Speaker repair. Old cabinets deserve their voice back.
Foam surrounds rot on a clock, drivers fail quietly, and crossovers drift until a speaker stops sounding like itself. The bench brings vintage bookshelf and tower speakers back: refoaming with fitted surrounds, real driver diagnosis, and passive crossover work to original specification. And the honesty comes free: a cone torn beyond refoam is a verdict we tell you, not a bill we send. Every job is quoted after we look. Walk in or ship speakers in from anywhere in the U.S.
What we do on the speaker bench
Quoted after we look. The number comes from what your drivers and crossovers actually need.
Diagnosis
$49The $49 diagnosis answers the real questions first: which driver is at fault, whether the crossover is involved, and what the whole job costs. Free when you approve the work, and free when the verdict is not worth doing.
Refoaming
Quoted after we lookThe classic vintage-speaker rescue. Rotted foam surrounds replaced with fitted kits for your driver, the cone re-centered and tested for rub and range. Done right, a refoamed driver measures and sounds like the factory meant it to. Parts + labor.
Driver diagnosis
Quoted after we lookWhich driver is lying to you: the woofer, the tweeter, the crossover feeding them, or the amplifier upstream? Measured and identified before any parts move, so you pay for the fix and not a guess.
Passive crossover work
Quoted after we lookAging capacitors and drifted networks quietly rewrite a speaker's voicing. Crossovers serviced to original specification, driver by driver, so the pair sounds like the pair again.
Replacement driver matching
Quoted after we lookWhen a driver is past saving and a matching replacement still exists, we source it, fit it, and level it to the cabinet. When it does not exist, you hear that verdict plainly too.
Why the speaker bench stays busy
Speakers age in patterns. These are the three that walk in most.
Foam has a lifespan
Surround foam lasts a few decades, then crumbles. It is the one vintage-speaker failure with a genuinely good outcome: the driver behind the dead foam is usually the best part of the speaker.
One dead driver poisons the pair
A mismatched speaker makes both speakers sound wrong. Driver work is quoted per pair where matching matters, so the shelf sounds like one system instead of a good speaker arguing with a bad one.
Crossovers age quietly
Electrolytic caps in the crossover dry out over decades and drift the voicing without any dramatic failure. Servicing the network is how an old speaker stops sounding old in the wrong ways.
Walk in or mail them in
Bookshelf speakers travel well in their own padded boxes. Towers are heavy: we will talk packing and the sensible path before you spend a dime on freight.
How a speaker job goes
- 01Walk in. 2224 Sunrise Dr, Longmont · Mon–Fri 9–6, Sat–Sun 10–3. Or mail them in from anywhere in the U.S.: request an RMA number online first.
- 02We look. Drivers tested, crossover checked, one flat quote covering parts plus labor, emailed or handed over. You approve before anything starts.
- 03The work. Surrounds fitted or parts replaced, the pair tested and matched, and the honest story of what was done.
- 04Home. Shipped back or picked up, with a 90-day labor warranty. Local pickup and return exists for heavy cabinets, quoted with the job.
What we don't do
Scope stated plainly, so you know before you ship anything.
Honest limits
- Cones torn beyond refoam: we say so. Refoaming fixes surrounds, not shredded cones. Where a matching replacement driver exists we quote sourcing and fitting it; where it does not, the verdict is free and honest.
- Powered speakers split in half. The driver and crossover side lives here; a dead amplifier section inside a powered speaker is audiophile bench work after diagnosis. Both, one quote, when the job needs it.
- No furniture restoration. The bench does electronics. Cabinet veneer, refinishing, and grillcloth tailoring are cabinetmaker work and not our lane.
- Guitar and bass cabs welcome, quoted. Instrument speakers follow the same honest rules. The amp side of the rig is the guitar amp bench.
Speaker questions
The things people ask before they box up a speaker.
Straight answers
Refoaming replaces the foam surround, the rolled edge that centers the cone and lets it move. Foam has a lifespan of a few decades and rots with time and light; a driver behind a dead surround is usually a good driver with a dead gasket. Fitted new surrounds, the cone re-centered, and the speaker tested: that is most of a vintage speaker rescue.
Quoted after we look. Speaker work is parts plus labor: we test the drivers, check the crossover, and hand you one flat quote before anything starts. Diagnosis is $49 and free when you approve the work.
A surround we can fix; a shredded cone is a different verdict, and you get it straight. If a matching replacement driver still exists we will quote sourcing and fitting one. If it does not, we say so instead of taking your money for a miracle.
Yes. Crossover capacitors drift and dry out with age and quietly change a speaker's voicing. We service passive crossovers to original specification, quoted after we look, as its own line item or alongside driver work.
Yes, anywhere in the U.S. for bookshelf-size cabinets: request an RMA number online and pack each speaker on all sides in its own padded box. Larger towers are heavier freight; we will talk packing and quote the sensible path before you ship anything.
Powered speakers carry an amplifier inside, and a dead amp section is electronics work, not cabinet work. The bench takes both: the driver and crossover side here, the amplifier side on the audiophile repair page, all quoted after diagnosis.
That foam was going to go sometime. Now it is going back on properly.
Call the shop any time: our AI receptionist answers around the clock and a human follows up. Or run the repair wizard for a first-pass assessment before you commit to anything. Walk-ins welcome at the Longmont bench, and the mail-in lane reaches every state.