Lifespan of speakers

[joyous]

Speakers never age?

I have 25 year Sony floorstander still goes like a happy kid. Never getting tired or aged. It may not have the clear instruments separated soundstage as modern speakers but it has got its own sweet vintage soundstage that's uncomparable. I guess it sounds same as it sounded 25 years back.

Is there any age for speakers? Those magnets inside are made to last forever? Is speakers ran for 10 hours and 10,000 hours are same?

 

[corElement]

Nothing lasts forever, including this sector of space and time.

Jokes apart,

magnets lose their power
cables within the driver rust/oxidize
the cones suffer environmental degradation (especially in humid climates)
the copper and silver components oxidize
the enclosures rot
the fabric behind the driver decomposes
the crossovers fall apart
binding posts rust/oxidize/fall apart


If a speaker is treated / driven with respect they'll age slower than ones mistreated. And Those which are unused, age much slower but they age nevertheless.

I'd imagine a well kept speaker built to a decent standard should last around 70 years of gradual decay and component repairs till it finally throws in the towel.

 

[Audio_Freek]

It would depend on the Materials used in building the same.

I have Sony and JBL Speakers, Possibly manufactured in mid 90's and still sound great.Also i had some Local Speakers which were thrown into garbage in 2-3 years of usage.

But i have a friend who is running pioneer speakers i guess it should be Older than 40 years, Though we cant expect Dynamic sound from it,It sound best for Vocal, hearing the Carnatic music in those speakers will be honey.

Being in subcontinental climatic conditions, Humidity is very less and can guarantee few years than the expected Life span.

 

[joyous]

I guess after 'breaking-in', a good speaker goes around 20-30 years without decay and it starts decaying from then to the sand.

My Sony doesn't got used for a while, maybe 10 years, but it started running again for 2 months, does not show any tiredness still (but sparingly used).

 

[corElement]

Here, a 9 year old speaker beside a 39 year old speaker.
The 39 year old one has no crossover since it's a full range and continues to be used every other day for decades on while the 9 year old one has been sitting in a sealed box in a closet for 9 years and only got broken in months ago.

You can see the type of aesthetic damage that takes place over 4 decades on the speaker to the right.

 

[heliumflight]

Speakers grace very gracefully, they live longer than oneself, then what can one complain? Chill

 

[ravidharap]

My PANDAM bookshelf, 18 years old still working


I Love Tapatalk on my IPhone

 

[mpw]

Live long and prosper !!

- Mr Spock - Star trek

mpw

 

[reubensm]

The life span of a speaker (baffle included) cannot be accurately determined as there are lot of variables and dependencies:

some of them are:

The make and build quality, quality of materials used for the speaker and baffle
The environment in which the speaker is operated, exposure to the elements and possibility of physical damage
The kind of use it is put to, whether driven at high levels or not, kind of music played
Type of amps driving the speaker

If used carefully, good speakers, especially the ones manufactured in USA, England and Japan from the good old days, can last for a very long time. Until recently, I had an old 8 inch speaker which was salvaged from a 1930s Fergusson valve radio (made in England) which was in perfect shape and fully functional. We mounted it in a small box with an amplifier and gave that off a north indian caretaker at our construction site, who uses it to play music by connecting his mobile phone to it.

 

[avidyarthy]

My Sony SS S440 ... bought in 1988 is still going strong. Tweeter, mid-range and a huge 10" woofer ... front ported. Runs virtually daily ... err, whole night playing FM 104 .. very soft. They always have been perched high up on cupboards at all locations ever allocated to them. Maybe, thats why the kids-free environment (at such locations) still make them look as if new. There has been no deterioration in the SQ too.

 

[AVM]

Hi,
I have a pair of vintage Sansui speakers S- 81U supposedly built in 1970 which I acquired about 4-5months back and are still in good condition (the boxes took some beating during transportaion).
Currently paired with Sansui AU 317 they sound fanatastic, creating a wide sound stage. Considering its non ported construction consisting of two 10 inch drivers, one 4 inch mid range and one 3 inch tweeter and my listening level (volume knob would up at 2-3 clicks only which was loud enough for me), I always felt lack of bass .

Of late I started playing at a slightly higher volumes (I have not gone beyond the 9 '' Clock position yet), I find the bass coming nice and big creating a room filling experience. Current room size is about 13 feet X 20 feet.

Curious to now more I found these are passive radiators- one 10 inch driver is an active and other passive.
Here is some know how about it (not sure if you already know of it)

How Passive Radiators Work -All About Passive Radiator Speakers

Now I understand why these speakers perform better at higher volumes,
Guess that would inturn means larger room required and non complaining neighbours.

BTW, initially there was some distortion in mid range at higher volumes which seems to have reduced now over a period of time.
Any suggestions to fixing that.

Found them to sound fanatstic for slow rock, jazz, ghazals. Tracks with lots of instruments - they tend to get confused.

 

[olly42]

I am currently using Technics speakers SBC 450 for HT fronts which are 23 years old and are still delivering quality sound

 

[Audio_Freek]

Hi,
I have a pair of vintage Sansui speakers S- 81U supposedly built in 1970 which I acquired about 4-5months back and are still in good condition (the boxes took some beating during transportaion).
Currently paired with Sansui AU 317 they sound fanatastic, creating a wide sound stage. Considering its non ported construction consisting of two 10 inch drivers, one 4 inch mid range and one 3 inch tweeter and my listening level (volume knob would up at 2-3 clicks only which was loud enough for me), I always felt lack of bass .

Of late I started playing at a slightly higher volumes (I have not gone beyond the 9 '' Clock position yet), I find the bass coming nice and big creating a room filling experience. Current room size is about 13 feet X 20 feet.


Now I understand why these speakers perform better at higher volumes,
Guess that would inturn means larger room required and non complaining neighbours.

Found them to sound fanatstic for slow rock, jazz, ghazals. Tracks with lots of instruments - they tend to get confused.

Very impressive and Envy Set-up you have AVM:clapping:

The Speakers are pefectly matching to the table and looking more gorgeous

 

[Audio_Freek]

I heard people saying nowadays "The Quality of the Electronics are pretty bad compared to what was manufactured in 70's and 80's.

Adding some reasons and joining in Cor's Club
1.Magnet getting unpowered.
2.Voice coils getting burnt
3.Cones loosing its strength due to ages
4.Spiders loosing its flexibility
5.Accumulation of dust inside the speaker,
6.Lead wire or Crossover loosing its power.
7.Cabin\box losses it shape and new gaps created in joins due to the Glue missing its nature,When water or some liquid is poured the Box would loose its shape.


Though all these factors are in track, I can see Lot of examples that "Better Quality Components can live double of years than the normal one's"

Sansui,Marantz,Technics,JBL'S,Sony are some of the Vintage stuff(Speakers) which really had impressed me when i was having audition for Vintage gear.

The only concern i would see is POWER HANDLING will be much low compare to the Size of the drivers and Box sizes these days. But Vintage stuff never used PMPO and so Only the RMS is mentioned for beter understanding.

12'' Drivers would run only 30-50 W RMS, and i had chance to see a Small (4'' driver) with lable 500W

Quality has been outplayed by business these days, thats the matter to be worried

 

[Audio_Freek]

Here, a 9 year old speaker beside a 39 year old speaker.
The 39 year old one has no crossover since it's a full range and continues to be used every other day for decades on while the 9 year old one has been sitting in a sealed box in a closet for 9 years and only got broken in months ago.

You can see the type of aesthetic damage that takes place over 4 decades on the speaker to the right.

While having a sight on the Philips and JAMO i feel to say...

Miss Universe 1973 and Miss Universe 2012 Joining hands hyeah:

 

[joyous]

While having a sight on the Philips and JAMO i feel to say...

Miss Universe 1973 and Miss Universe 2012 Joining hands hyeah:

Some good comparisons out there
funny.

I heard people saying nowadays "The Quality of the Electronics are pretty bad compared to what was manufactured in 70's and 80's.

Quality has been outplayed by business these days, thats the matter to be worried

Yes. Electronics people should learn a lot from tube days, at least build processes and quality consciousness.

Quality of production deteriorated drastically in all areas. Quite hard to get a wooden furniture of same quality as vintage furniture from present carpenters.

 

[jayantadak]

If we want to own a speaker which delivers good bass and treble even at lower volumes ( for night listening) what is the criteria for choosing such speakers. Should it be full range speakers which we usually find in the cube speakers which one uses with computer multi-media. Or there are any other specifications to look into.

 

[avidyarthy]

If we want to own a speaker which delivers good bass and treble even at lower volumes ( for night listening) what is the criteria for choosing such speakers. Should it be full range speakers which we usually find in the cube speakers which one uses with computer multi-media. Or there are any other specifications to look into.

Multi-way speakers with extra-large woofer .... say 8" and above ....

 

[joyous]

Multi-way speakers with extra-large woofer .... say 8" and above ....

Yes. Size of the cone certainly has good impact on SQ (regardless of whatever bose may say). Vintage stuff usually has one 8+inch driver.

 

[Audio_Freek]

Give a try for 12'' (Possibly the Old one with Ivory/yello driver)speakers too, When you are not feeling sleepy then,Open the speakers grill cloth and listen the music with sighting the Speakers beauty.

The shape is easy to be compared with Moon too to temp to asleep.