There's been an interesting tie-in to a couple of our recent videos. One was done a while ago on how to tell if your speakers are blown, or how do you damage your speakers? The other one was what was your first pair of speakers. And the common theme that you saw in a number of the comments that you made were, well, I had these speakers for 25 years until the foam surrounds rotted, and that was the end of them, and I threw them out at that point.
I'm going to talk just a little bit today about a common problem with older speakers, which is foam surrounds disintegrating, and you can see this poor guy here has suffered. Most of the surround is gone.
Now, many of you might ask, well, why would speaker manufacturers use a material that they know is going to fail and disintegrate? Well, you have to remember that if we go 30, 40, 50 years ago, that materials were not as available as they are now. Particularly things like synthetic rubber and materials like that that we can use and are commonly used for loudspeaker surrounds today were just not available back then.
Another thing is that the tools, the actual method that you construct or manufacture a foam surround are much easier to make, less expensive, and there's a very important performance thing, which is why some manufacturers still today are using foam surrounds, and that's the material is very light, and it does not restrict movement of the cone of a loudspeaker driver, so you tend to get more sensitivity or higher efficiency, which means, for a given amount of power in, that drive unit, that speaker is going to be able to play louder. And back when amplifier power, in the '50s, let's say, was very expensive and very difficult to get a lot of amplifier power, efficiency was king, so foam was very, very common.
Now, why does it fall apart like this? Well, unfortunately, environmental exposure over time. And that can mean UV rays from sunlight coming in the windows or other environmental things. If you happen to be a smoker, cigarette smoke will really rapidly deteriorate a foam surround, and so they just tend to disintegrate over time.
Now, modern foam surrounds, we now have the technology to build in things that protect from UV, protect from the environmental things, so you'll see in modern loudspeakers, foam surrounds last a heck of a lot longer than they did back in the day.
Now, one other important thing, and it really, really hurt me to see a lot of people in the comments saying, "Oh, I had those speakers for years, and I just gave them up, or I sold them for nothing at a garage sale because the surrounds had disintegrated." What you should be aware of, if you don't already know, is that foam surrounds can be fairly easily replaced. If you're somewhat mechanically inclined, you can buy kits online with the correct size replacement surrounds and adhesives to apply them. And if you're not comfortable with doing that, there are, at least in North America, a number of companies that you can send the drive units to, and they'll replace the surround for you.
If you've got that cherished pair of speakers that you lived through high school or college with, and they're in the basement sitting in the corner because the surrounds are dead, and you say, "Wouldn't it be great to get them going again?" It is possible. Please don't throw them out. Upcycle them if you can. Give them to somebody who may be able to do the repair and appreciate the speakers if you're done with them. Don't put them in the landfill. That makes me unhappy.
There's a little bit of the history on foam surrounds, why it's so common in older speakers, and hopefully, you enjoyed this video. Again, I love your comments. Keep them coming.
