SonicNorth AudioWorks

Hey friends. Back in action here at home base in London. Parts order going in for about 12 speakers that have come in for restoration. if you've got something you've been waiting to get done, get in on this order and save on some shipping!

Loudspeaker parts are still tariff free - our current US dollar exchange rate isn't awesome but there are no domestic options for this kind of business. Lot's of cool speakers coming up, so will try to keep you posted on the interesting oddballs and rarities! 🔊🔉🔈

Hi Folks. limiting my time on Facebook these days for lots of reasons. The best way to get in touch with me for speaker repair queries is to email me directly at:

[email protected]

Messenger will still get checked but not super frequently. Take care!

Here's a fabulous rare (giant) Celestion!

Brought in by a client in pieces (even the basket and magnet were disassembled), this is a Celestion C18 from the late 70s. These seemed to have all kinds of weird variants around this time and this one originally had an inverted butyl rubber surround that would have made it a true bass woofer with a pretty strong midrange roll-off. Although technically possible to restore to orginal, The client and I agreed that this had less utility than a more full range restoration. The outcome is an 18" "Greenback" (IYKYK). IMHO this should end up in a closed cab for dropped tuned guitar - a heavy chug-monster! A late 70s blackback G12H restored for the same client for scale. An epic speaker unto itself!!

I've been venturing into restoring various home and car audio speakers for clients lately and its been a lot of fun! Some of these have been full restorations, others are refoaming of degraded surrounds, which is a new skill I'm learning. So far so good!

An EVM rare bird. I had the pleasure of restoring a couple of siblings at the same time - an old-stock EVM 12L and a 12S! These are essentially the same speaker except the 12S has a shorter frame and cone, giving it a different character that is often sought after by guitar players. The 12L was suffering from some standard age-related failures. The 12S had been "professionally" reconed, and the job was so poorly done the speaker was unusable, with heaps of adhesives applied so heavily the cone was rippled. Apparently the company thought it was fine and shipped it back. Unconscionable and so disrespectful of the client and this rare speaker. They have been made right.

Just sent this 8" 1930s Oxford Field Coil speaker home in its original Supro amp! This one was tricky. The original spider were pieces of phenolic/bakelite that held the coil in place. The restoration here required the replacement of these broken parts with a conventional cup spider and then best available parts that fit. I think it turned out looking pretty original and best of all, it works!

I'm giving up....

making generalizations about superior build quality, durability, etc when discussing vintage speakers! This is a perfectly lovely alnico Oxford 12L6N from 1963. And no, I did not use any solvents or sandblasting to get the frame this clean. Everything from the spider to the gaskets pretty much peeled right off. Makes for a nice tidy restoration but its no wonder the voice coil was rubbing. Will be good as 1963-new in a couple of days.