Care for speakers stored many years

[Corpsman]

My husband bought a pair of La Scala speakers in the base exchange when he was stationed at Yakuska, Japan with the Navy. The speakers went from Japan to California to Oklahoma, with unfortunately a LOT of time in storage! He is now retired, and finally going to get them set up permanently. But now I have some concerns.

 

Is there anything we need to do or to check out before we use them? They were carefully stored, but for about 10 years.

 

The speakers naturally got some scratches and worn spots during transport and storage. The damage is not enough to require refinishing, but what can I do to minimize the damage and protect the finish? They are in the blonde Birch Lacquer finish.  Thank you.

 

 

[Travis In Austin]

They should be fine sound wise.

 

As far as finish I think @HDBRbuilder will be your best bet.

 

Travis

[JohnA]

Welcome!

 

You may be able to touch up the finish with spray lacquer.  Even car wax may do the job, since they are glossy. 

 

As to the components inside, hook them up to an amp and gently, slowly turn up the volume while listening for unusual sounds and distortion.  If all of the drivers are working and sound fine, enjoy. 

 

If not, this is the place to come!  Collectively, we have lots of spare parts and know where to get new parts with even greater sound quality. 

 

If they are over 35 years old, I predict you will eventually want to replace the crossover capacitors to restore their crispness/livelyness.  So far, speakers that I have seen that have not been used much and are also 40+ sound dull and need new caps. 

[jason str]

The worst offender is moisture, along with checking the capacitors as previously mentioned i would remove the woofers and check for mold on the cones. If present lightly spray the cone with Lysol (careful not to saturate) and lightly brush with a soft brush such as a clean paintbrush.

 

Be sure to properly seal the driver chamber in reassembly, if the old seal is dilapidated scrape it off and replace it with speaker gasket tape.

[pzannucci]

On 5/22/2017 at 3:36 PM, jason str said:

The worst offender is moisture, along with checking the capacitors as previously mentioned i would remove the woofers and check for mold on the cones. If present lightly spray the cone with Lysol (careful not to saturate) and lightly brush with a soft brush such as a clean paintbrush.

 

Be sure to properly seal the driver chamber in reassembly, if the old seal is dilapidated scrape it off and replace it with speaker gasket tape.

Yes, rotate the drivers also if you are doing all this.  They could be sagging.