Ohm Walsh F Hope of Resurrection

pch300, some great tips, and it may be that I end up doing the surround myself. 

Was it Elmers glue that you used? ;) 
I presume not; what did you use? Do you recall? Some surround replacement kits have adhesive included. 

Thanks to you, pch300, I think I'm going to do this repair myself. I have been thinking about the project, and I believe I have come up with a winning idea on how to ensure success with avoidance of rubbing of voice coil. 

I would take all your suggestions, essentially, which are superb; thank you! 

But, in addition, when I got to the part where I would secure the outer rim of the surround to the metal basket, the thought struck me, why not use some painter's tape, or similar, to temporarily anchor the surround's outer edge, then play the speaker to assess for rubbing? If it rubs, I move it and reattach with tape. The tape should not damage the new surround, and it can be moved at will. In that way I should be able to then work around the bottom of the surround with glue, removing the tape locations and ensuring the proper position of the surround. I can also mark the edge, as you suggested for extra caution/precision. 

Obviously, I do not want to crank them up in that condition, as the tape might pull on the driver paper. One has to use some sensibility. I could even, perhaps, use some narrow weights of some sort to place on the surround as an anchor. I would be able to find something suitable. 

I think I'm going to remove the drivers baskets today from the cabinet, and turn the drivers over to settle the one spider that's sagging. I also can begin to work on replacing the wiring and posts, which are antiquated and by today's standards poor. 

Sounds  feasible. Ideas, concerns? 

Thanks to you, pch300, I think I'm going to do this repair myself. I have been thinking about the project, and I believe I have come up with a winning idea on how to ensure success with avoidance of rubbing of voice coil. 

I would take all your suggestions, essentially, which are superb; thank you! 

But, in addition, when I got to the part where I would secure the outer rim of the surround to the metal basket, the thought struck me, why not use some painter's tape, or similar, to temporarily anchor the surround's outer edge, then play the speaker to assess for rubbing? If it rubs, I move it and reattach with tape. The tape should not damage the new surround, and it can be moved at will. In that way I should be able to then work around the bottom of the surround with glue, removing the tape locations and ensuring the proper position of the surround. I can also mark the edge, as you suggested for extra caution/precision. 

Obviously, I do not want to crank them up in that condition, as the tape might pull on the driver paper. Then again, I have bigger problems if the surround anchored to the paper pulls away! That had better be right! One has to use some sensibility. I could even, perhaps, use some narrow weights of some sort to place on the surround as an anchor. I would be able to find something suitable. 

I think I'm going to remove the drivers baskets today from the cabinet, and turn the drivers over to settle the one spider that's sagging. I also can begin to work on replacing the wiring and posts, which are antiquated and by today's standards poor. 

Sounds  feasible. Ideas, concerns? 

Doug, I did the surround because I really didn't have much choice. Either fix it or get it fixed so I can use the speakers. Again, it won't be like the original F, because the surround characteristics is different than what Ohm had. It will play, however, as a interim solution until I got new Ohms.

I didn't use tape of any kind, because I was afraid the tape could tear the surround attachment part. The new and old surrounds could have different attachment ring diameters. I just thought of an idea that you could use the painters tape to mark the original edge of the surround attachment to the metal rim say in four perpendicular locations, but not on the surround itself. When you try to attach the new surround, it will either be smaller diameter which makes it easier to center relative to the tape, or larger diameter which you'd have to mark the new diameter with more tape and compare the original and new marked positions for centering. You could also measure the new surround diameter and mark that with additional tape relative to the original surround diameter tape marks.

I don't recall what glue was used for the surrounds. I ordered the surrounds from Stepp Audio Technologies in North Carolina. I supplied them the relevant dimensions and cone angle. I cannot find that company anymore on the web. It was 25 years ago!

The spider sagging is from years of weight on it. It could be permanently deformed. I would doubt that turning the driver over will do much in correcting the position, but it's worth a try to see what you get over a given time. 

If you're talking the internal cabinet wiring and the binding posts on the bottom of the cabinet, that's conceptually easier to do. I would caution on working on the binding posts on the metal struts holding the magnet assembly, as these attach the fragile wires that go to the cone internal wiring.

If you do fix the surrounds on the F, your could then try an experiment that I did in the mid-'80s, with a musician friend.

Remove the grilles. Have a friend listen to the same musical selection. Without him knowing or seeing what you do, remove the fuses and replace it with a short wire. Play the music. Go back to the fuse, and play the music. Then go back and forth. Without telling him what you were changing, ask what he heard for the two configurations. Get a good description. For my friend, it was clearly and consistently audibly different, and repeatable in his descriptions.