This is easy and important .
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- How to tighten up drivers .And the pitfalls.
all the old speakers I buy especially are almost always loose sometimes incredibly so
speakers need to be held firm to work properly .
A new speaker should be fine but anything five ten years old can get loose .
This is one of those tips that just a win win .
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A couple of tips from a service tech who's seen way too many loose and/or stripped screws in speakers...
First... when reinserting a wood screw or fine threaded bolt you should first turn it backwards rather slowly until it drops into the original thread cut. Then proceed to thread it in and tighten it firmly.
Second ... the more you tighten screws in MDF or soft woods, the more you pull the wood toward the head of the screw. Eventually this will rip the wood completely out leaving you with a stripped thread. So you probably get to re-tighten these about 3 times before failure.
Third... pressing down on bolts while tightening will push the metal nut away from the inside of the cabinet, as described... and the nut usually ends up stuck to a speaker magnet.
Okay how do we fix this?
For bolts with inner crown nuts... take the driver out of the cabinet and put a liberal bead of wood glue around the nuts on the inside of the cabinet and let it dry before re-assembling. The glue will hold the nut in place.
For screws into wood ... use carpenter's glue to fill the screw hole, then put the screws in while the glue is still wet, remembering to back turn finding the original threads and tighten firmly... the glue will bond with the wood fibres, but not the metal screw so that in future you can still get the screws out, but putting them back in will not strip the holes.
And one last point ... a loose tweeter will bounce around from the back pressure of the woofer, often making more noise than a loose woofer screw would ... so use the wood glue trick and tighten them up firmly.
Done correctly... things will stay tight and you won't have to worry about it for a very long time.
. Quite right mentioning the equal pressure on the tweeter in an open cabinet.
Anothe top Kelvin with mid bass snd bass drivers tighten lightly using the opposites rule. Then a final.tighten. My Proac drivers have 8 hex-bolts intometal sleeve threads, and it's imperative to use the opposites method as this prevents any warping of the driver chassis. Keeps the piston action of the driver coil linear. It is especially important if your speaker drivers have stamped chassis and not due cast butcregardless its good practice.
Just done this with my main speakers. Dali Opticon 6 that I’ve owned from new for about 6 years. The difference is incredible, I don’t ever remember them sounding this crisp and defined. Many thanks for sharing this
Kelvin. You'll have to do a CZcams on lava lamps. We're all waiting!
Please don't encourage him. 😂
Love the lava lamps
It's scheduled for the 20th of next April
yeah it would be funny if the only product I promote is a lava lamp
I saw this tip on the Cheshire Audio Utube channel, I did it on my Ruark Accolade speakers and they were really very loose ,the difference was unbelievable,like hearing everything again for the first time , probably the best cost free tweak on improving your Hi Fi
Just tightened up my B&W DM4s and by Jove your right Kelvin! Tighter mids and bass. What a tip! Cheers...
yes same with my dm 4s big win
I did this the other day on my pair of Kef Corelli after seeing you mention it during an older video. Definitely made an improvement, in fact what was meant to be testing a couple of songs turned into an all night listening session.
I had a friend who was obsessed with this. Ruined every pair of speakers he ever owned. He cranked the screws so much he actually cracked the castings on the bass drivers in 3 pairs of Heybrook HB3's. Don't over do it and always tighten the bolts opposing each other, not in a circular fashion as you may distort the driver frame. Murder tight and half a turn is not good engineering practice, but done carefully Kelvin is right, it does sound better.
it's not a detection of hot water (that's what we say in Croatia), but every 2-3 years it's good to check/tighten the screws
Wd40 deteriorates rubber over time.
@@jeffn1384I'm struggling to see the connection between wd40 and tightening the screws on your speakers
@@staceymangham I must have replied to the wrong message. Someone suggested wd40 on rubber surrounds
Another great and logical no cost tip. Remember your one about speaker placement. A bit of thought and experimentation before spending hard earned cash with little or no gain. Nice one Kelvin.
I would advise anybody tightening the screws on their speakers to be very careful while you are tightening, if the screwdriver slips you can push it straight through your lovely cone and destroy the driver, or you can scratch the finish on the cabinet
Great stuff - I knew exactly what this was about by the title. I've seen manufacturer speaker manuals that say don't touch the tweeter. Personally I never have, I just check that they're not loose. Always had good results on the bass/mid drivers. My rule of thumb is to loosen them off then screw back in until the first resistance - in order of opposing screws/bolts, not around. Then a quarter turn each, again opposites, not around, an finally another quarter, or less if sufficient. I did over tighten on my Castle Avons once and the sound became very compressed and lifeless
Great video Kelv. Nice. It's amazing the difference this makes
I never would've thought of this in a million years! Just did my Polk SDA-1s from the late '80s. Quarter to a half turn on most; one took a full turn. Even my 2yr old SVS bookshelf speakers took a snug. Sounds great, thanks!
I bought an old pair of Wharfedale Pro Pt-12 speakers, took off the grille, dusted and cleaned everything, put in some more insulation, and put it back together. Tightening the screws everywhere was really needed. 😄 Great video
Absolutely 👍 , just bought Monitor audio silver 100 6g, both drivers are bolt from the rear , the woofers was tight but had to do almost full turn for the tweeters. Thanks
Thank you Kelvin . I just did it with my 2nd hand 48 year old Imf tsl50 speakers. I didnt overtighten as screws are old and thread is weak. Its all sounding very good 👍
A great bit of advice, even with brand new speakers the first thing I do is snug up all the screws just to be sure. Something else worth considering if you're already planning to remove all the screws to have a look at their inserts, is cutting some gasket rings out of thin sheet rubber to sit between the driver frames and the cabinet. Especially for sealed enclosures, getting everything airtight can clean up the low end like CRAZY, as well as cut down on cabinet vibration a fair bit.
i think there’s usually some sort of foam tape for that..
my go to channel for all things vintage !
Excellent advice for any speakers from just a few years old to older.
Absolutely!
🙋♂️THANK YOU KELVIN,FOR SHARING A GOOD TIP AND WITH THE PROPER CAUTIONS ⚠️🤗💚💚💚
The Best way to end a really good day and that to spend a bit of social time with The Main Man Himself Mr K..
Kelvin , as I always say .. Thank you for share the Knowledge and TBH PASSING ON / Down ..
Today was a good Sunday and what a good way to cap it all of …and England one the football ⚽️..
Happy days Kelvin ..
London Bermondsey calling 👍😉👍
Really outstanding video Kelvin! I tightened the screws on my speakers just like you said and the bass tightened up perfectly! Thanks 😊 so much!
great
Good tip, but lets not forget that some drive units were designed to only be finger tight.
Any tighter and they will sound worse.
Who? Are we about to learn something New here?
Harbeth, Spendors, Tannoys, some KEFs etc
@@jozefserf2024Tannoy Monitor Gold finger tight only.
I don't know about finger tight, but if it is a thin stamped basket, you don't want to deform it. Otherwise it will not be clamping apart from under the screw head
I mean I did use my fingers as I remember .
is that what they mean not an impact driver ?
Great video as always Kelvin. Do not disappear again please.
This actually worked on my not so vintage DM4's. No tweeter screws so just did the cone with allen key. Test track was Guns of Brixton. The weird crunching sound at the start was more distinctive after tightening. Cheers.
a that sound is apparently velcro ima big clash fan you might guess
Not Philips but Pozidrive screws in the majority of examples. Look for the lines radiating out on the screws.
Don't mention JIS
Adding an internal multi tooth lock washer will help keep the bolt from vibrating loose especially for the woofer with a t-nut . Elmer's glue in the holes for wood screws will also strengthen the hole in the mdf along with keeping the bolt from vibrating loose. In this case the lock washer won't make much of a difference.
Dear Kelvin
TX for your reviews, I love them!
A little tip in casecof screws in MDF of chipboards: drip a few drops in of superglue in the screws trajectory before you bring the screws back in, that strengthens the 'wood' significantly.
Good thanks
My Royd Herald's have eight wood screws for the bass/ mid driver and the tweeters are held in by black insulation tape only! How's that for cost cutting? They still sound great though!
Some speakers use plastic trims around the bass driver for looks/cosmetic purposes and you'll find all you're doing is tightening the trim as the four screws holding the bass driver to the cabinet are under the plastic trim.
Pretty sure a pair of Mission 733i speakers I once owned had the bass driver screws covered by a plastic trim/panel.
🤗 A HUGE THANKS KELVIN, I JUST TRIED IT ON MY 2008 B&W’S AND ALL WERE LOOSE …SO I TIGHTENED THEM UP ⬆️💚💚💚
Hi Kelvin can you do some videos on subwoofers that would be great.
Kelvin you are a legend. Thanks for your wisdom
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure the grey surround on the Elac bass driver is for cosmetic reasons only. You'll find that if you remove the grey surround you'll find the screws for the driver, I hope.
well could be true
fact is the gray plastic is glued and getting that driver out well I gave up
5:12 He's showing you why we was hiding the back of his (thin) paper weight speakers.😂😂😂
Just having fun with you. I love your presentation 🇵🇹😅
Can also be used as a cigarette paper 🤤
Another excellent video Kelvin.
I fit a gasket on the bass driver it makes a big difference
yes gaskets for sure
More great tips Kelvin 👍
Another useful and positive or is it a posidrive tip.. just would make a suggestion could you do a video which covers using a receiver to pick up a wi fi signal from a smart phone which will connect to the line inputs on a older amp. Your opinion on sound quality would be useful my friend, cheers Kelvin.
yes thanks `K
The best and easiest way to improve the sound of any stereo speakers; 1) remove grills 2) throw them in trash. You might as well have a wet towel over your midrange and high frequency drivers when you use grills---removing them opens up the sound quite dramatically
Great tip Kelvin. My tip which works very well is to rub the rubber elements around main-drivers with WD40 using a cloth - this nourishes the rubber, stops it from drying and cracking and keeps it very flexible - prolonging its useable life by years.
DON'T do that on doped surrounds!
I wouldn't risk that, solvents in WD40 will degrade rubber, over time. A tiny smear of silicone grease is a better choice.
I would not use oils or paraffin on surrounds. Wipe clean with a slightly damp cloth only. Only exception I am aware of is some doped fabric surrounds (notably Sony) can be revitalized with DOT brake fluid. Search on YT for Sony Speaker Surround repair
Risky - I would not apply anything to a driver suspension.
Nice advice. Might want to try Loctite on the screws. Sticky tack is a vibrating solution. (Klipsch plastic horn etc). Thanks!
The liquid blue type may hpld to good and the t nut on the back might spin in the mdf before letting go. I would use the type that you paint the bolt with that is supposed to dry before installing. A drop of oil in the t nut will insure easy removal and the lock tite will still give you some anti vibration hold. I knowthis works from my experience with frame mounted brakes on bicycles those bolts come pre coated with lock tite and we grease them anyway so they dont corrode in,and they don't vibrate loose either. A couple drops of Elmer's glue into the mdf hole for a wood screw will also help those from vibrating loose too and strengthen the hole a bit . This will insure less is more and keep from damaging the face plates and frames.
I'm doing this tonight,great idea 💡. These speakers i have i do not know their history
Hi Kelvin, I just did the tightening of the bass drivers of my American ESS PS5 with Heil air motion transformer tweeters. If you get the chance try them. Great sound. Thanks for the tip. Inmediate bass sound improvement. Thanks! Cristian, from Argentina.
This was helpful...
I've just done it and it appears better sounding.
Sir, if you want to achieve the best results ever, you should replace the old screws with golden plated audiophile screws for the bass driver and 5N silver screws for the tweeter.
I use unobtanium asa rule
@@stereoreviewx Even better! I can note here your solid experience. And the sence of humor...
Great!
Then that most miss regarding the difference of PH (Philips) and PZ (Pozidriv).
Wrong driver and screw gives less fit and grip. And therefore it will easier destroy the screwhead and the tool.
Other once may turn the bass driver 180° around.
And it is all about tuning between the parameters of the woofer with desired air VOLUME of the box. To get desired level of output that the designer wanted to achieve.
And if there is a leakage between the box and driver then the driver don't work with that box volume when it is something between a open baffle and a boxed speaker.. Noting it were designed for..
On my Elacs the correct torque for the speaker drivers are 14+/-1kgf.cm according to the factory. I wouldn’t touch them if they are new. Great tip for older speakers though!
After a few weeks check them, they will rattel loose if they used woodschrews, machinescrews and inserts are a way better choice in speakers, but it is more money to.
Good tip that 👍
Per Andrew Jones, tighten and then loosen screws a half turn for best resonance control.
Buy some instant gasket from the auto store. Remove the driver , remove the old gasket , put a ring of sealant like a thin straw on the wood hole , drop the driver in and align it with the screws , gently press down and leave it 24hrs to dry . Nip up the screws gently . Bingo , for £7 you have a perfect seal . You can also use Screwfix no nonsense hybrid polymer in black .
It's basically how Linn build their speakers .
In my experience most well built speakers have a gasket between the driver and cabinet and that thing hold the driver like glue to the cabinet. I've removed screws and could not remove the driver without massive force. So I expect this won't do anything for most speakers.
most drivers will come out quite easy
I have a pair of floorstanding speakers AT4280 of the German brand IQ from 1990 with a 3" dome midrange driver. One of these midrange drivers made a scratching noise, so I thought it was beyond repair. It turned out that the plastic housing was warped because the fixing screws had been tightened unevenly. This caused the voice coil to scratch in its gap. I was able to fix the problem by carefully loosening and retightening the screws while playing a 1000 Hz test tone. Perhaps this information will be useful to others who also have such large midrange domes.
Torx fixings are also used; do not attempt these without the proper drivers. Also be careful waving steel tools around in front of big woofers. A modern neodymium magnet will cheerfully rip that screwdriver out of your hand and slam it into the drive unit given half a chance
I have a set of B&W 801 S3, first thing I did was tighten the bass driver up, yes that works. I know because I had a previous set and I kept on thing something was wrong, I went to remove them to see if something was wrong but I noticed the screws were loose so I tightened them up, guess what? Bass came back!
Great tip! Thank you. 👍
Definitely good advice kelvin 😊
This is only the half measure you can do to better the old speakers sound, okay! To make it sound even better and fresher you can take the squawkwer or woofer or midlow unit combined unscrew it , take it out and place it back upside down if the screw position allow to do so, Is there a faston connection from the cables to the unit get them out and fix it a few time , it wil remove
some corrosion , even put some light oil ( best is Ballistol) to the connection point before puit them together so you lower resistance of the connection. By mounting the speaker upside down , when possible you lose the problem of the gravity for years pushing on the upper side of the cone and rubber, where the underside didn't suffer much weight, so bij reversing them gravity now push more on the for years not used side of the cone. In most cases together with removing corrosion when faston connections are used together with the tips from Stereo review X here you will even get a better sound, for nearly nothing, you can even use some light sewing machine oil, no problem to get better contacts, or when a part of the copper cable end looked green coroded by using solder , you can possible shorten in and solder it again , for perfectionists use solder with 3% silver applied on whole cable end to prevent corrosion but anyway you will have even a better result than screwing allone!
If box is MDF using wood screws, if it turns loose, drop a little super glue, into the wood hole, let dry than use saw wood screws, it will be as good as new
Or wood glue 👍
Wood glue is better. It will bond with the wood and dry into a plastic "nut". But it won't bond to the screws so you can still remove them if needed.
The Elac using allen-screws used in 1989 era skateboards, I wonder if this make them more suitable for playing late 1980s thrash metal?😆
Put the speaker down on it's back when tightening the drivers
Great Video. Do you know the difference between a Philips and a Pozidriv?
thankyou kelvin for another great informative review 😁
No problem 👍
Most of the Bookshelf Speakers I come across I find either at One of the 2 bay area Goodwills I frequent .Fortunately one of them tends to get better used equipment then the other good will gets One of more cooler ones I've come across for only $13.00 was some small loud speakers that appeared to be homemade.There was no brand name on em,the drivers look like they were made by either infinity's or maybe ( Opel, Freench speakers manufacturer). Nice imagianing for there size Good quality of wood construction given there price point! They favored well compared against my Boston A coustic in terms of soind-stagianing which as ive said before I really like..As far as Diys go Id like to compare them against the bottom of the line speakers from GR. Research LGKS which supposedly lacks any real bass..Most likely I would be dissapointed..Given what I've read about them.....
im jealous of the goodwill shops we don't have in uk
lol your correct a hole isn’t a improvement at all!! Have a great day!!!
good tip. on a side note my lava lamps used tons of electricity
The placebo is strong with this one ... especially if you listening to Placebo
are placebo a good group
It’s an absolute requirement. It affects all manner of properties from response to imaging.
on my bowers and wilkins 606 s2 cannot see any screws,they must be internal
have you tried rotating the bass drivers 180 degrees? Supposed to help with sagging in old drivers.
For sure
Hex keys and hex screws are six sided. Allen is a brand name, but everyone calls them Allen keys in the same way all vacuum cleaners get called a Hoover.
Always important not to confuse Pozidrive and Philips too. Or the sizes #1 or #2 - it does matter.
In Germany we use another brand name for Hex keys: Inbus.
Class 3 lava lamps 😊
If the screws are not loose, the amp is no good
LOL... The worst issue with screws is: After tight, comes loose...And then you are screwed!
boom boom
This is actually a new low kelvin. Where the hell do you get off instructing what are probably grown men how turn a screw with a screw driver, what on earth would make you think you need to do this. Are you that much more superior to everyone else . Unbelievable
Those Velcro staples have got to go. Paint the baffle white & you've got a 'Mission'.
Same wood screws i mean
kelvin. its important to have all drivers tight, not just the woofer.. the reason a loose woofer will sound bad is not just 'because is loose'.. is because air is escaping between the woofer and the cabinet... if you have a loose tweeter, the woofer air will escape by there... if you have a crack in the wood, the woofer air will escape by the crack, so its important to have all drivers secure
He said that.
@@ruk2023-- he said its not so important to tight the tweeter very tight like the woofer... the air pressure will try to find a gap no matter where it is...
@@sergiobisontehe went throu all of this already, a loose driver will make noise and rattel, a not to tight will make rattel/vibration not that airpush sound/noise... So he Said it like that and hope you got his earlier vid on this topic.
@@Error2username most drivers have a rubber seal behind, so its sealed against the box... even if it is a little bit loose, it will make zero rattle... the reason bass gets bad is because of air leakage. NOT the rattle, NOT the airpush noise... its the loss of pressure inside the box!
@@sergiobisonte No. He said the woofer is most important but they should all be done. Go back to your pedantics on toast.
Also turn them 360 degrees because over the years they get sacky ………
You're just adding to the speakers I'll have to shake my head at because some numb nuts tried this. What about drivers that are torque set from the factory? What about fragile, weak stamped baskets? What about drivers held in with too few screws, and the basket becomes deformed? What about drivers with soft seals behind the driver? This is a recipe for disaster. People today barely know which side of a tool to handle, let alone use one. Hint. The risk is not worth the reward, imo, clickbait.
You make some valid points, and most people will slip with the screwdriver and ruin the cone or mangle the screw heads as they will never use or invest in the correct tool.
A woodscrew, yet Elac go out of their way to make it merely appear to be a real "metal into metal, parallel-sided & threaded Alan-bolt fixing" for anyone to find it's effectively just a woodscrew.. (but harder to turn & tighten?) ..& i didn't even know "con'-job" woodscrews got made these days!! A 1'st for me in my.. (from what I've long heard here) ...lesser but well above average count of s/h box speaker buying & experience of, tho of older late 1960's vintage to mid 1980's speakers, & the newest being (v.g.c.) s/h Celestion ribbon 3000 hybrids (heard but now stashed) I know it's quite a small, almost Irrelevant point but the Elac fake alan-bolts a sign of aesthetic ostentatiousness & crafty, it can't inspire much trust for what lurks within(?) ...well, it would put me on-gaurd tho all-round sound per £'cost is my only concern, providing I can home-demo or get guarantee on refund tho I've taken leaps of faith to various outcomes (speakers esp' so for me, is the hardest part of the stereo to get right, it nearly always seems to me (except with some Gr8 pairs now fallen from grace with time aging prob's)
The reason they use hex or torx heads in those spots is so that the driver doesn't skip during tightening and take out the speaker cone or scratch the cabinet.
They also have the advantage that you do not need to press down on them during tightening so even less chance of the driver jumping on you.
Click bait. Was wanting to see the KEF 105's.😛
sorry I did do a video in them
👍
Oh no!. Cheap chinese type screwdriver. Painted, pretend hardened tip!.
Always get good british or european tools, using the correct driver for the correct screw or bolt. Using an ill fitting screwdriver could easily slip, then poke a hole in the cone!?. On a lot of speakers, it just might improve the sound!.
That cab looks a bit shallow, bet that sounds, well, crap.
I believe there are two types or shapes of x head driver
@@stereoreviewxYou are quite correct. Phillips & Pozidrive. But, there is a third one, the japaneese variant of x head. Many japaneese manufacturers use this type of bolt/screw. I repair electronic gear, i have had a number of speaker cabs in where the owner has put a screwdriver through a cone. By accident of course, using the wrong tool for the job. Using a knife instead of a flat head screwdriver etc!.
I have watched a fair number of your vids. You have never mentioned the Sony ES range of amps/tuners. I have worked on a number of them over the years. I find that they are of high quality & sound pretty damn good.
Keep the vid uploads going, very good channel.
it is delusion
Hi 🙂
Amazon sell a precision screwdriver set with everything you would ever need for £15 great investment ..
If you spend a bit more on a German or Czech made set they will be precision, and hardened to boot. You need to spend around thirty quid to get the quality.
Philips screw head is one of top failure technological product. Greedy companies keep going on. If they switch to Robertson screw head their profit will loss 50% profit margin.
Yellow, pink and blue. If you know, you know.
Purple is low strength. Probably more easily removed. Blue on totally dry bolts may not loosen and the t-nut may spin first.
Stop teaching please.