Stereo speakers are built to last. Every time you turn them on they are submitted to abuse and punishment, even more so depending on the type of music you listen to. For example, music with heavy bass shakes everything in your home. Imagine what is going on in the speaker cone.
Even the best, quality stereo speakers are bound to crackle from all of this abuse over time. When that happens, you may have the chance to save yourself some money by repairing those broken speakers instead of buying new ones.
It all starts with finding the problem causing the sound problems. It can be an enclosure damaged or maybe it blew out from an electrical or thermal fuse. Problems with the voice coil are a common problem, sometimes the crossover network is faulty and even problems as easy as a solder connection can be the cause of your problems. Whatever your speaker issue maybe, it can be fixed. Here is a breakdown of how you can repair a speaker that is blown out.
The first thing you need to do is figure out which speaker is giving you problems. You can easily do this by playing around with the stereo's equalizer. Alter the balance and the fader to isolate the speaker causing the distortion in sound or if there is no sound at all. Be sure not to have the volume blasting or you run the risk of blowing out a good speaker.
Once you've figured out which speaker is the bad one, you now need to take it apart. Try to do this step carefully because you don't want to cause further damage to a part which is working fine. Remove the faceplate of the speaker and then gently loosen the seams of the speaker's fabric without tearing it.
Now that the speaker cone is visible, you can begin repairing it. Have some tape or glue handy since this is what you will primarily be using if the cone of the speaker is punctured or torn. You'll want to make sure the hole or tear is completely covered before moving on to the next step.
Test the voice coil to see if it is damaged in any way such as if it melted at some point for example. If there is even the tiniest of gaps in the coil, no sound will flow from the speaker or it will sound extremely distorted, depending on the size. If you see that the voice coil is indeed melted, then just replace the speaker entirely.
If you're going to need any replacement parts, now is the time to order them. They can either be found directly from the manufacturer but they can be expensive or from stereo specialties shops. An often overlooked fact is to know the part number or numbers of the pieces you are looking for. They are normally located on the inside of the speaker or backside of the cone. Doing so will make your life an awful lot easier.
Now that you have all parts you need to properly fix the speaker, take a look at how the damaged part is attached to the speaker. Once you remove the broken piece, you are going to need to install the new one the same way.
Now that you are all completed putting the speaker back to together, the only thing left to do is test to see if all your hard work paid off. Hook it back up to the stereo and test it at a low volume slowly turning the volume up to see if it can handle. If the speaker is still not working and you feel like did everything correctly, take it to a professional and let them fix it from there.
