Does a dented dust cap matter?

[Apesbrain]

I had an eBay seller today tell me that the pushed in dust cap on the tweeter of the speaker he's selling is fine as it "has no impact on the sound". Given that a lot of what a tweeter does is about dispersion, this just sounds wrong to me. Is he right?

 

[jgiannakas]

That’s not the dust cap, it’s the tweeter itself. I guess it would hit dispersion and probably frequency response. Also it may have bent the voice coil. Presume you can get a replacement if the speaker is from a reputable manufacturer? But to be fair I wouldn’t buy it, would get one that is not abused

 

[ctbarker32]

It may or may not. Many times, you can repair by using something sticky like tape to pull out the dent. Worth a try.

 

[DVDdoug]

It could have an effect and I wouldn't buy it! And, that looks like the dome (the full moving/radiating area) not "just" a dust cap. It's also possible that it's touching the magnet.

 

[JayGilb]

Just push in the dome on the tweeter in the other speaker to keep the specs the same.

 

[RayDunzl]

As is often mentioned, "You hear what you see".

Unless you can replace it exactly and economically I'd pass it by.

 

[Vini darko]

Bit of folded tape should get that back out. Or if you're feeling brave the kiss of life . But yeah squashed like that it will affect sound.

 

[Apesbrain]

Thanks for the replies. I'm wrong ten times a day, but this didn't seem like one of those times.

 

[HooStat]

Buy it and send it to Amir so he can compare the good and bad speaker. It would be educational to understand exactly what is different. I suspect it still sounds "ok". (not saying the frequency response is correct, just that it probably still sounds like music when you use it)

 

[Jim Matthews]

Damage is damage.

That's a toddler dent, no doubt.
If there's an available replacement tweeter, a price reduction is in order.

If the tweeter is unobtainable - you need a pair of contemporary replacements.

 

[Bob-23]

AFAIK, in some youtube-video somebody recommended in such a case not to touch anything but putting your open mouth over the tweeter dome and sucking the air in - by the underpressure the dome would come out...

 

[thegeton]

Bit of folded tape should get that back out. Or if you're feeling brave the kiss of life . But yeah squashed like that it will affect sound.

"...Or if you're feeling brave the kiss of life..."

Coolest thing I've read this week

 

[egellings]

A damaged 'dustcap' (dome) on a dome means a damaged tweeter. I'm sure such a tweeter will play, but I suspect that it will act up miserably at higher sound pressure levels. Dispersion characteristics will have had to have been changed after the damage occurred as well. Replace it. A dented dust cap on a woofer makes no difference at all beyond the cosmetics, and so long as it doesn't flap in the breeze at higher volumes.

 

[thewas]

Silk/soft domes often can be pulled out carefully without leaving wrinkles (hard/metal ones almost never), if some wrinkles remain though you can be sure it the dome will have an earlier break up mode which is easily measurable and often also quite audible.

 

[OWC]

Most of these domes can be fixed by

- squeeze the wrinkles out with your fingers
- use a vacuum cleaner on lower power and your hand to keep enough distance
- disassemble the tweeter.

Seriously you will be surprised how easy it is to disassemble most tweeters.
Also a bit in the realm of, it is already broken, you can only fix it

 

[Shazb0t]

A dented tweeter like that is definitely going to affect the frequency response/distortion characteristics of the tweeter.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I've had a speaker in the past like this.

Now I won't say it didn't affect the sound. But what I will say is that it looks like it'd cause the speaker to output a horribly distorted, unlistenable mess. And surprisingly it doesn't.

 

[dshreter]

AFAIK, in some youtube-video somebody recommended in such a case not to touch anything but putting your open mouth over the tweeter dome and sucking the air in - by the underpressure the dome would come out...

Or a plunger…

 

[pot]

Some smooch won't hurt. I imagine for soft dome one it wouldn't be much noticeable. But for metal dome, the wrinkle is still there and might compromise the whole structural integrity, which might affect the breakup frequency.

But maybe it won't drastically change the measurement, but for me personally i wouldn't buy it if i couldn't get a factory replacement.

 

[Jukka]

Maybe repairable, but tells how the speakers have been kept. I'd pass.