Here is what I posted last November to the Yahoo 398 group. You may
want to consider joining. Lots of good tips and info...good luck



Hoping the problem was indeed the speaker and not a capacitor, I
went ahead and made plans to replace the speaker.

An earlier post recommended the Regal 8 ohm, 3 watt replacement
speaker. I found them available through Hosfelt Electronics in Ohio
(phone 888-264-6464). It is part # 13-404. Get this...it is a 99
cent part. Great service by the way, parts arrived in 3 days.
Pretty interesting assortment of stuff on their website. $5 minimum
order if I recall correctly.

I followed the Rick W instructions on opening the case. In my case
(no pun intended), it opened very easily - probably since I had some
mod work done on the radio before.

The speaker is mounted on the inside front of the radio and is very
easy to get to. There are 4 retention "tab/clamps" that hold it in
place. Two tab/clamps are removeable (by screw). These should come
out first. Once those are removed, then you have to cut loose
rubber cement that appearently was used to help hold the speaker in
and perhaps help with vibrations or something. Suggest a razor blade
for that. I used a small screwdriver which wasn't very efficient.
Then you can slide the speaker out from the two stationary tabs.

The Regal speaker fits perfectly under the tabs and in the "speaker
hole." The magnet is much much bigger than on the stock speaker and
of course heavier. There is no doubt that the build quality of this
replacement speaker is superior to the stock. There is ample room
for the larger magnet.

I snipped the leads to the old speaker at the speaker. I cut most
of the leads of the new speaker off (left perhaps 3"). Then
soldered the old and new leads. Solder the red leads together and
then the white (from the board) to the black of the Regal speaker.
People that know what they are doing, would put the heat shrink over
the solder connection. I wound up using small pieces of electrical
tape. Slide the speaker back under the two stationary tabs. Screw
in the two removable tab/clamps. The speaker seemed to fit very
well, so I did not see a need to do any glueing.

The case went back together very easily. Then the moment of truth.
WOW...it was indeed the speaker that had gone bad. It sounds really
great now. Night and day.

Now, why did I have two speakers go bad for no apparent reason. Was
it humidity related as some have suggested? That is a good theory
and perhaps I should store this radio with a dessicant going forward.

This replacement took me under a half hour to do. I am not very
electronics oriented - so that should tell you it isn't very hard.
Someone that knows what they are doing could complete this
replacement in under 10 minutes I bet.

Thanks to those who posted their experiences on earlier posts and to
Rick W for posting the radio disassembly instructions several years
ago. If I can answer any questions, I will be glad to try.

73
Russ K3Pi


Brian wrote:
My 398, though used infrequently, has developed this problem also. Do you
have a part number for the replacement speaker you used?

-Brian