Bass Speakers Rotting Away.

[HazyDavey]

Our stereo system is rather old, I guess around 18 years or so. Lately it hasn't been sounding very good. The balance seemed to be always off (four speaker cabinets) and there was a very noticeable distortion in the background. I thought it was a problem with the old speaker wires or the power amp. So I tried that approach with no results and then every other thing I could think of with no luck.

Finally out of desperation I took one of the grill covers off the speaker cabinet thinking maybe it was just dusty/dirty, I was guessing. When I did pieces of the bass speaker (woofer) came falling out onto the floor. The entire outside of the speaker had rotted off and became detached to the basket. I checked the other cabinets and it was the same with them. All the woofers and some 5" midrange speakers as well.

I was shocked and did some research, found out this was fairly common. Many speakers made back in the day had a foam "surround" put on the outer edge of the speaker attaching it to the basket. As the years go by this foam would start to break down or rot, starting as early as in the first 9-10 years.

I found a company that sells foam surrounds and ordered some replacements from them. Should be here this week and I'll start replacing them.

I've never known about this and as I wrote I was shocked when I first saw all those bits of speaker come falling out on the floor.

Just curious if anybody else has had this happen, or has some experience with this..

Outside of the speaker is rotted away.. woofer rot.

 

[Don M.]

This is not uncommon on speakers as they get older. I had the same thing happen to one of the speakers in my old 1997 truck a couple of years ago....so I replaced all 4 of them. I have a pair of RadioShack Mach One speakers on my main stereo, that I purchased way back in the early 1970's...and so far, they are holding up nicely.

 

[HazyDavey]

This is not uncommon on speakers as they get older. I had the same thing happen to one of the speakers in my old 1997 truck a couple of years ago....so I replaced all 4 of them. I have a pair of RadioShack Mach One speakers on my main stereo, that I purchased way back in the early 1970's...and so far, they are holding up nicely.

Don, that's the same make of the speakers I have. Two Optimus Mach two speaker cabinets, and two Optimus 950 speaker cabinets. Maybe they started using a different foam surround when I got my speakers. Hope your speakers stay well.

Oh.. I should say the picture I posted is not my speaker but one that looks just the same. I found it when I was researching and learning what was going on. Just wanted to give an idea what it looks like..

 

[Don M.]

Don, that's the same make of the speakers I have. Two Optimus Mach two speaker cabinets, and two Optimus 950 speaker cabinets. Maybe they started using a different foam surround when I got my speakers. Hope your speakers stay well. .

When I saw your note, I pulled the front panels on my speakers, and they look good...and sound good. I have a Sansui 9090DB receiver, which would probably rattle the walls at full volume, but I usually just have the volume turned up to no more than 20%.

 

[HazyDavey]

Success..

I finished replacing the foam surrounds on six speakers out of four cabinets. Two 15's, two 12's, and two 5" midrange speakers. I had to set up shop in the front room to do it, to chilly in the garage. And I found the date when we first bought these cabinets, 1991 so they're more like 26 years old, wow.

So last night was the big test, I waited for the missus to get home, then after we had a few beverages, we fired it up. :cower: It worked, whew..

I know these systems are dinosaurs. I don't think you can find them anywhere anymore, well maybe at the landfill. But she sounded pretty nice last night and that's all we need.


The company I bought my foam surround kits from is called, Simply Speakers. They were very helpful and I had a very good experience dealing with them. Lots of instructional videos to get you going. This is the one that fit my needs and helped me learn what to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F2P-0wyAYA

If you run into the same problem as I had, please have a look at these folks.

Davey.

 

[Don M.]

Success..If you run into the same problem as I had, please have a look at these Davey.

Great! Glad to hear that that project came out good. I made a note of this company, in case I have similar problems with my ancient Radio Shack speakers. Individual speakers seem to be a bit hard to find, anymore...especially the big Subwoofers, so being able to repair existing speakers might come in handy someday.

 

[HazyDavey]

Thanks Don, hopefully you won't have any problems with your speakers. I do like the look and sound of these things, it'd been a shame to just toss them.

Thanks also for your replies and support.. ride: