Do speakers loose properties over time

[rendu]

Hello, as you may have seen in my other post I am in process of replacing my front speakers. I have enjoyed my Dali Ikon 1s very much for the past 5 years (using daily) but latelly I was somehow noticing that they were missing something. It was as if the speakers were getting softer and loosing bass attack. These are specially refined speakers so, the punch has never been one of their strenghts anyway but, it just seems as if they sound too soft now with every type of music.

How long do speakers last on average before they start loosing their physical properties? Could this be only in my mind?

 

[Gazzip]

They have moving parts so it is a certainty that from day one they begin their wearing out journey. How long that takes to affect the sound quality I suspect will vary from driver to driver, the volume they have been driven at, exposure to UV sunlight etc. etc.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Use it or loose it. Play em loud and hard. Exercise dem coils an rubbers. Bounce de cones till they rattle. (Various speakers for sale. Some wear apparent)

Some sense (tho little) in these words of wisdom.

 

[TrevC]

The loser the better in my opinion. As long as they ain't broke.

 

[lindsayt]

Rendu, have you checked that the bolts holding the drivers in are nice and tight? IE tighten the bolts, but don't over tighten them.

I have 100% original, never been serviced 50 year old speakers that still provide tight, dynamic, punchy, tuneful bass.

I also have 30 year old and 40 year old speakers that require a refoam of the bass drivers every 20 years or so.

 

[peterpiper]

using a 16 year old set of ae109 , still sound great, rubber surrounds still perfect, sweet silk tweeter, solid as concrete cabinets, these 'oldish' speakers have many years left in them. they are going nowhere,

 

[SteveR750]

My AR 18BXs eventually died, as the foam bass/mid surrounds simply perished. So, some do/did anyway.

Depends on the materals used, but UV isn't great on most polymers.

 

[Vladimir]

I had my AR11Bs refoamed+recapped and they kept on pounding. Surrounds, spiders, crossover caps and paper tweeters deteriorate over time and need replacing.

 

[bigfish786]

Mission m35i, just got better and better as they aged. I sold them to a young guy who was amazed by them. They were around 8 years old and still looked new.

 

[ifor]

The loser the better in my opinion. As long as they ain't broke.

It amused me Trevor.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Paper cones age without doubt.

But modern speakers after 2000ish with more exotic cone materials don't age has badly imo.

My speakers - Mission 782se are over 10yrs old now - although the midrange drivers have been changed due to the well known design flaw - since that change the have worked extremely well.

Still able to amaze me at times with their sound.

 

[BryO]

Me Roksans still sound great after 20+ years, the casing has a few marks but the speakers and tweeters are still going strong.

 

[mond]

At five years old they are mere babes, should have a few years left in em yet.

 

[scene]

I've had my MA Silver 8i from new in 2001 and they still sound great. I reckon they've still got several more years in them and they sound marvellous.