Have you tried taking it apart and putting it back together again

[sonia]

When I was 21 years old, my parents came out to visit me in California. My father is an audiophile, and he went with me to buy my very own stereo system with separate receiver, double tape deck, CD player, a stereo cabinet to put all that in, and speakers to hear it all. I had a big tape collection back then, mostly copied from his folk music records. The speakers are Advent Prodigy Towers, approximately a foot square and 28" high, with pecan wood on top and black grilles on the front.

I got rid of the tapes in this move back to California since I never listened to them anymore, but the same stereo system, cabinet, and speakers came back with me. I did replace the CD player about 10 years in, because apparently they changed the CD encoding over time and it stopped working.

My favorite thing to do with the stereo system since 2008 is to run my computer audio through it and play mp3s for folk dancing. I love the feel of the music through big speakers, and the audio quality is way better than the smaller portable speakers that big dance groups used.

A few years ago I realized the music was getting fuzzy. I took the front grille off, and the foam around the woofers was completely perished. I carefully unhooked them, put them in my bike trailer, and took them to a small audio store where a crusty older guy took them in and promised to repair them. A week or two later I biked back, picked them up, hauled them home, and reassembled the speakers. They sounded great! (Apparently this was in 2014.)

After the move back to California, the audio started dropping out unpredictably from one of the speakers when I was dancing. I tried swapping out the cable from the computer to the receiver, and swapping the speaker cables. Finally it got bad enough that I decided after 30+ years it was time to replace the speakers.

I did some online research and picked out some speakers that I wanted to check out at Best Buy. (I wonder if that's where I bought my system in the first place!) Then I started thinking about having new electronics off-gassing in my living room, and how I would get rid of the old speakers. I took off the grilles and unscrewed the woofers to take a look at them. The foam still looks good. I disconnected the clip that held in the woofer on the one that's been dropping out, and reconnected it.

I put it all back together and the audio hasn't dropped out since. Maybe the clip got jarred during the move? It didn't look wrong, but at least it's behaving better now. Which is good, because the one local audio repair place I found didn't return my message, and the new speakers I was interested in don't look nearly as nice as the old ones. The thought of new & improved electronics is exciting, but I love how my speakers sound and I'm glad they're not dead yet.

Comments

[amethyst73]

Woot! I'm delighted that it's working well again. See you soon!

[sonia]

Thanks! See you soon!

[asakiyume]

I admire to pieces that you're able to do this. So cool! And you keep one system working all these years.

[sonia]

Thanks! It took giving up on the speakers to delve into the unscrewing the four screws holding in the woofer and pull apart the connector. I didn't do that much, but I also had no idea it was possible until I started.

[elainegrey]

We're still using our 1986 speakers and stereo receiver. It's nice when things can last.

[sonia]

That's great! I agree, on a bunch of levels it's wonderful when something keeps working and we don't have to replace it and deal with getting rid of the old one.

[batdina]

we're still using ancient in dog years speakers as well, though I suspect I'd ruin things if I tried to do more than add old fashioned speaker wire to the backs.

Good on you for being able to fix them yourself!

[sonia]

Yay for old speakers! Thanks, and I hope they're fixed. Hard to know with an intermittent problem, but it does seem much better.

[runpunkrun]

So satisfying to be able to fix a problem and get more use out of a beloved item!

[sonia]

Yes! And interesting that I poked around online about the problem and just saw, "Your speakers are dead." Nothing about, "Try taking them apart and putting them back together, just in case."

[runpunkrun]

That is weird! But I'm finding it very hard to get good advice online now that AI is everywhere.

[ofearthandstars]

That's an impressive length of time to keep them working! I'm glad you were able to find a fix.

[sonia]

Thank you! I'd say they kept themselves working, for the most part! Aside from never blasting them too loud, and the one repair in 2014, I haven't done much.

[silveradept]

Sometimes, with components, all it takes is resettling them and they go forth from there. Glad to hear the speakers are back on again.

[sonia]

Thanks! Yes, apparently resettling was needed. Now I know!

Congrats

[jesse_the_k]

We're so accustomed to the reliability of solid-state stuff.

Analog connections aren't binary, as you have so wonderfully discovered!

Re: Congrats

[sonia]

That's a good way to think about it, analog connections. And the speakers are simple inside, too. I had firmly tapped on the speaker a few times when it dropped out to try to jiggle a loose connection back into place, but that hadn't helped.