Speaker repair

I repaired a non permanent magnet oval speaker with a couple small rips by gluing in small pieces of paper. The speaker works but the sound is distorted and weak unless I push in the cone in one place along the edge with my finger. It then works loud and clear. I put some silicone adhesive on that spot without any improvement. Is re-coning my only option to get this speaker working?

Now it is......
Voice coil is warped, and, you made matters worse with the silicone.
Bill Cahill

Bill -

Could you elaborate perhaps just a bit in the spirit of education? What should have been done?

The coil is rubbing and when you push down in one spot it distorts the cone of the speaker and allows the coil to move away from the center magnet, freeing up the speaker to quit binding. Some of the old speakers had a movable spider on the coil form that would allow for minor adjustments. Some times the magnet was centered with just one screw and if that could be loosened up while listening for a scraping noise until the scraping sound disappeared, the slowly tighten down and gently pushing up and down at the same time.

If this isn't a solution then speaker reconing or replacement is your only alternative.

Thank you RiF. Your insight and some research has taught me some things about speakers. I don't see any adjustments to be made. I don't know if the radio is worth the cost of reconing so I am working on a mechanical "finger" on the cone.