On replacing an LSi's mid-range driver.

polkmeister

One man's saga with replacement of an LSi mid-range driver

Despite assurances from a very, very nice fellow at Polk Customer Service that mid-range driver replacement in my LSi15 would be "piece of cake", I did not find it to be so straightforward. The recess into which the drivers become esconced, once screwed in, provides for a SUPER tight fit. For future reference, and potential help to those-in-need, here is my blow-by-blow -- which ultimately led to success.

BTW, for your information, my "measure of success" is as follows:
1) Removal of driver with damage neither to it nor the piano-black finish of the speaker itself.
2) Successful replacement with new driver.
3) Preservation of one's sanity, as well as circumvention of inadvertent damage to one's sensitive extremities, e.g. fingers.
4) Preservation of one's marriage (or whatever arrangement might be appropriate in your specific circumstance.)

The saga:
I read many posts on driver replacement before "attempting this at home". I summarize these putative procedures, offering my assessment of their relative, respective utility.

Procedure "A") Once the driver mounting screws are removed, use the hook at the end of a knitting needle to pull the driver frame out of the its recess in the speaker. My assessment: Not gonna happen. These drivers are wedged into the recesses amazingly tightly. One would think they even might be glued in... but they are not. (This fact was confirmed beforehand by Polk; somthing like "Oh my gosh, no" was stated, if memory serves.) Following such a procedure is sure only to damage all of your significant other's needles... and do this in short order. And, beyond impending relationship damage, also to raise your blood pressure.

Procedure "B") Place the driver on the floor and give the speaker a couple solid whacks from behind with a soft mallet. My assessment: Geez, what an idiotic idea. WTF? Who came up with that? I'm not going there.... and I ask that none of you out there think of doing this either! No matter how stressful this process becomes.

Procedure "C") Once the driver mounting screws are removed, get some oversize screws and, in essence, thread them into the mounting holds of the driver body. My assessment: Wishful thinking again here, dude. The drivers are in there, "serious". I find that, despite multiple, heroic attempts, the oversize screws simply pull out of the driver frame. Meanwhile the driver remains happily nestled into its recess. My notes indicate further blood pressure rise at this juncture.

Procedure "D") OK, I'll cut to the chase. Here's what works...
Remove the high frequency driver completely. It comes out easily; "piece of cake". (Hmm, heard that before.) I think the spades are of different sizes, but if you're totally anal like me, mark the colors of the wires onto the HF driver back-side anyway for future reference before detaching them. Now... If you're blessed by "God"/"the cosmos"/"mother nature"/"the gene pool of your forebears" or what have you, with hand of the not-too-large category -- stick your fist into the hole. You're not able (or into?) this kind of fisting? (Sorry, please erase that allusion from your memory.) Perhaps a smaller hand "borrowed" from your wife or child can help. Now, grab the back-side of the mid-range driver firmly and push it forward like hell. (I found it takes a LOT of force.) Make sure, of course, to keep errant appendages (little fingers, etc.) away from the driver cone. Pop; ...out she comes.

The wires are color-coded, so the replacement can now proceed with brain in monkey-mode setting.

- - - - - - - - - - -
Good luck! And, above all... chill! I find that a couple shots of Stoli, taken beforehand, work wonders in this regard. (But only a couple -- unless, of course, you've simply decided to put off the task 'til tomorrow.) Don't get so frustrated you inadvertently let a screwdriver shaft, or minor appendage, stray toward any of the drivers!

-happy (repaired) listening,
pm

disneyjoe7

Well I know your idea worked as you have replaced your woofer. This is my way works also but don't have LSi speaker only RTi models. Use a good putty knife and place it next to speaker to remove tap under speaker and its out. Now I know what you're thinking WTF putty knife tapped under **** up speaker finish, but it done right its A.) its under speaker edge and B.) if damaged at all, I never have. YMMV

Ender

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Well I know your idea worked as you have replaced your woofer. This is my way works also but don't have LSi speaker only RTi models. Use a good putty knife and place it next to speaker to remove tap under speaker and its out. Now I know what you're thinking WTF putty knife tapped under **** up speaker finish, but it done right its A.) its under speaker edge and B.) if damaged at all, I never have. YMMV

Man that was really hard to read... Also, yeah, that sounds scary. How do you make sure it doesn't scratch? Are you sure there's no micro scratches?

megasat16

RTi speakers have no piano gloss finish so there will be no micro scratches. If it scratches, it'll be more like a scratch and not micro scratch.

Face

I recently went through the same thing with a LSiC.

I had to borrow someone else's smaller hands to push on the back of the driver while I pulled from the front with over sized screws. I still have a scar on my hand from trying to jam my claw inside the tweeter hole.