ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi Fellow Beoworlders,
I thought I’d share my recent adventure, finding a good fix for those pesky little brittle speaker frame lugs on all of the S45 / S55 / S80 / S120 / MC120 / MS150 / M150 and point 2s. The sizes of the plugs and screws relate to the MS150s.
I know the lugs and holes are smaller on the S55s so I would imagine its different on at least the smaller ones.
Although I think these look just as incredible without the fabric frames, it seems maybe due to their large magnets pets and small children are hypnotically drawn to investigate the fragile dust covers with furry noses and tiny fingers!! So the frets must go back on.
Most covers do hold on with the odd missing clip, but 40 years on these are breaking more and more. This became more apparent during my current complete restoration of a pair of incredible MS150 speakers, I wanted to restore the fabric frames to make these last as long as possible and not keep breaking in the future.
Rather than snapping off the remaining lugs I went ahead and snipped each one off so not to put any unnecessary pressure on the surrounding fragile frames. Although at a glance all these frames look unbroken.
Again with the fragile frames, the Dremel allowed me to cut with very gentle pressure. Dremel flat just before a hole appears, you’ll learn this depth on the second one! You’ll notice on this photo this lug had already snapped at its frame (we’ll get to this later on).
Not wanting to risk drilling down through the fabric and table! I used a flat wood drill bit, and with very little pressure by hand in the centre it revealed the existing hole in the centre of the lug, which was very handy to find. Then again by hand with just a few turns it was large enough to accept a screw.
I went through various solutions of spacers and solid pins, and couldn’t find any clips on the market that would flex in like the originals (which was actually quite a neat design… until things got snappy) and still be allowed to come out whilst at the same time still holding firm enough. Once I’d decided on my solution I trialed various 10mm Rawl Plugs. Using plugs the intended way around made them splay out and I couldn’t get consistency and I didn’t think gluing them on was going to be a permanent enough solution. The final choice was made for these particular ones due to their flat, solid top construction, where most wall plugs are rounded and split at the top or just joined at the top with a thin plastic thread. They even already have a crosscut in the top that just happened to accept the screw.
Here’s a picture of a lug completely broken off its frame from its underside showing the existing hole, larger than the hole I’ve opened up in the top.
Rawl Plugs snipped off to the same length as the original lugs, the fabric frames now fit onto the speakers, the frames now feel as they should, just enough pressure when going on to hold firm, but not too much so they can be removed relatively easily.
Purely for beautification purposes I snipped off the 2 thinner prongs and snipped the ends to points. They are holding just as well with 2 prongs out of 4 and if anything slightly easier to insert the frame onto the speaker. There’s another break in the frame, you’ll have to take my word for it these were all there before.
Mounting the new lugs is quite simple after the first few when you’ve found your knack, but you do have to stretch the fabric out with the back of your fingers a bit more than you would expect it to stretch whilst at the same time avoiding snagging the fabric with the screw. Honestly I didn’t break this frame either! Once the screw is in place you can hold the screw head tight enough with your finger to then screw on the new lug by hand.
The maximum length screw without damaging the fabric on insertion is 20mm. At least it is with the MS150s.
I wanted as smaller head as possible that would hold and not go through the hole or be seen touching the fabric (from the front). These when in situ still have a couple of mm space away from the fabric. Enough to put a thin sticky back felt pad over the screw head if you wanted.
Time to fix those frames. I trialed various plastics and picked up some at my local Hobby shop called plastic building card, I used size 80B which is 2mm thick, it came in A4 sheets. It has a subtle flex to it whilst still being rigid and pretty lightweight. It actually turned out that each section of frame needed different size pieces cut. So it was a nice bonus to find these plastic cards cut easily with scissors. To glue them in I used a sheet of acetate under the area so not to allow glue to drip through to the fabrics, I could do without those tears later on!! I was pretty pleased with the result and none of the fixes could be seen from the front. However I just didn’t feel glue was enough.
I chose some star lock washers which worked extremely well on this, this worked well even on the lug that had completely broken away. Not a tool you want anywhere near your fragile frames, but all the same out came ‘delicate’ Cow Hammer!! Using a socket to get a nice even pressure worked a treat. Making sure to pack inbetween the fabric and frame so not to damage the fabric (for this procedure). I wanted 14mm star lock washers but the nearest my stockist had was 7/32” (13.5mm) it meant I had to slightly bend up each tab a little, there was slight variation anyway in the diameter of the lug stumps. I still think 14mm would have been better but I was on a roll and couldn’t wait for postage!
At this point I am very pleased now they are all done, the fact that they are not black like the originals no longer bothers me as they are all the same. One down, five more to go and then I might get around to my own!
The only thing I think is missing from Beoworld is more pictures of dogs and B&O, who’s with me?
A nice and original solution for this problem. Well done and thanks for sharing.Lovely dogs too :-)
-sonavor
Hi Jason
Great job and thanks for posting it. Do you have any tips how to remove the aluminium edging to enable the speaker cloth to be renewed please?
Thanks
Tim
Hi Tim,
I have removed the aluminum strips on a few of those. You have to careful and gentle of course. There will be an open seam to start with. Find it and start prying it out. The aluminum strip is just pressed into the plastic mold. The important thing to remember in prying out the aluminum is not to bend it out too far. Only pull the strip out just barely enough to clear the frame. If you try to bend the aluminum flat you will most certainly break the bend connections.
I showed how to remove those several years ago here.