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A question about trim rings around speaker drivers

I have seen over the years an increase in the use of decorative trim rings around speaker drivers that hIde the screws that hold the driver to the baffle, which makes them more attractive in the home environment. I don't have an issue with that, but I  learned a long time ago that at least twice a year, driver screws need to be tightened as they become loose from the vibration of movement. 

I was interested in a particular speaker by JBL that has black plastic trim rings, and I called two dealers as well as JBL to ask if these rings were easily removable by the consumer, and no one that I spoke with had the answer.

My question is: Do other members tighten their drivers on a regular basis, and are there members who have trim rings that they can't, or haven't tried to remove? I would be surprised if this was something that JBL or other manufacturers had not considered.  

128x128roxy54
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,689 posts
 

Except for the speakers that I built or repaired, I have never bothered to tighten the screws on the drivers in any of the speakers I've owned over many decades.

gdnrbob
4,452 posts
 

@kr4 

+1

Bob

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,897 posts
 

This question has came up before and after reading through all the responses, I tried it on some speakers I had at the time that had visible screws. Every screw required some tightening with a couple that needed more than a quarter turn to do accomplish it. 

It surprised me.

All the best,
Nonoise

roxy54's avatar
roxy54 OP
8,019 posts
 

If you haven't you should. A driver is ideally supposed to act as a perfect piston, and if it is loose and shaking that isn't possible, and yes, it is very audible. I'm sure that there are members here who will say that they check them on aa regular basis.

Two years ago, I picked up a 2-year-old set of floor standing speakers from a man in California. He had a nice system and two other pairs of good speakers. When I got them home and checked the driver screws, each of them turned for at least two revolutions!  I Immediately emailed him and told him to check his other speakers. He did and wrote back to thank me. 

onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,241 posts
 

It's worth doing, but be careful not to over tighten.  You can also check the loudspeaker's binding posts.  They to can come loose.  It cost you nothing to inspect.

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