Tip from a Pro, Change your Oil, And Rotate your 18's!

Sounds reasonable, I guess.

 

Since almost no speaker used for electric bass uses a foam surround, this almost old wive's tale has no validity for bass players (it used to have maybe a little truth back in the old days of HiFi speakers but even then it really didn't have much) and whacking the magnet with a stick is not a good idea regardless of where this myth came from. With some magnetic materials, such as ALNICO, the shock of being hit like that can reduce the magnetism depending on how hard it's hit and what flavor of ALNICO alloy is being used.

 

Ya, I don't care what anyone says...I ain't hittin' mine with a stick. The rotation thing almost sounded plausible till I read Andy's reply...I think I'll save myself the trouble of unscrewing everything. Besides, some cabs don't give you enough wire to do it anyway, so I won't sweat it.

 

I used to service a movie theatre chain with over 5000 speakers and the industry as a whole does not rotate drivers and many have been in continuous operation for over 20 years.

 

If you're really worried about it, just start playing your cab upside down. Sounds like hokum to me.

 

Seems like one of those things that makes sense in theory but just isn't really applicable or needed.

 

Hogwash

 

IME this only used to be a problem with ol'drivers that where especially build for closed cabinets. Those were drivers with an extremely high Cms (loose suspension) relative low Fs / low Mms and large Vas.
Nowadays you'll not find drivers that will have these issues, especially not the 15" and 18" drivers with double silicon spiders.

 

Another "truth" that is propagated as such because someone (not the op) believes it and nothing more.

 

...and I suppose you guys don't believe in cab gnomes, either?

Riis

 

Speakers are built to take a lot of punishment and offer a long service life if used properly. All mechanical systems will change as they age. Components such as paper and foam will deteoriate with time. If gravity were to affect the alignment of any soft speaker component, it would be time for a repair.

I've never heard of a speaker manufacturer recommending that their products should be rotated. If there is one, it would be interesting to find out more.

 

Never mind rotating the cones; save time/effort and simply rotate the whole box. I think I'm going to develop/sell an app that tells the bass player when it's time to rotate his cab 90 degrees....then maybe I'll retire early.

 

Someone should invent a speaker bro to support sagging cones.

 

Me thinks most phones have a calendar, no special app needed (allthough it would be cool just for the sake of it) I think it would be really funny when you're at a gig and suddenly yer phone beebs and tells you it's time to rotate them cones, you then take out the screwdriver from your gigbag and inscrew the driver and rotate it 90 degrees. I'm curious about how the soundguy will look....especially if you show him the app and be really serious about it

 

You're so naive.....of course it cannot be done properly without the app, which allows you to input your gig frequency, amp's power rating, cab's power handling, musical genre and zodiac birth sign, in order to OPTIMALLY calculate the perfect timing of rotation. Without the app, it'd just be guessing. For only 3.99, the app will pay for itself countless times over by ensuring that you get the maximum life from your cones. Calendars are so passe.