Speakers what lifespan ?

[DUVET]

I was digging out some paper work on my kit to have it all in one place and came across the manual and registration for my Kharma's . Bought brand new in March 2007 with a serial number GB 02 . Well time flies and these beauties or coffins as some of the lads call them are in their 15 th year of service . How long can speakers go on for before deterioration sets in . I do not play really loud levels despite what Caroline says !!!!

 

[Jules_S]

I plugged in my Monitor Audio 14s this week to try something out. Purchased new in 1994 so now in their 28th year, and have been in fairly regular use up until about 2 years ago in my best mate's system (he's also upgraded and hence passed them back to me).

I suspect they are not in their prime any more but there is no obvious physical deterioration - drivers look fine, no issues with them that I can see, and they still sounded fine for what was a relatively inexpensive speaker from that period.

 

[rockmeister]

Crossovers may need re capping if the caps go off spec after what? 30 years? Cones should never degrade in your lifetime. Surrounds may need replacing depending on their material, but again, 30 years should be a minimum I'd guess. Start worrying at 30+

 

[hifinutt]

think my taus are over 25 years now with original woofers . big revamp by rfc but still original woofers

 

[lazycat]

I bought my Proacs 2nd hand, so they could be any age up to about 20 yrs old. Minty tho'.

Except for the crossovers which I re-capped with a serious improvement. This does depend, obviously, on the caps used etc.

The drivers still look factory fresh and are v. rarely driven hard. You could have a peak at the x/overs and decide to fettle.

May not be worth it tho'.

 

[lostwin]

My Snell’s date to 28/12/86 (as hand written inside the woofer cabinets). Original drivers have all been refoamed. A couple of years ago I had the crossovers re-capped (76 in total!) and I would liken the change to buying a new car having traded in a 10 year old one, you realise how loose and unrefined the old one was even though it still got you from A to B.

As long as you operate them within their limits, speaker units themselves do seem to be pretty indestructible - just consider all the builders’ radios that blare out all day on site for year after year…

 

[TIU]

I bought my Proacs 2nd hand, so they could be any age up to about 20 yrs old. Minty tho'.

Except for the crossovers which I re-capped with a serious improvement. This does depend, obviously, on the caps used etc.

The drivers still look factory fresh and are v. rarely driven hard. You could have a peak at the x/overs and decide to fettle.

May not be worth it tho'.

They're pretty sad though given the dross they have to play.

 

[Steveh]

A friend of mine has a pair of Celestion A3's which have just celebrated their silver anniversary.
https://audio-database.com/CELESTION/speaker/a3-e.html

 

[Lawrence001]

A friend of mine has a pair of Celestion A3's which have just celebrated their silver anniversary.
https://audio-database.com/CELESTION/speaker/a3-e.html

You can't beat those corn type woofers

 

[Tony_J]

Back in the days when I was experimenting with Lowther drive units, they only lasted about 10 years before you had to replace the foam surrounds and spiders - they turned brittle and crumbled into dust. I got pretty good at re-foaming them - the alternative was an expensive factory exchange service.

 

[Nopiano]

I bought some new speakers in 1997, and they worked perfectly for twenty years. I started to get a bit nervous that the tweeters might go ‘off’ as they were ferrofluid types. In the end I bought new ATCs in 2017 and sold my 1997 Sonus fabers. (I also sold the 1997 electronics which were still doing fine last year according to the buyer).

Realising age needn’t be a concern - or at least not as much as I’d previously imagined - I was fairly relaxed about getting some 2007 Sonus fabers earlier this year. Hopefully they’ll last more than five years! They’re 15 years old like yours @DUVET !

 

[TIU]

I've had these for donkey years, from a bloke named Barney Rubble.

 

[Tony_J]

I've had these for donkey years, from a bloke named Barney Rubble.

A Stones fan by any chance...?

 

[ChemMan]

My B&W CDM1se are still going strong after 25 years.

 

[TIU]

They're pretty sad though given the dross they have to play.

I was pulling your leg.

 

[Andy Stephenson]

I bought my ProAc Tablette 50s new in 1996

Still sound pretty good to me.

Andy

 

[hearhere]

I sold my Avantgarde Unos in 2019 after 17 years of regular use and they sounded as good as the day I bought them in 2002, to the extent that their replacements (2006 Duos) were hardly noticably better sounding. Then in 2020, I replaced the Duos with the latest Duo XDs and again (sightly disappointingly), the new XDs were only marginally better sounding than the 16 year old Duos.

After about 15 years, the Unos developed a slight "scratching" sound from a bass driver and I though one of its 10" woofer may need re-coning. After describing the problem to the UK distributor, I received back from AG details of a simple fix - adjusting a couple of pots on the bass amp board and adding a small resistor to reduce the start-up thump. After this £2 fix, the speakers were sounding as new once more.

Provided speakers arn't over-exerted by excessive volume levels and are kept in good environmental conditions (no excessive temperatures or humidty), they really should last for several decades with possibly replacement of capacitors at some stage.

Electrostatic speakers are probably the exception, in that they do require replacement transducers after a number of years, but are restored to as new sound once this is done.

 

[Strider]

I've got an early pair of NS 10's in the studio that were purchased in June 1980, still perfect as the day were hatched.
The NS 10 are about as flat as the Himalayas but are so revealing of a first mix down, an invaluable tool and still look cool on the bridge....

 

[pmcuk]

Be careful of ferrofluid in tweeters. This can dry up or go viscous and this can affect the frequency response.

To replace the ferrofluid you need to carefully take off the diaphragm assembly, clean the gap with blotting paper, and refill the gap. Tutorials on YouTube. Anybody's guess how long ferrofluid lasts - 10-15 years maybe. It also depends on the quality of the ferrofluid used.

 

[uzzy]

People out there using speakers made over 50 years ago .. Tannoys, IMF, Radford, Goodmans - the list goes on and on.

Except for crossover failure (caps) or driver failure (overdriven) and surround failure (easily remidied) a loudspeaker will last a person as long as the sound it provides pleases their ears.

I did have a smile when I saw this post though and I was thinking how many in here are using speakers over 20 years old in their main system (other than me and Yoda's have to be coming up for that age too now).

I hear all that is said about ferrofluid .. buggered if I know what the definitive answer is - my tweeters are over 20 years old and to my ears sound fabulous (and to me that is all that matters)