kbonarek

I've seen it mentioned in a few posts that speakers have a "useable lifetime". How long exactly would this lifetime be for a quality speaker, if there is one.

zzzzzzz

iTrader: (5)

what power
what car
where ...Quebec, Montreal

Denonite

iTrader: (1)

depends...i still have high end speakers from 20 years ago that sound the same as new, and don't look any different....the brand is vandersteen by the way. I've noticed most car audio speakers with foam surrounds deteriorate, the carbon fibre or kevlar cones are still perfect though...these are Altec lansing from 1988. You should get 6 years easily from most speakers though, as long as they are properly shielded from the elements, and not abused.

kbonarek

So assuming the surrounds don't deteriorate and the speakers aren't exposed to extremely adverse conditions, then there should be no life expectancy...

Why would power or car affect the life of a speaker?

SQmonster

iTrader: (2)

It's the same as the life expectancy of a car in Montreal as compared to Vancouver. The elements have a huge influence on them.

eharri3

Speakers have mechanical limits (a point beyond which you could overdrive or over excurt them so much that you may see physical damage) and thermal limits (beyond which you may start to see burned voicecoils.) When these limits are exceeded for extended periods of time due to excessive operation above the rms power rating or clipping that causes the supplied power to exceed to rated limits, it degrades the life of the speaker and can in some cases can kill it fairly quickly.

Speakers can be damaged if you do not provide sufficient power to get them as loud as you want them and crank the head unit volume or gain to the point where an excessively distorted signal is sent to them. They can also be damaged or worn out if you overpower them by so much that they spend lots of time during normal listening at or above their nominal power limits. Some people who buy top of the line speakers and can be conservative with the amplifier's gain dial connect amplifiers making 2-3 times as much as the speaker's rms rating and can run it like that, and run it hard, for years with no problems. Some people can hook up an 80 watt speaker to their 16 watt head unit or to a 35 watt amplifier and can kill it fast by sending it clipped signals and/or excessive bass frequencies.

The best way to ensure it lasts a long time is to overpower it by a moderate amount and make appropriate adjustments at the gain and crossovers so it's getting all the clean the power it needs right up to the maximum peaks in the music and you get the loudness and clarity you want everywhere in the volume range without excessive volumes or gain settings. Also use appropriate crossovers or make appropriate gain and volume adjustments if you're dipping down too far below the 90-100 HZ range.

This is why it's hard to say what life expectancy: Aside from gradual degrading of build materials over time, speakers don't normally just die or wear out. One way or another, the user kills them.