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How to store speakers
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TMH Music View Drop Down
Young Croc
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Joined: 07 April 2011
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    Posted: 22 November 2025 at 9:50pm
*GEEK ALERT*!!!
I seem to remember, sometime in the dim and distant past, being told that one should store speaker cabinets such that the drivers are always perpendicular to the floor. The reason being that, over time, if they are stored on their back or front, then the cone will have a tendency to sag under gravity, weakening the surround and causing premature failure. Has anyone else ever heard of this or have any opinions?
The reason for this rather odd question is this; I am currently making some new custom size castor boards, as my others are “a little in the afternoon” and I have a number of options when it comes to stacking the speakers, but some of these speakers may only see use 3-4 times a year, so may well sit on the dollies for months at a time. I don’t want to unnecessarily contribute to their demise, simply because I didn’t store them correctly!!
Any and all help gratefully accepted. Ta ever so!!
Nothing is foolproof because fools are so ingenious
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KDW32 View Drop Down
Young Croc
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Use pickling.vinegar. 
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njw View Drop Down
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Points: 2700 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote njw Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 November 2025 at 11:45pm
 I've had drivers in installs that were rubbing stop rubbing by rotating them 180 degrees in the cabinet, in other words, if you leave a driver in a certain position long enough it'll sag no matter what.
 That said, it's good practice to transport drivers face up or face down as it minimizes the risk of slipped magnets.
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Most of the literature I have read regarding loudspeaker suspension ageing has concentrated on that due to the cone movement rather than due to storage.

However, if you are concerned, with the speaker stored facing up or down, it is easy to compensate for the movement using a small DC voltage across the terminals.

Picking the Faital Pro 15PR400 at random:

The Moving mass (Mmd) is 56.8 g

The downward force due to gravity is F = m.g = 0.0568 x 9.8 = 0.556 N

The compliance of suspension (Cms) is 0.24 mm/N

Placed face down the cone would be displaced 0.24 x 0.56 = 0.134 mm

To over come this displacement you could provide an upward force of 0.56 N

The BL is 16.7 Tm

Force = BL.i so i = F/BL = 0.56/16.7 = 0.0335 A or 33.5 mA

The voice coil resistance is 5.1 ohms

V = i.R = 0.0335 x 5.2 = 0.171 V

Personally, I’m not sure it is worth the effort.

For anyone interested, the above equations, and a known mass, can be used to measure the BL of a loudspeaker.
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Used to happen with ev mtl4 in nightclubs, just rotate the drivers.
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KDW32 View Drop Down
Young Croc
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Points: 770 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KDW32 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 November 2025 at 9:19pm
Was that due to cheap pressed chassis? In all my my years I have never found this to be true. Moving cheap steel pressed chassis drivers on a couple of occasions after  a being turned off and being packed down have magnet drop. Sure that be was not leaving enough time to get them back in to the lorry before cooking down.  Ice been storing speakers badly and in nice conditions for 30. Must admit never had an install. 
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I remember the Turbosound 24" woofers used to need turning round every so often to keep them centred. The cones were very heavy and the suspension could sag a bit.
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Old Croc
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Originally posted by KDW32 KDW32 wrote:

Was that due to cheap pressed chassis? In all my my years I have never found this to be true. Moving cheap steel pressed chassis drivers on a couple of occasions after  a being turned off and being packed down have magnet drop. Sure that be was not leaving enough time to get them back in to the lorry before cooking down.  Ice been storing speakers badly and in nice conditions for 30. Must admit never had an install. 

Hot/cold + moisture...
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SamV View Drop Down
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Does no one else rotate their drivers every year?
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Young Croc
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Points: 951 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FOO Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 November 2025 at 9:41pm
Nope. I fry them too often to reach that age LOL

Jokes aside. I store all speakers face down/ass up because of front attached wheel boards.
It's all BR boxes so thats easy.
Long time ago when I had EV MTL2 loaded with 180B drivers, i had them standing bottom down/up on wheel boards.
After each gig I just made sure to flip them around. So if they had been standing bottom down, I would put them bottom up after the gig. And flip them around again after the next gig. 

That must be the easiest way to rotate the drivers Big smile
 
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