I have an old Templetone E-514 that needs a speaker. How far gone can these be before reconing is no longer an option. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement. The speaker part# is 780.008.
Russ

If the frame is fine and isn't rusted, then you can recone it. Many cities have reconing outfits. Just look in the yellow pages under speaker repair. The cost will be between $40 and $60. You can have them reuse the voice coil and just attach the new cone to it (recommended if the voice coil is in fine shape), or have an entirely new assembly. A cheap method is to simply purchase a cone from them (bring the speaker along for size). They may give you flack and ask you if you know what you are doing. Just tell them that you know what you are doing. If they offer you shims for a reasonable price, purchase them. Otherwise various thicknesses of heavy paper or index cards, or thin plastic, work well for shims. Once you obtain your cone, which shouldn't cost more than $5, make your shims. Each one should measure about a quarter inch wide and two inches long. Remove the felt dust cap if one exists. Test two shims 180 degrees apart and see if they fit well between the voice coil and the magnet pole piece. If they do, place the third one in and place all three so that they are evenly spaced apart (2, 6, and 10 o'clock positions). If the new cone will fit snugly around the voice coil form, then you may remove the old cone right to the voice coil. If not, remove the old cone and leave enough so that it can attach to the new cone. If you did not purchase new cushion pieces for around the edge of the cone, try to salvage the old ones by working a razor blade around under them. Cut around the lead wires in the old cone. Unsolder the lead wires from the binding posts. Puncture holes in the new cone where the lead wires will go. Send them through the holes. Glue the new cone to either the voice coil or to the remaining bit of old cone using Elmer's white glue. Glue the outer edge of the cone to the frame. Once all has set, remove the shims and test the cone operation for rubbing. Glue on the cushion around the edge.

If you feel that this is too much work, you can purchase a new 5 inch speaker. They are available from Quam, on eBay, from www.tubesandmore.com, and many other places. A modern dual cone unit should not be used with AM radios, as it will pass too many high frequencies, which will make the radio seem noisy. A new speaker will ruin the value of a fine radio. For a cheap radio, not too many people will be concerned. Electro-dynamic speakers should not be replaced if at all possible.

Thomas

Russ, this seems to be a plain-jane, post-war AA5 set. Unless it has some special sentimental value, I think reconing would not be worth it.

If it were me, I'd put that radio aside and wait for a suitable replacement to present itself from a radio that is ready to part-out. You might be able to adapt a cheapo 4" speaker to fit, with some loss in fidelity.

Russ,
Its a PM (permanent magnet) speaker with only a voice coil winding and includes an output xformer probably riveted to the speaker frame. If the cone is the only problem, and you have the perserverence, there is an article at this site under References titled "Replacing Early Paper Speaker Cones" I've made 3 different sizes for experiments, and all were fine. The info is explicit and well written. Also found on this site are lists of many suppliers of old radio parts. If you are a purist, an exact duplicate of yesteryear or an original may be in some collectors junk box.
marv

:I have an old Templetone E-514 that needs a speaker. How far gone can these be before reconing is no longer an option. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement. The speaker part# is 780.008.
:Russ

Yeah, my way is a bit over the top for a cheap set. When replacing a speaker in a small table model radio, be sure that the new one fits, too. In really small sets, the speaker may be rather flat (instead of a deep cone), or may have a specially shaped magnet assembly. I know that the round ceramic magnets found on most modern speakers do not always fit in small radios. In these cases I have held out for other old speakers of similar nature, or have had the original unit reconed.

Thomas

:Russ,
:Its a PM (permanent magnet) speaker with only a voice coil winding and includes an output xformer probably riveted to the speaker frame. If the cone is the only problem, and you have the perserverence, there is an article at this site under References titled "Replacing Early Paper Speaker Cones" I've made 3 different sizes for experiments, and all were fine. The info is explicit and well written. Also found on this site are lists of many suppliers of old radio parts. If you are a purist, an exact duplicate of yesteryear or an original may be in some collectors junk box.
:marv
:
::I have an old Templetone E-514 that needs a speaker. How far gone can these be before reconing is no longer an option. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement. The speaker part# is 780.008.
::Russ