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Cloth vs paper surround

Posting for a friend he is about to have new surrounds  on speakers,. the original speakers are paper the repair service said he could also go with cloth which will last much longer he's wondering if this will degrade the sound. Opinions or experience with this please. 

johnto
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,597 posts
 

What specific speaker/driver?

From my experience with vintage drivers (late 50's to mid 70's) paper surrounds survive and cloth surrounds get stiffer with age - changing the sound.

This said, I've never replaced the surrounds though I did try treating/softening some of the cloth surrounds.

 

DeKay

erik_squires
16,128 posts
 

AFAIK, the majority of the suspension comes from the spider next to the voice coil, not the surround, so they should be interchangeable in terms of driver performance .  I don’t know which is longer lived however.

erik_squires
16,128 posts
 

PS - Good question for DIYaudio

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