Rotating Your Woofers?

[musichal]

In process of recapping my Paradigms, I figured why not? and am rotating the woofers 180 degrees. Once read a recommendation for rotating every year 90 degrees, but that's too tight a schedule for me!

Who rotates? Anyone do it even when there's no other reason to remove them? Who thinks it could be ill-advised? Anyone rotate tweeters? Fess up. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[sax6]

Same here with my 9 SE. I've rotated one woofer because of a bad vc rubbing
cause by maybe delaminating rubber suspension and/or drying/crackling glue from inside the dust cap

Rotating as cured on woofer rubbing but not the other one.

That's why I understand rotating might help.
I've heard that gravity tends to pull the whole mechanic of the woofer downward ( suspension and spider )
Personnally, I would rotate a whole 180 degrees for only 90 degrees won't help replacing the mechanic's position

the rotating Giant

 

[whoaru99]

Don't see what it would hurt, other than the small risk of potential physical damage...slip of the screwdriver type thing, strip out the threads, etc.

I think every year would be a bit anal. Seems I recall an article about Paradigm in which one of the executives had his speakers remeasured after some fairly lengthy time of use and they were still within 1dB of the specs, or something like that. Have looked for the story a few times but can't find it.

 

[Curse]

Rotated both in my Wharfedale E50s a year ago, when I originally re-treated the woofer surrounds and spiders and tidied up the mids.

Did the full 180 twist, and they have behaved well since then. As whoaru99 mentions above, I'm avoiding opening them up again incase I strip a thread BUT I am planning on a recap soon, so when I get around to that, the woofs may get rotated again.

Haven't rotated the mids, but they seem to be solidly constructed from the spider to the basket - very rigid - anyway.

Dan

 

[Big Tuna]

Rotating is only necessary with woofers that have a doped/pleated cloth or butyl rubber surround that have become slightly misaligned due to gravity and 30+ years of use.

 

[Joshewah]

Don't see what it would hurt, other than the small risk of potential physical damage...slip of the screwdriver type thing, strip out the threads, etc.

That'd be my main concern. MDF and particle board don't take too kindly to repeat removal and insertion of screws. Every time I see a bit of saw dust come out with the screw I think of it as that much less grip being in there. :tears:

 

[kyle]

Another case where it can be a good thing is with drivers with heavy magnet structures like alnico Lowther and some alnico Altec 16". The Lowthers have a very small gap and even though the frame is beefy, there can be deformation over a couple of years or so because of the weight hanging off the back.

 

[audiojones]

I only do on woofers with doped fabric or rubber surrounds that have been in the same position for years. Usually when I have them open for a recap or to repair the tweeter controls I will make sure to rotate 'em 180 degrees. If it has foam surrounds I don't bother, they will get changed out soon enough.

 

[bowtie427ss]

That'd be my main concern. MDF and particle board don't take too kindly to repeat removal and insertion of screws. Every time I see a bit of saw dust come out with the screw I think of it as that much less grip being in there. :tears:

Every time i've seen a bit of sawdust come out with a driver mounting screw i've thought "what a crappy place to cut manufacturing costs" and promptly replaced them with machine screws and T-nuts, or moved the speakers on to a more appropriate home.

 

[uxwbill]

Who rotates? Anyone do it even when there's no other reason to remove them? Who thinks it could be ill-advised? Anyone rotate tweeters? Fess up. Inquiring minds want to know.

I have never rotated a woofer. I've never seen any need for it with any of the speaker systems I have.

Unless the speaker manufacturer were to explicitly call for it, or a problem were noted I'd leave them alone. As another poster pointed out, there is always the risk of something going wrong. That's a chance I'd rather not take.

 

[gearhound]

I had a Seas woofer rubbing a VC in a Dynaco speaker.
Rotated the woofer 180 degrees, and the problem went away.

Steve

 

[cnh2]

I'd agree with bill above. But what I might consider doing with rubber surrounds and cloth, is double stacking and flipping the speakers upside down.

In other words "rotate" the double stack, top to bottom, bottom to top. That way you even out the gravity effects by turning each speaker upside down for while and don't MESS with the speaker mount/screws (which seems "spectacularly anal" to me!).

Here's another idea. Rotate the speakers in and out of use. And when they're not being used store them upside down! Or if you insist on 90 degrees, store them upside down, then on their side then on the other side. And when you play them, upright. There you go 360 degrees, and a lot more "sane".

cnh2

 

[SA-708]

I've never pulled a woofer from a cabinet in order to rotate it, but when I've got them out for other reasons (new foam, get at the crossover, etc.) I usually put them back in upside-down.

 

[bakes]

I have a set of KEF 103.2s with the three-screw baskets that I rotate 120 degrees every year or two. The heavy Bextrene cones on those B200s combined with spiders that are not quite up to the task makes them notorious for VC rub.

 

[John James]

That'd be my main concern. MDF and particle board don't take too kindly to repeat removal and insertion of screws. Every time I see a bit of saw dust come out with the screw I think of it as that much less grip being in there. :tears:

While you have the screws out drip a couple of small drops of super glue in the screw holes, let it set up before you put the screws back in and you will have a much stronger threaded hole.

Of course, T-nuts would be even better.