Revel Salon 1 mid range drivers

For the benefit of anyone that finds this thread, the text of the write up follows. The PDF has some nice pictures that go with the text. Anybody that knows how to post files here, please share.

 

:: Salon Midrange Driver Removal and Repair ::

1) Remove all the screws holding the metal basket. If the driver moves while doing this, skip the next steps.

2) Apply some heat with a heat gun or hair dryer, being careful not to overheat the surround and cone. The metal basket just needs to be warm to the touch to help loosen.

3) Find a tool that matches as exactly as possible the diameter of the holes in the driver basket. There will be some friction that you can use to gently pry the basket from the speaker enclosure.

4) Once you have the driver loosened, take a picture of the wiring and where it is attached to each terminal so you can reattach later. Use a soldering tool to unsolder the two wires and put the driver aside.

5) If there is any old adhesive or degenerate foam residue, remove it with a scraper and make sure there is a smooth surface to reattach the driver. Use the same technique to remove any residue from the driver basket.

6) Use a “spudger” tool to gently separate the surround from the driver basket. The adhesive can also be cut away with an X-acto knife by pushing aside the surround and making small cuts in the adhesive. Be sure not to cut the surround. This is the most time consuming and delicate step.

7) Once complete, the edge of the cone should be completely free of the driver basket.

8) Using a soldering tool remove the voice coil leads from the driver terminals.

9) Use a sharp cutting tool like an X-acto knife to reach beneath the surround and cut away the driver spider. Cut along the outside edge of the spider to leave as much material attached to the driver cone as possible.

10) The cone should now be completely detached from the driver basket. Put the driver cone in a protected place.

11) There will be small metal flakes visible if you inspect the magnetic gap between the pole piece and magnet assembly.

12) Use a piece of stiff cardboard or other non-magnetic sheet and rub along the inside of the gap to pull up the residue. The particles will tend to attach themselves to the pole piece once they are coaxed far enough away from the gap. The particles will attach to a metal screwdriver and can be removed from the pole piece.

13) Continue cleaning until the entire gap looks clean. You can drop the cone temporarily into the gap to test the voice coil and detect any rubbing.

14) Reassemble the driver. Place a thin layer of contact adhesive where the surround attaches to the driver basket. I use the product “Amazing Goop”.

15) Place the cone back into the basket and rotate until the spider aligns with the cut marks and the voice coil wires are aligned with their wire terminals.

16) Use a cylinder or cone that is the same diameter as the surround to evenly press the surround into the adhesive.

17) Use a tool to apply adhesive to the edge of the spider to attach each part to the driver basket edge that was cut.

18) Solder the voice coil wires to the solder terminals. Make sure that the wires are free to move and don’t rub against the cone or the driver basket.

19) Replace the driver seal with a thin sheet of closed cell foam. Insert the screws in the driver to center the foam.

20) Complete the assembly by soldering the driver wires to the appropriate terminals. Screw the driver into the speaker enclosure.

Hi Sound & music,

 

I tried to send you an email, but it may be blocked.  I don’t think audiogon allows email address to be included. 

 

 

 

I managed to write up a set of instructions to how I cleaned out my Salon midrange drivers. It would apply to any Harmon driver that has this peeling problem. I also have a Revel center channel so that gave me three times to practice. The first one was scary to do but by the third one it was a tedious but doable job. PM me and I can send you the .PDF instructions.

Hello sound and music,

 

I would be very interested in how you removed and cleaned the mid driver.  I have a few Revel Embrace rear speakers with similar mid drivers as the Salon and they are all making scraping sound. 

thanks for your help.

 

‘’Rich 

 

I had the same experience as @amhifi. I managed to remove the drivers without damage and cleaned out the voice coil gap on both of my Salon 1 midranges with success. It was detailed work but not hard. If anyone is interested I can write up some details about how it was done and the tools required.

I found 1 thread that the owner didn't have to destroy the driver to get it out, most have to destroy the cone and pry the basket out. as to replacements Revel is no worse than other companies that only guarantee supply for 10 years after model discontinuation' 

So, I gave this some more thought. Now you might want to seek out other opinions about this, but what about heating the frame by touching the screw hole with a soldering iron. Getting the frame warm, but not too hot that the cone's glue comes un-done. Then using some type of hook to try and pull the frame from the seal.

I hope this is helpful.

Is there some way to warm the frame so as to possibly weaken the glue bond? Constant pulling pressure over time may loosen it up. Like removing a sticker. If you slowly pull them off the sticker won't rip. Just a guess.

My 15 yr old Ultima Salon is having the same issue. I tried to take the tweeter and midrange but cannot even after taking all the screws off. It’s a beast 200lbs of a speaker to carry to a local repair shop. What to do? Any ideas?

Revel made these mid drivers themselves as they could find any that were good enough for what they wanted. They are really great mid drivers but very hard to remove ( I managed to get one out without destroying it even though the designer has said you have to damage them to get them out of the cabinet) . If they are rubbing/scratching  you may have to get new voice coils wound onto them or as in my case, there was some debris in the voice coil gap ( another post mentions the magnets peeling ) and my tech was able to remove it and reassemble the driver without destroying it but that is one tough jobs!

Sorry to hear that... I had a pair or Revel and loved them but when I needed a grill it took them forever to get me one. It was only a year old and under warranty. I got every excuse why they didn’t have them and ultimately they admitted to having to take one from a new speaker.... so that experience gave me zero confidence in them should a component fail and I sold them before the warranty was up. Now that Samsung owns them I’m sure the bean counters are keeping spares at the minimum.

Try The Speaker Exchange in Tampa Fl.... they have saved the day with other brands for me, hopefully they can help you

Sounds like the same problem Infinity had with the midrange they used in the prelude and intermezzo speakers where the neodymium magnet starts to peel and scrape against the voice coil causing distortion, the buzzing/scraping sound is easily heard when playing piano music 

Thank you!!! erik_squires  

Take them off and see if they are labelled by the manufacturer.

Also, turn them 180 degrees. If the suspension has weakened, this may balance it out. While they are out of the cabinet, inspect the suspension near the magnet, see if that has deteriorated.