how to clean a klipsch woofer that is dirty?

[Brayton5232]

Hey guys i heard that you could use vegetable oil for cleaning woofers. My woofers are extremely dirty. I have a pair of old chrous two's that were in my dads garage and i'm nervous about how dirty they are. I'm basically wanting to give them some love and use them again cuz i just moved into a house. You think this is the best way i havn't don eit yet fearing it might now be true.

[mark1101]

I would start with a simple vacuum job using a vac with a soft brush on the end. This should get 98% of the dust and debris out of the woofer (and everywhere else in the enclosure). It's safe. I never heard of using vegetable oil. Maybe some of the others could comment on that.

[Jeff Matthews]

Vegetable Oil sounds really dangerous on paper. I would not try it, unless I saw it done on something I wouldn't mind destroying first.

How about compressed air - if your talking about well-settled dust?

Tell us what it is that is on there that makes them dirty.

[Hardhead]

There's nothing in vegetable oil that is in any way a cleaning agent. Vegetable oil will BIND the dust and dirt that's already there to the paper on the woofer and attract even more in the future, and you've compounded the problem.

Attempting to clean your woofer with anything stronger than a clean, very soft brush is pretty risky because of the very real potential for voice coil misalignment. You could turn them so the woofer is facing toward the floor and brush the woofers lightly. That's about all you can safely do; anything else is risky.

Other than general neatness, is there any reason the woofers MUST be cleaned? Frankly, considering the risks, I wouldn't bother.

[intotubes]

I would NOT use veggy oil on my paper speaker cones. Not only will it change the way it sounds, when the oil turns rancid it will smell up the music room. Bad advice.

If you HAD to use a liquid I would use water on a damp rag (maybe). At least that would dry.

Use a vacuum.

[TBrennan]

High pressure steam cleaner will do the trick. Also works good for those exposed chassis tube amps like old Fishers and Jolidas, gets it clean right down in there between the tubes and transformers and such.

[DrWho]

Whatever happened to just using a good old fashioned damp cloth?

[colterphoto1]

I use a large soft bristle artists brush (also used for auto detailing). Use it in light motions to dislodge the dust. DO NOT APPLY any liquid material whatsoever to those cones.

If you want them to look like new, I successfully use a specialty auto paint to repaint the clean cones of speakers that had become faded by sunlight. type Painting Cones in the SEARCH field above. Go to page 5 for photos.

Michael

[Speedball]

I keep a big soft paint brush handy around the house and it works fine here too.

[fastlane]

Loud music with lots of bass. Do this for as long as it takes to shake the dust off. Otherwise use the brush attachment of your vacuum,carefully.

[Dylanl]

High pressure steam cleaner will do the trick. Also works good for those exposed chassis tube amps like old Fishers and Jolidas, gets it clean right down in there between the tubes and transformers and such.

Where in the world could anyone rent one of these?

[TBrennan]

Dylan----Oh, any industrial tool rental place should have one. Just the thing for those grungy old Fisher tube receivers.

[Dylanl]

That's a power washer. Didn't you say steam? High pressure? Have you tried this?

[Dylanl]

I have a power washer but I think it would blow away any fine connections. Steam though seems like a good idea. I have seen the steam cleaners maybe the pressure is not as great.

[TBrennan]

Dylan----That's a high pressure steam washer, we used them to clean tube bundles and stuff like that.

I'm sorry, I was just jokin' around about using one. Sometimes I forget not everybody is familiar with the same tools I am.

I'm sorry Dylan, I feel ashamed now.

[Dylanl]

The reason I ask is because I have an old MKIII and I need to get it clean. You are not to far off the mark because I have seen small steam units that should work. I think it's a good idea even though you are joking. This will probably sound odd but I used engine bright to get the 40 years of grime off of my MKIIIs. It worked great but it did smell like a engine for a few days.[]

[Hardhead]

I wouldn't use any kind of steam or high heat on my drivers, cones, etc. because of the chance of melting heat sensitive glues or deforming heat sensitive materials, but that's just me.