Speaker Reconing Kit

[Leo_Gnardo]

Looks to me as if MWA is still around.

Speaker Parts Voice Coils Speaker Repair Kits - MWA Speaker Parts, Inc.

MWA was given a good mention by our local recone man. He has a number of other sources and did warn that not everything's what it's cracked up to be, for instance he got some very thick, heavy cones delivered when he ordered parts for some classic Altecs, 421 and 417. "Maybe if you were trying to turn them into subwoofers" was his comment, and on further search he found cones that were appropriate. I don't know if those heavy cones were sourced thru MWA, but his comment leads me to understand that half the battle in reconing is sourcing correct parts and you can't 100% trust the vendors.

[Morganza]

Jazz P Bass - Yes, I know that their web site is still up, but my UN-PW no longer works (maybe purged from not doing business for 10 yrs with them?) and I've sent several emails to them with no replies. I've also tried re-applying for access to their catalog but I get no replies from that either (the app works via their email). The phone number that I used to use for ordering parts just rings and rings. Looking at the bottom of their web site, the last Copyright date was 2009. That is normally updated annually for legal reasons.

If you do a Google Search for 'MWA Speaker Parts', you get lots of hits from Yellow Pages, White Pages, Manta, Facebook (just a blank FB page) etc, and MWA's street address seems to be different among them. I even clicked on one link that said 'MWA Speaker Parts' and wound up on some Chinese website, which DID have 'MWA Speaker Parts' on the page!

Leo - you are correct as far as getting some parts that are only 'loosely close' to original specs (ie, round copper coils instead of flat-wound aluminum). I have reconed many Altec 421's and 417's using Original and MWA parts (customer's choice) as well as JBL, Celestion, Jensen, CTS, Eminence, QUAM, EV, Yamaha, and the list goes on. I don't remember having many problems with MWA parts, and if I did, they usually fixed the problem. I usually bought all of my Peavey parts from Peavey, being as I was a Peavey Authorized Service Center (got discounted prices!). Sometimes, you just 'had' to get parts from the manufacturer or manufacturer's distributor if you wanted a close-to-factory repair.

I was just wondering if MWA moved, changed business name, sold out to someone else, or went under. If they are gone, I would just like to find another supplier(s) with MWA's inventory and services. BTW, I also used Waldom for many years as they were the only ones that manufactured and sold aftermarket speaker parts. I had to drive up to their facility, take their course, and put in for their 'minimum' order, which included lots of parts that I never used! Back then, the OEM's would not even consider supplying any repair shop with speaker parts. It was a factory-only thing.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Leo - you are correct as far as getting some parts that are only 'loosely close' to original specs (ie, round copper coils instead of flat-wound aluminum). I have reconed many Altec 421's and 417's using Original and MWA parts (customer's choice) as well as JBL, Celestion, Jensen, CTS, Eminence, QUAM, EV, Yamaha, and the list goes on. I don't remember having many problems with MWA parts, and if I did, they usually fixed the problem. I usually bought all of my Peavey parts from Peavey, being as I was a Peavey Authorized Service Center (got discounted prices!). Sometimes, you just 'had' to get parts from the manufacturer or manufacturer's distributor if you wanted a close-to-factory repair.

I was just wondering if MWA moved, changed business name, sold out to someone else, or went under. If they are gone, I would just like to find another supplier(s) with MWA's inventory and services. BTW, I also used Waldom for many years as they were the only ones that manufactured and sold aftermarket speaker parts. I had to drive up to their facility, take their course, and put in for their 'minimum' order, which included lots of parts that I never used! Back then, the OEM's would not even consider supplying any repair shop with speaker parts. It was a factory-only thing.

To be clear I wasn't singling out MWA for providing off spec parts, where my local recone man got the thick cones he mentioned I don't know. The point I'm trying to make, and I know you understand, is the reconer has to make sure the parts are what they're supposed to be, and a novice may find themselves in a pickle if they just select what seem to be the right parts.

Waldom IMHO put themselves out of business by not recognizing the fact that competition from reasonably priced new speakers (Weber, Jensen, Eminence, Warehouse) would not allow for the company policy to successfully continue, their insistence that Waldom reconers buy an ever-increasing quota. For most guitarists in need of a working speaker, they'd rather spend less on a speaker they could buy right now instead of paying a premium price for a recone that's going to take weeks maybe months. There was another excellent recone man nearby who simply tossed in the towel & quit the biz entirely around 2001, and I expect there were many more across the country who did the same.

I'll pitch a question to my local reconer about MWA, if he can get us the current contact information.

[J M Fahey]

No need to mess with MWA, Weber will sell you what you need.

AFAIK they don't sell premade kits but spare parts and it's your responsibility to read the catalog/pages and spec the proper ones, buy they are very nice people and VERY probably a nice, somewhat distressed sounding Musician EMail (or phone call) nicely asking: "I blew one 1972 10" CTS AlNiCo speaker in my Super Reverb", maybe showing front and pictures so they can provide a similar looking cone will worl wonders.

Most parts allow a slight tolerance, except the voice coil which must be within thousandths of an inch but worst case (*suppose* spec was changed in early 1972 and they doubt whether you got a new spec one or some from old spec stock) ask for both coil sizes and try them, I can tell you how to check coil sizes with precision.

That said, it was probably a clone of a Jensen C or P 10R , the nominally 1" voice coil one, and new low bidders who got the Fender contract usually copied the one they were replacing ... why make it different when the formula was tried and true and all they had to argue on was price?
So it should be quite safe to order from Weber.

Now as of your abilities, they improve with practice ... which means that on the first couple you might be bound to commit some mistake ... or not .
Watch a couple reconing videos first

[Morganza]

Leo - I don't recall having trouble with MWA's parts being so far out of spec that they either didn't fit or changed the sound drastically. They were pretty good about that. I've always compared their new parts to the original bad ones before installing them. If one had a problem, they fixed it. They could create VCs in-house using your specs.

I caught on to Waldom after a while when I noticed that many of their parts, especially VCs, had several Waldom PNs (Part Numbers) for the same VC. I eventually wrote a computer program that matched VC specs to Waldom PNs. It kept me from ordering the same parts (different PNs) over and over, and decreased inventory. It seems that Waldom used different PNs depending on the speaker Make/Model even if they had identical specs. You know; some manufacturers make speakers with several name brands, ie, JBL with Fender brands.

If your reconer has MWA contact, or someone else that he trusts and uses, that would be great. Recone part suppliers are sorta like dentists; you only want to use one if they were referred to you by someone you know that has already used them and are satisfied.

Fahey - Thanks for all the good info. I've never used Weber before because I though he only manufactured stuff. If he only sells spare parts, as apposed to premade kits, I almost prefer that deal. I normally measure all my bad parts before (and while) disassembling the speaker. When the new parts arrive, I will know if they are correct or not, BEFORE I begin gluing stuff together. Like you said, parts are not always in spec, and depending on the manufacture date, the specs may have changed. I wouldn't mind pre-measuring my parts and then getting the exact (or closest) part from Weber. At least, if they don't work, it would be my fault! Cones and Spiders may be a little harder. How do you measure Stiffness. Spiders have many hills and valleys; some being different heights than others. I guess pictures would be best to go with whatever main measurements you could take. Same for the cone. Thickness, type of material, and texture (crimps) will determine the stiffness. And then there is the ever popular surround. Flat, Rounded, Accordion, Coating all affect Fs.

To measure VCs, I usually break out the micrometer and measure Former Height, Inner Diameter, Thickness and Material; Coil Height, Wire Dia, Where the coil sits on the former, DC Resistance (if it isn't open, shorted, or burned badly), Material and Type of Wire (round-flat).

If you have a good procedure to measure coil sizes with precision, it would appreciated if you could share it with us, as it would help in getting parts from aftermarket suppliers that are closer to original. Sometimes, I also try to measure the weight of a voice coil. Some MWA voice calls seemed really heavy, like they used varnished steel for the wire. Weight affects/changes suspension and resonant frequency (Fs).

Thanks for all the good comments;
mdg

[J M Fahey]

Oh, no big deal.

You already have it worked up and know what to measure, the "precision" bit I mentioned is that voice coils are soft and easily deformed cylinders, and might also be slightly oval when unmounted, that makes any diameter measurement unreliable, so I cut centering strips out of known thickness mylar and use as many as necessary so as to get the voice coil *tightly* around the pole piece, only then I measure diameter because now they are as stiff and round as possible .

Then as a second check, I start piling more of the same known thickness Mylar strips and use them as a flexible thickness gauge sweeping them around the voice coil, between it and the plate hole wall.

Sometimes 2 or 3 different VC *seem* to fit in the gap, I choose the one which gets me as close as possible to having the same VC to polepiece clearance (usually around 5 Mils / 0.005" in very tight efficient speakers, what I use in my own, up to 10 Mils in cheap Chinese ones) and VC (winding) to top plate hole.

For those who do not understand why is there so much variation in what nominally is labelled as the same size:

In the speaker magnetic system you have basically 3 elements to measure (diameter): pole piece , voice coil former or top plate hole.

Now for a nominal 1" voice coil (Jensen size "R"), the designer might choose to make a:

1) 1"= 25.4 mm pole piece ... VC and plate hole will obviously be larger than that .... and not by a fixed amount, it depends on what the Manufacturer wants to achieve or how tight/slow vs. loose/fast he wants his production to be.
JBL had to enlarge the tight gap they used in Hi Fi/PA speakers to reduce warranty calls when Fender started using them ... so much so that a special "F" letter had to be added to the model to identify them.

2) 1"= 25.4 mm voice coil former ... obviously pole piece and plate hole will be different.

3) 1"= 25.4 mm plate hole

to boot, the maker might be European, Chinese or Japanese and find that in his Country, 25mm cold drawn 1008 steel bars are standard and cheap, and 25.4 mm (1") are special order, slightly more expensive, whatever.
Then we may have:

4) nominal 1"= real 25 mm pole piece

5) nominal 1"= real 25 mm VC former

6) nominal 1"= real 25 mm plate hole .

So now we see that for a single nominal size we have *6* (count'em ) incompatible voice coils.

And they are incompatible, a few will seem to fit close sized others ... until you do the shim test I suggested and see they are impossibly close to the pole piece or to the outer gap wall.

I have redone cheesy jobs by other reconers who gave the customer speakers which seemed to work on the bench, but which buzzed or scratched when playing loud.

As of the voice coil weight, that's an entirely different can of worms.

Most aftermarket coils are way too heavy, I guess the logic is: "if they are reconing the speaker, the old one burnt ... so I'll use thicker wire and former material, and liberally apply a lot of adhesive so mine lasts more, also wind it longer" ..... that may work in a woofer but in a guitar speaker is murder: low sensitivity, dull, dead.

Same with way too thick/heavy cones.

Guitar speakers are not really black magic, but a lot of important details escape the naked eye.