Which speaker types have a limited life?

[katana1100]

I have speakers that are over 30 years old and still sound great. My Lx 5 dipoles are maybe 12 years old and still are great.
However, what speakers wear out? I have read that accustats need "tune ups" every ten years.
What about Heil amt? Those tweeters with mag fluid- does that stuff dry out?
Outside of foam rot, which designs or brands are toast after 20 years?

[cristo]

I have speakers that are over 30 years old and still sound great. My Lx 5 dipoles are maybe 12 years old and still are great.
However, what speakers wear out? I have read that accustats need "tune ups" every ten years.
What about Heil amt? Those tweeters with mag fluid- does that stuff dry out?
Outside of foam rot, which designs or brands are toast after 20 years?
You mentioned foam-rot - surrounds don't last forever, but can usually be replaced.
Some materials last longer than others.
The rubber surrounds on Polk speakers seem to do pretty well.
Electrolytic capacitors in the crossovers can die after about 20 years (most good speakers will have non-electrolytic
capacitors that last longer - electrolytics should probably be upgraded to a better type even if they haven't died).
Binding posts can often do with a good de-ox and clean.
Don't know anything about the longevity of exotic tweeters.

[Mark J]

Ribbon tweeters can stretch over long term use.
Mylar can stretch past the limit of correct sound.
Glue can fail causing delamination of the voice coil from the Mylar.

All the above are issues with Magneplanar speakers but can affect others. Magnepan will rebuild almost all their speakers back to like new.

[Class A Clown]

The tweeter dome covers on late-1980s KEF C Series speakers turn a rusty color, but it doesn't seem to affect the sound. I don't know how long it takes for that to happen. The ones I have like that were that way when I got them. Before I saw that, I had always assumed they were the same polyurethane material as the woofers, but maybe not.

[ke4mcl]

some BW speakers i got in a lot from the 80's seem to have glue ooze.

old alnicos can experience loss of magnetism. the technology just wasnt up to snuff in the 40's-50's.

[DaveInVA]

Some electrostatics that use foam tape for spacers go bad when the glue goes bad and the lets the tension go on the stator. Some ML's did this as did my first home brew ones.
Acoustat's however are made totally different and are solvent welded and don't suffer from losing tension.
Electrostats of any type can go bad if not stored properly or are left in direct sunlight or if they are in a smokey environment.


Dave

[LesX55]

Sony APMs can deteriorate with time

[stereorob]

infinity polysphere tweeters and mids rot and crumble over time, ive seen it first hand.

[steve_pan]

Ribbon tweeters can stretch over long term use.
Mylar can stretch past the limit of correct sound.
Glue can fail causing delamination of the voice coil from the Mylar.

All the above are issues with Magneplanar speakers but can affect others. Magnepan will rebuild almost all their speakers back to like new.

I use Apogee Acoustics that are now almost 20 years old, everything works perfect, no stretch of ribbons or problems what so ever.

I would say no speaker last's forever, it's more of an issue in what climate they are in, and how someone really takes care of them with their amplification and listening levels. Over the years on seeing how most "audiophiles" combine the two, i would say a much bigger percentage of speaker's fail mostly because of this .

[Warped Bezel]

The tweeter dome covers on late-1980s KEF C Series speakers turn a rusty color, but it doesn't seem to affect the sound. I don't know how long it takes for that to happen. The ones I have like that were that way when I got them. Before I saw that, I had always assumed they were the same polyurethane material as the woofers, but maybe not.

Those are merely VOICE COIL COVERS and all they do is cover the voice coils. They have absolutely no other aspect and aren't part of the cones. Dent it, REMOVE it and the sound changeth not.