anyone got any ideas on how best to polishing them up ? 

I have resprayed many myself, but I would like to keep these in their (more-or-less) original state.  Their condition is not that good but they're for my own office.

Thanks in advance

O. 

A lot of problems with the cosmetic condition of the brushed aluminium CX's is down to deteriation of the lacquer coating. Very easy to rectify though - it can be stripped off using Fairy Power spray just rub a small amount over the surface and wipe off with a damp cloth, it takes literally seconds and is better than any other solvent I have yet come across (even the ones I use to bring home from my days in the chemical industry). It isn't a particularly aggressive product and doesn't affect the lettering yet strips off the lacquer like there's no tomorrow.  Then simply apply a fresh coat of lacquer which can be found in any motor supply shop.

Chris.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the tip. However we don't have the exact product (fairy power spray) here in the great white north (Canada) but I did find something similar and indeed it seems like it takes off the yellowed lacquer layer. 

However the condition seems really too scratched to just clean and refinish with a coat of lacquer (though they're perfectly clean now!!), so I thought about putting in a bit more work and polishing them up a bit more glossy to get rid of some of the scratches (also would fit my beomaster 7000 a bit more) now that they are in their raw state.  Have you ever tried something like that ?

Regards,

O.

I haven't tried repolishing them as they will have an anodised surface to the brushed aluminium. Past experience with other B&O aluminium products has taught me (and others) that trying anything like this makes matters much worse and the more you do the worse it gets! If you decide to bite the bullet and give it a go I wish you the best of luck and you will be a hero on here if you manage it

Having said that, you can always paint them over if the results are as disasterous as I think they may be. The CX's accept almost any colour scheme. If you want them to match your 7000 you could always have them chrome plated - that'd look cool

Chris.

Medogsfat:

I haven't tried repolishing them as they will have an anodised surface to the brushed aluminium. Past experience with other B&O aluminium products has taught me (and others) that trying anything like this makes matters much worse and the more you do the worse it gets! If you decide to bite the bullet and give it a go I wish you the best of luck and you will be a hero on here if you manage it

Having said that, you can always paint them over if the results are as disasterous as I think they may be. The CX's accept almost any colour scheme. If you want them to match your 7000 you could always have them chrome plated - that'd look cool

Chris.

Hey Chris .. thanks for the reply .

Do not forget that they are solid alu and not a thin veneer strips glued on ....  and I don't think mine are anodised but just brushed and clear coated.
My point of view is that I have not much to loose. I could keep them as-is, but I know it will just bug me after a while .....
I just love the cx's as they're a small-sized, well-built,  unpretentious looking speaker that is capable of a better sound than most people expect. 

These speakers value is also not that high. (I paid under 100$ for them) Though I recaped the x-overs and tested and refoamed the drivers.
As you state, they can alway be painted after, if it doesn't work out. An option I do keep in mind. 

By the way I did have several pair chrome-plated and buffed to a mirror finish for a clients' interior I was working on, a while back. Nice but fairly expensive to do.  These speakers are for my own personal use and will end up in my home office, so I don't really mind experimenting a bit..... 

Thanks,

O.

Well I did bite the bullit and decided to repolish them. Though I did get some more info from a friend who knows a lot more about this kind thing as he runs a car body shop and restores old chevvy's as a hobby.

Anyways he told me that my cx100 are not anodized, just lacquered with a protective coating.  He polished one up for me (took him 10 min.!!) only to conclude they ended up a bit too shiny to match my 7000 which is not quite chrome finish either, so we had to rough it up a bit after. 

I am really pleased with the result

I think the picture illustrates best the before/after...

cooldude:

Well I did bite the bullit and decided to repolish them. Though I did get some more info from a friend who knows a lot more about this kind thing as he runs a car body shop and restores old chevvy's as a hobby.

Anyways he told me that my cx100 are not anodized, just lacquered with a protective coating.  He polished one up for me (took him 10 min.!!) only to conclude they ended up a bit too shiny to match my 7000 which is not quite chrome finish either, so we had to rough it up a bit after. 

I am really pleased with the result

I think the picture illustrates best the before/after...

That looks to be a big improvement. What did your friend use to polish them?

Simon

wirralsimon:

cooldude:

Well I did bite the bullit and decided to repolish them. Though I did get some more info from a friend who knows a lot more about this kind thing as he runs a car body shop and restores old chevvy's as a hobby.

Anyways he told me that my cx100 are not anodized, just lacquered with a protective coating.  He polished one up for me (took him 10 min.!!) only to conclude they ended up a bit too shiny to match my 7000 which is not quite chrome finish either, so we had to rough it up a bit after. 

I am really pleased with the result

I think the picture illustrates best the before/after...

 

 

 

That looks to be a big improvement. What did your friend use to polish them?

 

Simon

As you can see they were pretty banged up. (the polished one on the picture was even worse with real deep scratches and nicks to it).

Well, we first  tried to polish them up the normal way (with metal polish compound and buffers) but soon realized that most of the defects are too deep to come out with a regular polish.

So we went for the industrial beltsander instead  with passes in 400 then 800 and finishing with 1200 gritt.  the sander is  an industrial machine to give an even and flat sanding, very hard to replicate by hand I am afraid. But sure got rid of a lot of defects. I guess you could use a regular sander if you polish them up after .

After that we used regular metal polish compounds and buffers to polish them. They turned like chrome/mirror finish. I wanted them to match my beomaster7000 which is not quite mirror finish, so we used some steelwool on it and a quick polish till we got a good match.

After that we cleaned them and did a clearcoat on it to protect the finish which is baked under UVds  ( the lines on the sides were put back on later and are handapplied with a matt lacquer)

I am very pleased with the result and they look amazing .... glad you liked it

cooldude:

After that we cleaned them and did a clearcoat on it to protect the finish which is baked under UVds  ( the lines on the sides were put back on later and are handapplied with a matt lacquer)

I am very pleased with the result and they look amazing .... glad you liked it

Very good indeed. I've polished various aluminum items, mostly wheels, to mirror finish and your project looks like something I'd like to replicate. I assume the case material is fairly soft and easy to polish? So far my worst experiences of polishing have been with a kitchen sink, that steel was damn hard and it took me 6+ hours with pro equipment to refinish it.

Too bad all my C- and CX-series speakers are in way too good shape. Maybe I'll have to find myself a pair of scratched ones on eBay just for a project like this... you're speakers look absolutely gorgeous.

Henri:

cooldude:

After that we cleaned them and did a clearcoat on it to protect the finish which is baked under UVds  ( the lines on the sides were put back on later and are handapplied with a matt lacquer)

I am very pleased with the result and they look amazing .... glad you liked it

Very good indeed. I've polished various aluminum items, mostly wheels, to mirror finish and your project looks like something I'd like to replicate. I assume the case material is fairly soft and easy to polish? So far my worst experiences of polishing have been with a kitchen sink, that steel was damn hard and it took me 6+ hours with pro equipment to refinish it.

Too bad all my C- and CX-series speakers are in way too good shape. Maybe I'll have to find myself a pair of scratched ones on eBay just for a project like this... you're speakers look absolutely gorgeous.

Hi Henri,

Yes, indeed basically same process as polishing wheels. It took us max an hour per speaker to final polish. Overnight for the protective coating.

The cx casings are aluminium so fairly easy and fast to polish. Kitchen sinks are stainless steel and you will indeed need something more efficient for that...

Glad you like them   .  

Wow!!!! Love the finish you've achieved

You could almost set up a business doing up CX's!! They look better than the originals!  I need to find myself an industrial belt sander...I must have half a dozen pairs in my cellar awaiting some TLC.

Cheers

Nigel

h1npw:

Wow!!!! Love the finish you've achieved

You could almost set up a business doing up CX's!! They look better than the originals!  I need to find myself an industrial belt sander...I must have half a dozen pairs in my cellar awaiting some TLC.

Cheers

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Send them over ..... ... I'll put up a  production line as I going to have my other pair refinished as well.

Glad you like them.

Though if I would have to sell them, I doubt to make back the cost. It's so much more economical and easier just to repsray them (with black as the most (re)sellable colour, I suppose) I just hate black speakers myself. 

I just did it as a test and because they were really badly scratched and I preferred to have a finish that matches the rest of my stereo, so for me it was worth the effort and money.

To complement my cx's I am looking for a cona right now ... actually just the shell. If anyone has a top shell of a cona (reasonable condition) and is prepared to send it to Canada please contact me, I am sure we can work something out. I bought one on ebay and it came with the top totally broken ... 

Those chrome finish polished CXs really do look excellent.  I guess with 3 months of darkness and winter one has to find something to do!  (Depends just how far north in Canada you are!)

I had not thought about painiting the speakers - but perhaps should experiment.  Does anyone know what is under the black finish?

Brian

Hi Brian,

Glad you like the polished CX's.

Anyways, I am in Montreal so not that far up North anyways and only a couple of hours from NY.  I have been planning to do these for the last 2 months or so but just never found time for it.

Under the (anodized?) black finish is just plain metal. If you have previously painted ones, give them a quick sanding with wet sanding block 120 gritt than 600 grit would do it. Depending on the paint you're using you'll have to use a tinted primer (or not) and if the scratches are too deep you can use a filler primer (like for car body work) .  

I have painted plenty of speakers in all kinds of colours of the years. Ranging from simple black to racing green, metallic purple and even pearlescent pink..... (on request of a sclient as a gift for her 12 yr daughter...)

I no longer spray these myself as it always has been a hobby for me, (no time nor place anymore) but do sand and prep them myself and have them finished in the local car body shop were they can spray them in the colour of your choice including pearlescent and mettalic finish coatings. These finishes, though sometimes pricy do last a lot longer than any spraycan finish and look fantastic when done by pros.

Regards,

o