30 yr old speakers- time to replace drivers?


I have a pair of NHT VT1 speakers. The drivers seem to be in good shape. They have paper cones and rubber surrounds. After 30 yrs, should I upgrade crossovers and replace drivers?

pureclarity

Showing 1 response by larryi

I don’t know about your specific speakers.  There are some where the rubber surrounds on woofers go bad over time and crumble, but, others do not suffer this fate.  I recently listened to a terrific system using 75 year old drivers.  If you had a speaker with the kind of surround that was most vulnerable to aging, it would have gone a long time ago.  Even if the surround goes bad, the driver can be repaired by someone replacing the surround (often called re-foaming for the foam rubber employed in the surround).

As for the caps, they can go bad over time, particularly if they are electrolytic, but, they can often last a very long time too, so it is not necessarily the case that they need replacement.