How long between driver replacement

[98_1LE]

I have a pair of Klipsch KG5.5, a pair of KG.5 & a KV-3 that are about 5 years old now. They have not been abused, how long can I expect them to last?

Thanks

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[JohnA]

30 years?

John

[WMcD]

I've never heard anyone claim that drivers wear out. Many of the Heritage line have been around for half a century and are well appreciated.

Further, I've never seen anything about maintenance. You can't take the drivers apart, and don't need to.

When drivers fail, it is typically from abusive sound levels.

Gil

[T2K]

98_ILE, I have some 5.5's I bought new 7 years ago.They are still excellant speakers.Should last you years.

A KLF-C7 center and a pair of KSP-S6 or RS-7 surrounds and a Klipsch 15" sub(U-Bid)driven by a Denon 2802 or 3802 would make a fab HT set-up.Good luck.

Keith

[Colin]

One of the wonderful features of Klipsch's big old horns is that the woofers should last an incredibly long time without adolescent male abuse. In an effort to make the cabinet smaller, modern speaker designers moved towards designs which made the speaker do more of the work, wearing out the cones faster in newer models than in older styles.

Where the emphasis once was on the amount of cone surface area - bigger is better - now the focus is on the amount of excursion or the surface area equivalent. Cones today are smaller but push just as much bass by moving further.

You can see this easily by looking at the size and construction of the surrounds that encircle the speaker cone. The surrounds on the big old horns are thin and narrow multiple pleats. By comparison, most of the time, the large cone does not move much at all. Tap them and you hear the low note that the entire cabinet helps to make.

The surrounds on newer, smaller cones are a single, thick roll of rubber. Tap them and you hear a higher note, with out any help from the cabinet, just from the cone itself. The new woofers move more than the older Klipsch cones and they wear out faster.

Unless there appears to be visible and/or audible wear and tear, the kind lady at Klipsch told me over a decade ago, the woofer cones probably do not need replacing.

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Cornwalls & Klipsch subs; leather couch & feet up; lights out & tubes glowing!

[eq_shadimar]

Chevy dude -

My Cornwalls and Heresys are over 20 years old and sound brand new. I am not familer enough with the KG5.5 but if they used foam surrounds for the woofer there is a possiblity that you may have some problems. There has recently been a bunch of talk on different boards about the foam surrounds simply falling apart. I agree with others that you would not have to replace them due to normal use.

bu bye,

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[98_1LE]

Thanks. They still sound great, as good as they did in '95 when I bought them. So I am sure they will last many more years.

eq_shadimar, I am not purely a "Chevy guy", though my last 3 cars have been GM. I like a fast bargain, and the F-bodies have been rocking Stangs since the early '90's

-Chuck

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My system:

Pioneer VSX 454 receiver

Pioneer PD-F100 CD changer

Pioneer DV-414 DVD player

Klipsch KG5.5 main, KG.5 rear and KV-3 center

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This message has been edited by 98_1LE on 10-30-2001 at 05:46 PM

[WMcD]

I might add that some manufacturers, not Klipsch, used foam surrounds. That is the area surrounding the diaphragm. Those are prone to deterioration.

Also, if a driver is used in a car door, and the door rusts out, the flakes can find their way into a voice coil gap. Or at least that is what I think caused a problem for me.

But other than that, most speakers from any source are remarkably long lifed.

Gil