Foam Edging
The most common problem with speakers is deterioration of the foam surrounds (edge) on woofers. This is a normal event and depending on climate can happen after 8-15 years.
PLEASE NOTE: If you suspect your speakers may be suffering from this problem, DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY . Using speakers with a damaged or missing edge will deform the voice coil and destroy the speaker completely. In some cases, you may not have noticed the damage as the drivers may be behind a cloth grill. Don’t worry, just remove the drivers and send them to us as soon as possible.
It is also worth noting that even if only one speaker driver looks damaged it will certainly be the same for the other drivers in your enclosures regardless of physical appearance. This is because they would have been manufactured at a similar time.
The Speaker Hospital can replace this foam material, and your speakers will sound as good as new.
The Repair Process
We were able to save this speaker using the original parts. All that was required was a little careful surgery to locate the exact problem, which thankfully, in this case, was repairable. The client paid for 2 hours of labor and was over the moon with the result, especially since he had been told elsewhere that the speaker could not be fixed.
The thing to remember is that regardless of a speaker’s apparent condition, the repair is most likely both possible and inexpensive. We would like you to bring or send your speakers to us and we can let you know if they can be repaired. Speaker repair estimates are provided at no charge.
If you are freighting your speakers to us, please click here for important information.
Other Related Problems
- In some cases, speakers require more than just the replacement of surround material.
- Some speakers may require a recone. It is possible that a speaker magnet can lose magnetism.
- Speaker enclosures that sound muffled and lacking clarity may need tweeter repair or replacement, or crossover capacitor replacement.
- Sometimes both woofers and tweeters are OK, but the speakers are producing no sound. Apart from the obvious (i.e. bad cable or connection) this could be due to cross-over damage or a fault in the electronics, amplifier, CD player, etc.