Removing Woofers from LaScalas - Help!

[Peter_S]

Hello All -

I'm rewiring my LaScalas with silver wire (multiple runs of 22 gage on tweets, 2 runs of 18 gage on mids, 1 run of silver coated 12 gage on woofer). Wire was purchased from DH Labs. I'd like to remove the woofers, so I can try to solder the 12-gage to the terminals (the holes are relatively small, may not fit). Anyhow, the problem is that I'm unsure about the woofer removal. There are 4 machine screws (i.e. threaded to go into nuts), which go into the closed plywood chamber into which the woofer fires. I am being overly paranoid, but I want to make sure that if I remove all 4 machine screws I'll be able to put them back in without loosing whatever it is that the screws are threading in to. Is whatever the screws are threading into permanently affixed to the plywood, so it won't fall out once the screws are removed? It would be very difficult to get into the chamber and recover what ever would fall out if this is not the case. If anyone has done this before and can let me know that it is safe, and I won't loose my threaded receptacles for the 4 screws, I would appreciate it alot!

Thanks, Peter

[Marvel]

They thread into what is often called a t-nut. They shouldn't fall out (I'm not saying they couldn't, but the are pretty secure).

Bruce

[Daddy Dee]

I agree they should not fall out. In a worst case scenario, genuinely unlikely, IMO, and one fell out, you could rotate the LaScala so it would slide along the path of the horn and fall out the front of the bass bin.

The woofer could then be secured with appropriate sized metal or wood screws, sans T-nuts.

[Groomlakearea51]

I removed the bottom, and layed the speaker down with the cone "down", then carefully unscrewed the bolts from the T-nuts. The t-nuts are (should be in there very tight) I temporarily reinstalled the bolts into the fittings while I was working on the cabinets. When I re-installed the drivers, I just made sure that the bolts were not cross-threaded. It is a real pain in the a**, but c'est la Vie!!!

[michael hurd]

I would be careful soldering the wire onto the drivers. You may inadvertantly desolder another connection, from the terminal to the voice coil wires.

[djk]

I wouldn't mess with the wire to the woofer.

The biggest wire that will fit through the oval hole in the lug is 16ga.

You have to tin the wire, bend it in a hook, and then squeeze it a bit to make it oval to fit.

Soldering any wire to the old style solder lugs is risky if you don't know what you're doing. A too big wire just makes it worse. The problem is the connection for the tinsel lead is on the same lug. If you overheat the connection for the wire you're trying to hook up you will end up wicking solder down the tinsel lead. The tinsel lead will break somewhere down the road.