Do Speakers Wear Down?

[resurrection64]

Hi!

When i use my speakers and play them at max, will my speakers wear out faster and become quieter faster rather than if i were to play them lower?
I know it's kind of a weird question, but thanks in advance!

 

[Mr5oh]

Not really. Yes speakers will eventually wear out, but a decent speaker will last a really long time. Any quality speaker will generally last most of your lifetime.

General rule of thumb is, if it sounds bad turn it down. If you aren't hearing distortion/clipping, it's fine.

 

[nukemaster]

Speakers seem to out live the amp they are connected to

 

[atarione]

maybe

depends on your speakers and amp.

if you have a underpowered amp and try to play it too loud it can start clipping and burn out the tweeters pretty quickly.

or if you have a very powerfully amp and really let it off the chain you could also damage the speakers.


one thing that can happen to speakers over time is the surrounds on the woofers can deteriorate ... not sure if playing them loud really makes must difference on that... and all the caps in the crossover can start failing over time.

I have now reformed 3 different speakers I got for very cheap due to surrounds being shot...

most recently some Advent 9s I paid $10 for and then another $8~ (shipped) for a surround kit.

 

[thee_prisoner]

Foam surround wear out but it takes(hmm, about 10 years) depending on your environment. That is why most quality speakers use rubber or some cloth(fiber) type surrounds. It isn't too hard to re-foam speakers like atarione said.

 

[resurrection64]

So if my AMP & speakers were built together.... then i won't have any problems with like my speakers being loud and wearing down faster ?!
Thanks!

 

[nukemaster]

I would go with the advice of Mr5oh. If it does not sound distorted, chances are things are fine.

I say this because just as an example, My old Altec Lansing Select 641 computer speakers actually had an amp that could blow the speakers(I remember at least a few times that I could smell burning voice coil from the sub). While the speakers never blew, they never got played at full volume for any long periods of time[who wants to listen to distortion anyway] and after about 10 years one of the 2 sub amps started to give out(I have no doubt that I could have damaged the subs a bit along the way).