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Topic: What Happens To Old Speakers? |
Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 4:59 pm |
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I know a lot of folks are of the opinion that new speakers have a "break in" time before they start sounding as good as they can.
What about old speakers? As they age, do you think they eventually lose their ability to reproduce the various frequencies as well as they did when they were newer?
_________________
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
Williams Keyless S-10, BMI S-10, Evans FET-500LV, Fender Steel King, 2 Roland Cube 80XL's,
Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2008 11:59 pm
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They don't lose frequency response that much, but they DO lose power handling capability. You can usually figure a 20-year-old speaker has 50-75% of its original power handling if it was used much at all.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 4:40 am
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With speakers, like most anything, some deterioration comes just with time. Cones dry out and become brittle, suspension rings get fatigued and crack. Glues and adhesives used for the voice coil and dome dry, shrink, and crack. Like Jim said, they'll still work pretty much as new, but if you don't go easy on them after they age, they'll fail, sooner or later.
Luckily, you can get them rebuilt and start over.  |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 7:24 am
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I've heard that over time speakers tend to sag and should be rotated 180 degrees every few years.
Anyone know if this if fact or fiction?
_________________
Everyone in the world has two jobs: 1) whatever they do for a living; and 2) music critic. |
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Steve Hamill
From:
California, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 8:01 am
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| Thats gravity and I've heard the same thing about rotating them. Makes perfect sense to me. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 10:21 am
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| Alan Kirk wrote: |
I've heard that over time speakers tend to sag and should be rotated 180 degrees every few years.
Anyone know if this if fact or fiction? |
For the most part, it's fiction. If the speaker is old enough to have been affected by gravity, gravity is the least of your worries.  |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 11:58 am
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What Donny said. That's a story that's gone around for years that no speaker company has ever been able to confirm.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 12:52 pm
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The guy who told me to rotate the speakers every few years was an old Navy electronics tech, FWIW.
_________________
Everyone in the world has two jobs: 1) whatever they do for a living; and 2) music critic. |
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James Morehead
From:
Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 5:20 pm
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| I'm with ya, Alan and Steve. My amp tec is an old Navy electronics man, too, working on tube amps and equipment since 1960, and he said the same thing. Infact, this man had his own reconing buisness for years, and he has reconed his share of speakers over the years. He says the JBL's were the ones that needed occasional rotation, because the material the speaker was made of was lighter, and was eventually affected by humidity/lack of humidity and gravity, and would begin to sag, causing the voice coil to start to rub. He demonstrated it to me with an old D130 that was getting scratchy. Rotated it 180 degrees, and the scratch went away. They get to this point, and a recone job will be coming soon. Storing a speaker horizontal is a good thing to do, if you can. Other speakers are made with a little heavier material, and do not tend to display this problem near as much, if ever. Good wives tale. |
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Jim Bates
From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2008 8:11 pm
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Re: rotating speakers. This IS fact, I did it on my JBL E130 and it quit the 'popping' or 'crackling' sound like a voice coil rubbing.
A top-of-line amp technician in Houston (Ray Lambert) suggested I try this before I spent a couple of hundred dollars for him to recone it.
It worked and costs me nothing.
Obviously, I disagree with you skeptics on this one.
Thanx,
Jim |
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Derrell Stephens
From:
Shreveport, La. USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2008 5:33 am
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| Go with the rotating ... especially JBL. |
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