cloth surrounds

[ironlake]

If a speaker with cloth surrounds have little dents and creases in the surround, does that affect the suspension. The speaker in question seems to go back and forth just fine on low bass, but am wondering if I need to cut out the surround and put in new foam. thanks for any answers.

[Carlspeak]

I doubt those little dents and creases are a significant problem. How does the speaker sound to you? That's what's most important.

[ra.ra]

ironlake: Carl's point is the main thing here - - - if it ain't broke, don't fix it - - - just take some time to fully evaluate the speaker's performance before resorting to the scalpel. If they were my speakers, unless there was a very obvious problem, I'd probably never sacrifice a time-tested cloth surround for a foam replacement.

Sometimes these 40 year-old speakers can still have cloth surrounds that have a fully formed and rounded profile, but other times they look every bit as wrinkled and sagging as we ourselves are. Don't worry about it, particularly if you use your speakers with grille cloths in place, but instead you may wish to focus attention on whether the surrounds are performing as intended - - - i.e. airtight - - - and if not, consider the appropriate butyl re-doping application, particularly for woofers greater than 8" diameter.