So I just finished my install a week ago and got everything tuned up when I decided to order up a grill to protect my sub... Arrived today and while installing it my screwdriver slipped and went through the surround. I have it in a sealed inclosure I fiberglassed.

I figure I'm SOL and the subs toast... but just thought I'd ask if anyone knows of a way to fix.

 

If its just a tear its not toast, you can fix it with clear nail polish or crazy glue.

It wont look perfect but will perform just fine.

DO NOT USE SILICONE...

 

Even if the hole is big, you're still fine. Order a New Foam kit (http://newfoam.com/kits.asp) and fix it yourself! I did this to a pair of 15 year old JBL home speakers with crumbling foam surrounds a month ago and now they sound like new. It's much easier to do than you'd think!!

 

+1 (except for the Silicone warning) fix it with minimal adhesive and move on. If you "blow out" the repair then think about a new foam surround, assuming the OE is in fact foam. As far as silicone goes that all depends. It could attack some materials in the driver or it may not. I've used it to fix small tears in foam surrounds by lightly smearing a very thin layer over the back and front of the tear. A very little bit is all that's required. Given it's a sub in a sealed box it's likely you will blow out a repair eventually.

The new foam surround is a good repair for a surround that's totally shot but is way beyond what I'd try first. Removing the old surround and dust cap, shimming the VC and reinstalling a new surround and dust cap is overkill here. The new surround and dust cap will probably alter the Thiele-Small (TS) parameters far more than a simple surround repair. A sealed system will suffer less from this change than vented but if you did consider TS parameters (I hope you did) then less change to the driver is better in your [unfortunate] case.

 

I have almost done the same thing as you many times and it's been something I always feared could happen. Sorry to hear about it. It's just the surround, the world is not over. It's just involved mechanically/physically so you can easily fix it. The area near the voice-coils and magnets are the actual "motor" of the speaker, as long as that works you're still in business.

 

Thanks everyone for the info. I tried a drop of super glue. Seems to be holding for now.

The sub is an A/D/S that is a few years old. Here I was hoping this was my opportunity to convince my wife that I need to buy a new toy.

 

Wow, I wish I would've known about the refoam kits. I threw my oldschool '91 Cerwin Vegas away. Loved how the old stuff sounded.