How long should my speakers last?

At The Speaker Exchange, we love to hear from our customers about their emotional attachment with their speakers. One customer told us about the stereo system he remembers from his childhood, which he inherited from his parents. Another told us about the speakers he bought at the Army PX in Vietnam that still sound great.

Think about it: Your sentimental bond with your favorite speakers may be one of the longest relationships in your life. Over multiple decades, you may live in many homes and own many cars before you need to replace your speaker system. But like any relationship, its lifetime depends a lot on how well you take care of it. Like a fine wine or an old friend, high-quality vintage speakers are often valued more than newer models.

Think about a few factors when determining how long your speakers should last: 

What environment is your speaker in? Do you live by the ocean/gulf and leave windows open, allowing salt air to blow in? Are your speakers exposed to direct sunlight? How hard and for how long are your speakers driven? Do you frequently move them from one location to another? Over time, foam components and electronic parts can degrade.

Speaker life also depends on how they were originally designed. Good ones were designed to be repaired. Cheap ones were designed to be replaced. Many vintage speakers used paper cones with foam interconnects, which deteriorated over time. At The Speaker Exchange, our skilled technicians can recone, refoam, rewire, and do crossover repairs on nearly every speaker brand. We even build specialty parts from scratch.

So whether you want to renew the life of speakers built decades ago or modify your favorite speakers to last for the years ahead, we’re here to help. Don’t see the part you need listed on our website? Don’t worry. We have thousands of parts in stock that are not listed online. Just email us.