Fixing a Speaker Cabinet by Replacing a Home Theater Speaker

When it comes to great audio sound, there is no partwhile others by four. There should never come a time
of a home theater that is more overlooked that thewhen you remove a speaker and there is only one
speaker cabinet. It is the very last link in the soundwire. If this you see this is the case then you may be
chain and controls the final way you hear everything.lucky and the speaker is just disconnected and not
The speaker cabinet reproduces the tone as soundblown out.
waves in the air which creates the subtle differences- Now take those wires hanging out the back and pull
in sound. What happens when you have a blownthem out of the speaker tabs using the plastic
speaker in one of your cabinets? Do you fix it or justconnectors. Never pull on the wire itself. You'll end up
buy a new one?damaging it. Those tabs should be color coded to help
Usually the answer to this question is a wholeheartedyou distinguish between the positive (red) and the
yes, simply for the reason that those cabinets werenegative (black) wires. If they aren't, then simply label
built with your speakers in mind. That is what theythem with a marker before you remove them. Be
designed for. Think about the amount of math andcareful not to let the wires fall back inside the cabinet
engineering that was involved in building the cabinetsonce they are removed by taping them to the sides.
with a certain amount of air space in mind. These- Double check that the removed speaker is in fact
cabinets were tuned specifically for those oldblown and dead by determining the resistance
speakers. Installing other speakers in there will notbetween the two positive and negative connection
sound the same as your old speakers.tabs. If you get a read out on the meter of less than
Here is a simple step by step process how you canan ohm or more than twice the impedance rating, you
remove the bad speaker from the cabinet and repair it.have yourself a bad speaker. If you get a reading
- Take the speaker cabinet you'll be working on andbetween the two good zones, then there shouldn't be
set it on its back to remove the speaker grille. Someanything wrong with the speaker. One other way is to
grilles are different than others. Some simply pop intolightly press on the center of the speaker cone. The
place, while others are secured in with screws visiblespeaker is blown if it makes a scratchy sound or does
from the side or front of the cabinet.not spring back to its original shape.
- Now that you have the grill removed, you'll next- Now that you have your new speaker ready to go,
unscrew the first screw from the bad speaker, andyou'll need to reconnect the wires by pushing the
then the screw opposite the first one. All of theconnectors onto the matching tab. Set the speaker
screws need to be removed in an opposite pairsinto the mounting hole and replace the screws in that
order.same opposing pair fashion as used earlier.
- Now, carefully list the speaker out of the cabinet. It- Lastly, you are going to tighten all those screws,
will still be connected by wires to the other speakersreplace the grille and return the speaker cabinet back
and the head unit. Some are attached by two wiresto its upright position.