Old speakers? How long will they last?

[rutledj]

I ocassionally see old Electrovoice speakers on ebay from the 70's and they appear in good condition. I'm just curious how long these will last being that old. Doesn't the surround or paper cone eventually start to dry rot or crack? Seems like you would need to recone these sooner than just buying a new (equivalent) speaker.

Rut

[Funkalicousgroove]

They will last until they don't work anymore. EV will recone for $110.

[Darkbluemurder]

They will last until they don't work anymore.

Well that doesn't set them apart from other speakers does it?

[Funkalicousgroove]

Not in any way shape or form! I have seen 50's Jensens perform like new today, and I have seen 10 year old celestions literally falling apart. It has alot to do with how much you use them and how the climate where they are kept is.

[Bob-I]

Like Brandon said, the rules are there are no rules. It's totally dependant on how they're kept and used.

I've had year old Jensen's that had dropped voice coils, then I've had 20 year old Jensen's that are like brand new, and used all that time. JBL's tend to not like being fed a harsh fuzzed out signal, but handle clean and smooth overdrive for years and years. EVM's tend to hold up very well as long as they're not allowed to dry out and crack (don't let any speaker dry out). I have a trio of EVM15L's that I bought from a re-cone when the customer didn't show up to pick up his stuff, that was at least 20 years ago and they sound like brand new. They were only a few years old wne they needed the recone so go figure.

The rule I use buying a vintage speaker is expect to recone it, now or later.