Problem with old BOSE Interaudio 3000 XL

[dona3000]

Hi.

I recently acquired 2 20-30 years old BOSE Interaudio 3000 XL speakers, along with a similarly old Marantz PM310 amplifier. I'm not exactly a BOSE fan and wouldn't have bought those, but man they work perfect and are exactly what I need in combination with the amp. I'm very happy with the sound they produce together.

One problem though. One of the speakers is 'broken'. When playing a certain frequency range (low in the bass) one of them crackles. I'm certain it's the speaker in itself. I switched channels, I switched cables, the problem stays with the same speaker.
The volume at which it starts is low so it really bothers me. You wouldn't ever hear it playing rock but bass/sub-bass filled electronic music and it is on...
http://www.hifiengine.com/files/images/Bose_Interaudio_3000_XL_%20(2).preview.jpg
Here's what they look like (I took the cover off mine too already but those are not MINE). The sound clearly comes from the lower big woofer.

The foam around the big woofer on BOTH speakers is completely torn off/worn could that be it? Although only one of them does it?

Basically looking for any ideas here I wanna fix those ... It seems to me the sound comes from the woofer vibrating against something inside the speaker. Does that sound possible? I'm computer literate and could take those speakers appart but am not an audiophile/audio system expert by any means.

Thanks for any help...

 

[eggontoast]

The foam all around the woofers is completely torn off/worn off. Could that be it?

There knackered and need refoaming. You need to disassemble the driver and check that the voice coil is still in good shape before proceding to have this done though. You can buy foam kits such as this (just a reference, not necessarily the ones for your speakers) which come with everything you need to do it but, I wouldn't recommend a novice doing it.

 

[lindsayt]

I would.

For a novice refoamer, Bose 3000 speakers are a great place to start. They are worth almost nothing. If you make a complete hash of it, it doesn't matter. Either buy another foam kit and re-refoam them, or dump them and buy another pair of speakers, either Bose or something else.