The subwoofer has a new foam surround. It’s one of the relatively few that attaches behind the cone. Have to wait 24 hours for the glue to set before giving it a test run.
Follow-up: Success! It works, and thanks to the plastic shims keeping the cone centered while doing the gluing there’s no rubbing.
My next repair project will be replacing the LCD panel in my 14″ HP laptop. Over the past year it’s developed a rather large and distracting defect.
Longtime WBZ radio personality Gary LaPierre has died. One of the best stories about Gary was towards the end of his career, when it came to light that he was reporting on snow cancellations from his home in Florida. This video was prepared for his retirement.
I remember when compared to the relatively young Gary, it was Dave Maynard who was the “senior statesman” of WBZ. Now they’re both gone!
As previously posted, I’m tackling the dreaded rotted foam problem that befalls all old woofers with suspensions made of that material. I was hoping to avoid removing the dust cap, but I determined that, in this case, the only way to keep the cone centered in the magnetic gap while gluing on the new foam surround would be to secure it in place by inserting plastic shims.
With the easiest part of the rotted foam removal done, and the dust cap removed, the replacement parts are sitting loosely in place. I knew the diameter of the new cap would be 0.125″ too small, but it was the best fit I could find. Unfortunately, that means I’ll have to glue the cap onto the points where the dual voice coil wires leave the cone. It’s too late to turn back now!
I suppose people might not recognize my voice if I were to post old airchecks from my time as a poor, struggling radio DJ. A similar phenomenon happened to me when I heard an old recording of my mother. She had recently graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, finishing when Grace Kelly was starting there.
When I first heard this record of my mother performing a test reading for a scene in a play, I honestly did not know it was her. Not until the other performer gave her name. Mom had obviously received training in voice acting for performing on radio. The guy had a distinctive Fred Allen style of speaking.
Mom gave up acting after marrying Dad. With six children, including two sets of fraternal twins, some people assumed we were Catholic, but we weren’t. My parents joined a support group called Parents of Large Families that was featured in Parade Magazine. The timing was as bad as could be, because we appeared in the Sunday, November 24, 1963 issue, two days after the assassination of JFK.
In the picture below that’s me with my hand over the tail light.
I’ve been busy with the final steps required to close out the family Trust that was entrusted to me by my late parents. I’m not done yet, but for now I’m back on my hi-fi repair projects. The foam ring has rotted in my old passive subwoofer from Radio Shack.
Some other old speakers I have also need their foam surrounds replaced. It’s like a kingdom being lost for want of a nail. My Sony CD MegaChanger and dual cassette deck just needed new belts, and lubrication for the CD drive rail, and they’re working perfectly again.
A while ago the Smithsonian’s commercial outlet had this item on the longstanding criticism about Tintin creator Georges Remi, aka Hergé. During WWII Remi produced Tintin under Nazi occupation in Belgium, apparently without protest. To put the controversy into context I recommend watching the excellent documentary, “Tintin and I”.
Last June, this single original Tintin page sold at auction for $425,000. Remi’s precise ink line was flat and unvarying, but his mastery of composition — simple yet highly detailed — made each panel and page visually interesting.
