Weber Signature 8 Alnico do they ever break in?

I picked up a super nice tweed Champ kit built from a Weber kit. It had the Weber Signature 8 Alnico in it. Low volume is OK, turn it up like a good Champ likes and yuk. Speaker farts out like crazy. This one was made in 2010 and the 2nd owner said he played it a lot. Do they ever break in? I had this same experience with one of these I got for a SFChamp amp...The paper cone is so stiff I dont see how it moves at all. I replaced the one in the tweed Champ with a Vox Pathfinder speaker(OT was 8 ohm in the tweed) and it sounds great. For the SFChamp I went with a Jensen and it sounded great.

I don't have experience with the 8", but have a 10" and 12" I used in a 5E3, and they both broke in nicely after 5-6 hours of 'stretching' music from my iPod and a few hours of medium volume guitar. I wouldn't say that either of them had a particularly stiff cone, either. :neutral:

Whatever the case, after 2 years of play, it's either broken in or broke!

(btw, I also have a Made in Italy Jensen AlNiCo 8" which was great after only 2-3 hours of play. I've heard some say, "They don't sound like the old ones," which I've never had the pleasure of hearing, but mine sounds brilliant with a Vibro Champ or Super Champ HD.)

charisjapan

Thanks Charis, that has been my experience with the Jensens also. On the larger speakers I would suppose that with a larger volume of paper its stiffness maybe less of a factor or maybe they use different paper? Wonder if there is a way to loosen this up some?

Thanks Charis, that has been my experience with the Jensens also. On the larger speakers I would suppose that with a larger volume of paper its stiffness maybe less of a factor or maybe they use different paper? Wonder if there is a way to loosen this up some?

I'm really no expert, especially with vintage guitar speakers, so someone else will have to pitch in on that.

Just my own thoughts, but I wouldn't think that the paper stiffness would be that much of a factor. After all, many high-fidelity speakers go to great lengths to make the cones stiff. Here in Japan, we have epoxied paper, wood, bamboo, even carbon-fiber cones. :!: (which honestly, I think is a bit silly, or just good marketing :wink: ) If the speaker is sounding that bad after two years of use, I would be looking at the voice coil innards. But at that point, just buying another Sig would be a lot easier that troubleshooting this one. I've looked around, and the Sig series for all sizes seem to have a pretty good reputation, but there's always a bad one. :sad: Just saying...

This is my second Signature 8 that behaved this way. My friend has one the same way.
Thats three right there. Looks like I can break it in with a filiment transformer so next week I will hook it up and run it like that for a while.

Had some time today so I decided to spend some time with this Weber speaker...
I found some people had good luck with using fabric softener on the cone. Mixed up a mild solution and spread it on, the wiped it off. Did that a few times and dried it with a hair dryer. That did soften the cone up. Then I hooked it to the 6 volt filament tap on a transformer I had and let it move the cone back and forth. Looks like it really gets the cone moving! Let that run for 1 hour and reinstalled it in the tweed champ. Waste of time. No better than before. Will box it up and forget about it for now. I reinstalled my Pathfinder speaker and it sounds like it should...

Just my own thoughts, but I wouldn't think that the paper stiffness would be that much of a factor. After all, many high-fidelity speakers go to great lengths to make the cones stiff. Here in Japan, we have epoxied paper, wood, bamboo, even carbon-fiber cones. :!: (which honestly, I think is a bit silly, or just good marketing :wink: )

Stiff cones and vintage tone don't play nice together. Most of those little old cones are so thin and fragile they crack from normal use. That's the downside. The upside is the less weight you hang off your motor assembly the faster the transient response gets. It's like any hot rod, it's all power to weight. If you only have 5 watts you can't waste them on heavy cones.

The Webers yield a grainier tone compared to well broken in vintage speakers.

Farty bass can be fixed at the amp.

Stiff cones and vintage tone don't play nice together. Most of those little old cones are so thin and fragile they crack from normal use. That's the downside. The upside is the less weight you hang off your motor assembly the faster the transient response gets. It's like any hot rod, it's all power to weight. If you only have 5 watts you can't waste them on heavy cones.

The Webers yield a grainier tone compared to well broken in vintage speakers.

Farty bass can be fixed at the amp.

Hehe! I guess we don't export all the really nice stuff. Our stiff cones are light, too! :roll:

But back to the Sig 8, this really seems to be one of those love-or-hate speakers! I also see they have 3 different cones available with different breakup properties, which I assume has to do with the cone material/construction. My local reseller says they only import the smooth (and light) version, early breakup. So while this discussion may not be apples-and-oranges, it certainly might be Mackintosh-and-Fuji-and-Jonathan. Also, to OP, I guess it wasn't a break-in issue, sorry.

For 8", I'll stick with Jensen! :grin: (I can't get vintage speakers here without a LOT of $$$:cry:)

For 8", I'll stick with Jensen! :grin: (I can't get vintage speakers here without a LOT of $$$:cry:)

For 8" speakers I mine my motherlode of vintage speakers.

Stromberg-Carlsons... :grin:

For 8" speakers I mine my motherlode of vintage speakers.

Stromberg-Carlsons... :grin:

Much,

I never even heard of a Stromberg-Carlson...

...any for sale? :neutral: