Reader's Query:

[skinnyfat]

And I don't think that girls abuse equipment like us guys... except in a group ... on a ladies night out... when no-one else (read men) is about.... and it's not their own equipment... but that of their brothers'... or ex-boyfriend.

LOL, maybe you've just solved the problem at hand ....

[Viagara]

Now look how civilized they became just because of the thought that maybe we have a female member

Which ever gender, welcome Ami

On paper it appears that the amp/speakers combination should not present any problems, but obviously something is very wrong. Either the speakers are driven to their max most of the time(even then I would not expect a speaker cone to tear) or there could be a problem with the amplifier itself.

I have only seen this happen once.

A friend of mine had an amp/speaker combination where the amp did not have enough power to really drive the speakers(the indicator lights on the amp used to blink when playing low notes!). He also played music with the "bass" turned to maximum and "treble" almost at minimum. To add insult to injury his teenage son decided that his bass amp(bass guitar) did not provide enough bass, so he plugged the headphone output from his bass amp into the microphone in on the amplifier. All of this eventually caused a tear in both bass-mid drivers and even after the first replacement, the abuse continued resulting in 4 replacements in total. Since then the old amplifier has been replaced with a HK AVR and the son moved out of the house and  my friend turned the bass down a bit and the speakers are still in good shape.

This short story may not help Ami, but could shed some light on how what we consider to be "normal" usage could result in abuse of equipment.

[skinnyfat]

Ami ??

Anything to report yet ?

[Ami]

I'm tempted to agree that the culprit here is the amp, the part that is damaged in the driver is the elastic lair around the paper ...as for the rest i'm one of you guys (no appologies)

[Viagara]

I'm tempted to agree that the culprit here is the amp, the part that is damaged in the driver is the elastic lair around the paper ...as for the rest i'm one of you guys (no appologies)

Tut, tut, tut! Just when I thought we have a memeber of the fairer sex who could get these holligans to behave

[Hi-Phibian]

Ami,
The good news is you are not an animal, the bad news is I have seen this problem on these particular speakers before. I used to be involved with the once importer of AE.
It happened on 109 but seldom on 120 models that used the same drive units, just an extra one. Dunno why, the foam surrounds seem to tear, not on all, just some. Could be our dry air drying out the foam? Perhaps coupled with a design that allows excursion to "stretch levels".....
The folk to whom this happened did appear to like music with a lot of deep bass. (acoustic more then 100hz thump stuff).

I am not sure what joy you may get from the local AE agent as these models pre date their involvement (I am sure they would be happy to fit and charge for new units but not sure if they would investigate further) but I think a detailed e mail to AE in the UK may be more fruitful.

Hope this helps

[jamster]

At last - real advice. Well done, Croak -- and thanks

[Byrd]

If that is the case, maybe just try replacing the surrounds instead of the entire driver. Butyl rubber surrounds should last alot longer. This will change the specs on the drivers somewhat but most that have done this seem happy enough with results. I did notice one or two posts on the net about that, but there was no official word from AE.

[Hi-Phibian]

Before doing "repairs" I would still send the e mail to AE to see if they take any action/responsibility/help whatever. If this falls on deaf ears/blind eyes, then yes re-surround the units.
The sonics will be affected a little but generally subtle and a good surround beats a damaged one. I think the time lapse between torn surround and the time it takes to get folks to fix them means audio memory fades as to what they sounded like when pristine....

[Ampdog]

Ami; Croak,

If you mean foam surround as I think you do, the stuff deteriorates with time. I have yet to ask a chemistry friend why, but I have often found this wherever I use foam (not just with loudspeakers). My Sennheiser headphone covers had several replacements, as did microphone wind shields etc. I had such loudspeakers (drivers) and replaced with butyl surrounds.

For how long have you had these loudspeakers, Ami?

[Hi-Phibian]

That is the thing, they do often fail with time but most take 15 years or more, some of these failed within 5 years or even less.....

[Shonver]

I can't count how many AR, Philips and B&O speakers (classics) I have come across that had rotten foam surrounds. However, I have been told by engineers in the loudspeaker/driver design & manufacturing industry that the foam rot problem has long since been solved (which does not mean to imply that all companies use the same quality foam).

[chipwelder]

Aparently the new foam surrounds are less susceptible to rot... I's a idiot, apparently The Speaker doctor in Germiston gets the nice new foam...

[Timber_MG]

let's hope my Tannoys last for a bit longer then...the accellerating factors are UV, heat and humidity iirc