Metal Speaker Centers

[4StringShooter]

A friend has a couple 15 inch speakers with the center cones punched in a little, and both have tears in them.
The speakers seem to work fine. Will this eventually fry them? Can he repair them with black silicone?

Any knowledge is appreciated.

[will33]

Yeah, you can use silicone. You want to keep dust, etc. out of the voicecoil in there. The "dustcap" is that middle cone part. Use just enough to fix it. You don't want to add much weight to the cone or have a glop of it end up inside there. Smear it on thin with your finger.

[lowfreq33]

Yeah, the dust caps don't have any purpose other than keeping dust out of the voice coil, but if they're torn they can rattle against themselves where the tear is and cause some irritating noise. Silicone should work fine.