Help removing trim rings on woofer frame

[Bassman2]

I have an old pair of Infinity SM-100's (two way floor standing monitors) that have black and white plastic trim rings on top of the frame of the 10 inch woofers. The surrounds recently rotted out and the thick trim rings are glued over the outer part of the surround making it impossible to put on new ones. Does anyone have any tips for safely removing them?

These speakers sound pretty good and are efficient as hell (101db) so I'd like to use them as either zone 2 speaks, or maybe rear speakers. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[davidtwotrees]

Gosh, Bassman, I had an old pair of SM122's and took the woofs out numerous times. I don't remember the plastic trim rings being glued on at all! Are you sure they aren't just sticky and stuck on? Take a look on ebay and see what kind of parts are on there. When I scrapped my 122's a few years ago, I parted them out and sold them on ebay. I was surprised to find there is a big parts market out there for Infinitys. People are parting them out left and right. There is also a big market for the foam repair kits for infinity's. I just checked there and one of the sellers said if you had any questions he would answer them.
I have some Infinity Reference One bookshelfs in my bedroom system for surrounds, and just checked. They have the same trim ring as my old 122's. They are held on with alan head screws and should pop right off! Unless someone glued them on! At which point you are gonna have to get them off anyhow and can't worry about breaking them. The speaker basket should bolt back on without the trim ring just fine- I think they are mostly aesthetic anyway.............HTH.

 

[Bassman2]

Hi Dave, thanks for responding. The woofer trim seems to be rather different on our two models. mine can be seen real close here...http://cgi.ebay.com/Infinity-Studio-Monitor-100-Pair-of-Wood-Cab-Speakers_W0QQitemZ330081679530QQihZ014QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I even saw one SM-100 pair for sale on the bay just now where it appeared that the replacement surround was glued OVER the trim ring that is about a half inch thick! So the outer surround edge sits about a half inch higher than the frame where it should be! That's got to restrict inward cone motion.

I didn't want to manhandle the things and was thinking maybe a heat gun would soften the glue? That plastic is pretty thick though so the heat might not even make it through. It would be easier to get at the ring with the speakers out of the boxes but I'm afraid of warping the stamped baskets when I pry on them. It's a shame, they are in otherwise excellent condition and a much darker and nicer looking finish than the ones I linked.