Cerwin Vega 15"
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 1 Registered: Mar-08 |    Ok, I don't know too much about speakers, subs, or anything. All I know that since I've been a kid, these speakers have been my dad's pride and joy. Every time we have a party he busts these puppies out and rattles our house. The other day I decided to have a party while my dad was away. In a slightly "influence" state, I was showing off the subs to a friend and I put my hand on the sub while it was thumpin'. To my horror, the sub all the sudden started making a very raspy sound. The next day I took a flash light and examined the sub. My friend said that I probably cracked it. Upon further investigation I found out that the center of the sub with the Cerwin Vega! emblem was messed up a little bit. I tried outlining the area in Photoshop. There's no cracks, but it's almost like the lining where the middle emblem material connects to the ribbed part of the sub flexes. It barely moves and the sister sub we have doesn't do that, so I'm assuming that's what the problem is. Pretty much my problem is this: as I've said, these are like my dad's pride and joy. I don't have a steady job right now, but I might be getting one in the future. Is there anyway to fix this sub without doing more damage? The picture literally shows everything, I took a bunch but there's nothing like noticeable about what the problem is. You'd have to hear it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advanced |
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Silver Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 223 Registered: Aug-06 | Oh man...been there before. My mom never let me play with her stereo when I lived there (wonder why). Had a party once in her house when she wasn't there and blew a fuse. I thought I toasted her amp. I had no job, and no money at the time. Horrible flashbacks. Good luck. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 9898 Registered: Dec-04 | Nick, these speakers are incredibly robust. The damage indicated to the dust cap is unimportant. However, the phase plug behind the cap is important, this may have been disrupted, although I doubt it. I once punched a 15" CV woofer and did no harm. Similar state, a long time ago. Should be no harm. And quit screwing around with somebody else's stuff, it might not be forgiving Dad next time! Be cool. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 2 Registered: Mar-08 | Alright well I can unscrew the sub 'n everything tonight, I'm just not sure of the procedure. The thing is, my dad comes home from Mexico tomorrow afternoon. So the most I can do is mess with the phase plug tonight and the fire up the system tomorrow morning after his girlfriend leaves for work. How do I go about fixing or inspecting the phase plug? And if it's not the phase plug, what would the problem be? I mean, the music wasn't loud, I was just pressing on it. And not really hard either. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 3 Registered: Mar-08 | Ok well, seeing as Nuck must have signed off, this is what I've come up with.    I unscrewed the subwoofer from the box and examined it with a flash light. Nothing looks out of place. I found nothing that looks like a plug except for the positive and negative wires clamping onto their correct parts of the sub. There was no tears or marks on the underside. Anyways, I went back to what I had originally thought. I took more pictures and, I might not know anything about subs, but I know that this definetly looks out of place. There are major bends where the dust cap connects to the ribbed part of the sub. I wish I knew terminology. The picture with me spreading out my index and pinky fingers was my feeble attempt at showing the distance of the bend. The semi circle above my fingers indicates the length of the bend. It's the first rib there is, directly where the material of the dust cap connects to the rest. The part that you can't see in which my hand is covering is a place where there is a slight bend, but it's on the second rib up. The first one is solid. The only reason I keep coming back to the subject of this bend is because the other sub we have has no bends whatsoever on it. Any help? Thanks Nuck. If you could give me more help, that'd be magnificent. I know this might be a noob comment but could I use a heavy-duty tape and wrap the inside of the sub? Or would that just vibrate off? Thanks in advanced! |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12367 Registered: May-04 | . These aren't "subwoofers" and there's no "phase plug" in this driver. To be honest I don't exactly see what you are describing when I look at the pictures. From what you describe you probably bent the edge of the voice coil. There's no way for you to repair this yourself. Just tell your Dad what you did and offer to pay off the cost of the repair. Anything you attempt at this point will only make things worse. . |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1863 Registered: Nov-05 | The question is Nick, will you simply get a tongue lashing or a real lashing? If it's the former, take your medicine like a man, if it's the latter - hire a body guard. Okay, Jan's advice seems the way to go. |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 15149 Registered: Jun-06 | Does the sub make the scratching sound when you press down on the woofer (lightly) or only when it's playing? If it's only the dust cap that worked its' way loose and vibrating during use it's an easy fix with adhesive. If the voice coil is damaged that's a more dire situation. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 4 Registered: Mar-08 | The sub makes the noise whenever there's loud music. Someone said that they couldn't see a sub or something. The sub is the big one with the red ring. The regular speaker is on top. I'm sure you just mistyped or something because I think anyone could identify the difference. The thing is, we only use the speakers for parties. So pretty much three times a year the setups get used by my dad. The problem is, my open house graduation party is coming up on May 24th and I'm going to need the speakers for that. The speakers sit on either side of our entertainment center but because I have two younger step brothers in the house, my dad turns the speakers in towards the entertainment center so that the little kids don't kick them in. I called some places and described the problem. Two of them told me it needed to be reconed, but it could be other problems. I'm 99.99% positive that I could take the sub out one day after school, run up to this place and get it fixed. I'm sure the sub could be missing for days and my dad wouldn't recognize that they're missing. So it doesn't just have to be ME fixing. I was just saying that because I didn't know if there was some quick fix. One of my friends suggested super glue, but I decided against it. Anyways, could anyone like even possibly give me a guess-ti-mate on how much it'd cost to have this mofo reconed? My parents are divorced and my mom lives in Georgia, so I'm sure she could send me some cash to get this thing fixed. Oh, and to answer the question about the lashing. It'd definetly be the latter. My dad's former military and had a pretty rough childhood living in East Detroit (aka East Pointe for people that're noobs) so he can be really harsh sometimes. Not abusive, just really harsh. Thanks everyone for all this help, you've relieved a lot of my anxiety! Not knowing about anything is so much worse than knowing the bad points. And if I can possibly get this fixed without my dad knowing, well s**t, that'd be awesome. Thanks again, and thanks in advanced for anymore info!!! .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 5 Registered: Mar-08 | I'm gonna take the sub in probably sometime this weekend or during next week, so I'll find out what the place has to say about repair. If it's going to be over $150, I'm just going to tell my dad. I'll tell him what happened, that I took it in to try to have it repaired, this is what's wrong with it and this is how much it'll cost. I'd rather not do that. If I CAN have this place fix it for a relatively cheap price, I'll definetly be going with that avenue. I'll be sure to post on here what the exact "professional" opinion is, what they're doing to fix it, prices, blah blah blah, the whole nine yards. .nICK.f. |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1865 Registered: Nov-05 | "Someone said that they couldn't see a sub or something. The sub is the big one with the red ring." Nick, it's not strictly a sub - it's a woofer. A low frequency driver. A sub woofer is for very low frequencies below those the woofer is usually capable of and are mostly stand alone to be used in conjunction with speakers - and veryt likely not needed with woofers of that size. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 6 Registered: Mar-08 | Oh ok. Sorry. Like I said, I don't know too much about terminology and subs, woofers, subwoofers, speakers; it's not my bag. Yet, at least. Thanks. Does the fact that these are woofers and not subwoofers affect anything? .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 7 Registered: Mar-08 | Nevermind, I just re-read what you said M.R. and I'm understanding what you're saying. Thanks for explaining that, I'll definetly remember that useful piece of information! .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: CaptingonadsTraverse City, MI United States Post Number: 2 Registered: Mar-08 | The dust cap may have come loose if there's no scratching when you push in on the sub when there's no current running through it. If you heard scratching in the sub at any volume the voice coil might be bent. You said LOUD music is what makes it sound distorted, you said you touched the sub when it was playing maybe somehow you knocked the dust cap loose and that's why you only hear distortion when the speaker(useing that in a general sense, they're all speakers) is really thumpin. Just a guess. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 8 Registered: Mar-08 | Well it's not JUST loud music. Pretty much, if there's a loud bass tone, the speaker will distort. I talked to my mom who lives in Georgia and she said that if I take the woofer to a repair place, she'll pay up to $120 to get it fixed. Can anyone give me a guesstimate on how much it'll cost to get something reconed? Or to replace the voice coil? I'm assuming the voice coil is the ribbed part of the woofer. .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: CaptingonadsTraverse City, MI United States Post Number: 5 Registered: Mar-08 | I've inserted a diagram for you. I found this site for you, not sure how these prices compare to the local place you're going to bring your dad's woofer but it may help. You may have to bring the speaker to the rapir shop to be sure what's wrong with it. What i would suggest doing before you go to the shop is get the model number of the woofer and get the price of it, compare it to the price of repairing. If it's an older model it may be cheaper to just buy a new one.  |
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New member Username: CaptingonadsTraverse City, MI United States Post Number: 6 Registered: Mar-08 | my friend, after reading everything here, suggested playing music on it and when it starts to distort then hold the dust cap, if the distortion stops, some super glue on the cap will fix it |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12375 Registered: May-04 | . Isn't sticking your fingers into the woofer how this all got started? Have you asked the repair shop whether the reconed speaker will look like the old driver? Most often they don't. . |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 9 Registered: Mar-08 | My dad is going out of town this weekend. He'll probably leave Friday and come home the proceeding Monday or Tuesday, which gives me ample time to be able to seek out a repair place. I've come to this conclusion. If the woofer will look the same as before and have no visible or hearable chances, and the repair costs under $120, I will have the repair done in secrecy. On the other hand, if it will change the look of the woofer, cost over $120, or whatever else could go wrong, I'm just straight up going to tell my dad. I'll at least tell him that I've been searching, that I've identified the problem, have prices for it, etc etc. Jeff, thanks for the diagram. Where the dust cap connects to the cone is where I'm having my problem. It's the ribs that go around the cone. The first rib that connects from the dust cap to the cone is what's damage. And tell your friend thanks, but no super glue should ever touch this woofer. One of my friends already said that but I'm too much of a chicken s**t to try something permanent like that on my own. I haven't really even talked to the repair shop either. The only thing I did was call to see if it was a valid number, and if they did woofer repairs. The lady said yes, and told me to bring it in whenever. Thanks for all your help everyone, it's really helping!!! Thanks in advanced to anymore information. I'll try to update this weekend when I can find out what's exactly wrong with the woofer!!! .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: XristosPost Number: 10 Registered: Mar-08 | Another thing is, just from briefly searching eBay and Amazon, I can't find the sub by itself. Everything that I've found is either the sub in a box, which is either $260ish with $50ish shipping, or it's mid $300's and I didn't even want to check shipping. I don't know why they'd charge anywhere near that much for a reconing. Then again, who knows. I guess I'll have to take things blow-by-blow. Jeff, what's that site? You didn't post a link or anything to the site that you were talking about in your post in which you presented the diagram. Thanks! .nICK.f. |
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New member Username: CaptingonadsTraverse City, MI United States Post Number: 7 Registered: Mar-08 | http://www.simplyspeakers.com/16reconing.htm |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12378 Registered: May-04 | . Call Cerwin Vega. They should be able to sell you a replacement woofer that should look and sound identical to the one you damaged. I can't imagine the cost will exceed $120. |
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Gold Member Username: Mike3Wylie, Tx USA Post Number: 1202 Registered: May-06 | Dang it Jan, I was just going to offer our friend Nick an oasis here in Dallas, where for taking care of our lawns, a little dog walking and baby sitting, he could have laid low, got an education on audio, and even a speaker repair. Not to mention a chance to listen to some really good music on a couple of decent kits. Oh well Nick, it is fairly easy to switch out woofers, you might want to take Jan's advice. Good luck. |
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Bronze Member Username: XristosPost Number: 11 Registered: Mar-08 | Hell yea. I called CV and they said the replacement for my V-15 cabinet and the woofer would be $120 plus $14 shipping. I'm just going to get it replaced. I mean, the repair would be a lot less than replacing the whole woofer. As I said, my mom said she'd pay up to $120ish for the repair so there's no point of stretching to the max and then having a woofer for myself that 1) I'd have to explain to my dad and 2) I'd have to get the damaged woofer anyways. Haha I'll still move to Dallas. I'd love to learn about speakers and tech for 'em. Anyways though, thanks for all the info. BTW, that company that Jeff gave me the site to: They said it'll take about two weeks to work on, the reconing would be $85 without shipping. A friend of mine told me about a process where someone puts an adhesive silicon substance that stiffens the cone. Is there really such a thing and would it be worth doing over having to pay to get the woofer reconed? Thanks in advanced! .nICK.f. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12381 Registered: May-04 | . You can add a damping compound to the surface of a woofer. But if you screw it up, you'll have to buy two new woofers. No, it's not worth it for these speakers. . |
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New member Username: Gt80riderUSA Post Number: 7 Registered: May-08 | to me...... it sounds like the dustcap has come loose..... if so, very easy and cheap to fix yourself..... |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 10314 Registered: Dec-04 | Dave, since then, his Dad kicked him out, after which the op wandered around a bit on the mean streets. Finally deciding to better his odds, Nick re-entered high school and finished in good time, while flipping burgers to support his pregnant girlfriend. He graduated with honors and was hired by Cerwin Vega to be tech rep in his area. A touching story, yes? Oh and, He and his Dad reconciled very well Sniff. |
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Bronze Member Username: XristosPost Number: 12 Registered: Mar-08 | Lmao very touching story. I pretty much forgot about the speaker. As I said before, no one uses them except when my dad has parties, and seeing as he hasn't had any yet, it's all good. No one has touched the speakers of the equipment since I messed it up and they probably won't be touched or used until after I leave for college. So yea that's pretty much the end to this story. Thanks everyone for your information and support!! .nICK.f. |
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