| Re: Why do speakers fail? [message #87145 is a reply to message #87140] |
Sat, 27 January 2018 09:41   |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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The most common cause of loudspeaker failure is heat. Running a speaker for a period of time (usually several minutes) over its maximum power handling ability causes heat to increase in the motor core. Eventually the glue that holds the voice coil fails and the edge of the winding comes loose. Then the speaker begins to buzz when played. After a while, the loose winding may catch and break, and then the speaker no longer makes any sound at all.
The second most common cause of failure is over-excursion. When too much bass is sent to the speaker for its suspension to handle, the voice coil former strikes the back plate or some other suspension component is pushed past its limits, causing it to be deformed, torn or broken.
There are less common failure modes too. An instantaneous energy surge can cause the voice coil to melt. This is rare, but it happens, usually as a result of an amplifier malfunction. And of course, there are cases where the speaker is mechanically damaged by something striking or penetrating the cone/diaphragm, or by something covering the cone with liquid or other material, etc.
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