Will I damage My Sub-Woofer If I Remove The Surround?

Question

Alright so my sub-woofer is about 18 years old. It works fine ut iv'e noticed that the surround (the soft fabric on the outside of the cone) is breaking up. This causes irregular vibrations and it sounds as if though the material is hitting something. In other wors its like if you were to put/hold your finger nail on top of a vibrating speaker. So i've take it apart and im wondering if i remove the surround how will it affect the sub-woofer? Will it be unstable or will it not be affected?

Answer 1

the surround is there to keep the cone centered, and to separate the front and back of the speaker.. it is important to keep the cone centered, the voice coil is connected to the throat of the cone.. it is critical to keep the voice coil centered insyde the magnet assembly.. there are very close tolerances between the voice coil and the magnet.. this is what gives you the correct resistance(8 ohm) etc.. if the coil touches the magnet it is a dead short.. this will burn out the output stages of the amplifier you are driving the speakers with... the second issue is the fact that without the surround, the soundwaves off the rear of the cone, and the sound waves off the front of the cone cancel each other out... and, the third, by having this space open to the outside air, it changes the tuning of the enclosure that it is mounted in.. the gap will act like a port and air will rush around it.. this will decrease power handling and make the tuning frequency raise...you can either find a replacement, or have it reconed or re foamed... search online or there is a place in chicago that will do either... martroy electronices  773-776-7000