How Do You Clean A Speaker?

[Steve Haynie]

A friend asked for help selling a small bass combo. Before presenting it the amp needs to be cleaned up a little. There is a lot of dust on the speaker. How do you clean that sort of sticky outer edge of the speaker cone?

[BubbaVO]

I pour beer on it and then blow lots of cigarette smoke all over it. That takes care of any concerns about the sticky outer edge of the speaker cone. : )

[HSB0531]

How do you clean that sort of sticky outer edge of the speaker cone?

Try using the material from a lint brush. Or a very small lint brush.

Wipe over it gently in the direction that picks up lint.

Be very careful as the "surround" is easily punctured.

[zenmindbeginner]

The surrounds as HSB said, are very delicate. You can easily take a moist paper towel and remove the dust and dirt from the cone if you are careful though. The problem with cleaning the surrounds is that they are held only by a bit of glue and are made of somewhat fragile foam and vinyl. The foam and the glue ages with time and they can get downright brittle. Any kind of solvent based cleaner would weaken the glue and could harden or shrink the foam. And any kind of applied elbow grease could easily tear the foam or separate it from the basket. If the foam replacement surrounds are available, then just clean the crap out of them and if one tears, just replace it. Use a damp paper towel on the cone, but try a swifter first if there is a ton of dust.

[JohnnyB]

Unless the sight of it would make potential buyers throw up on sight, leave it alone. The risks outweigh the benefits.

[Steve Haynie]

After taking off the metal grill and using a vacuum cleaner to get rid of a lot of dust the surround was revealed. It was not too sticky. The vacuum got rid of most of the dirtiness and a damp paper towel picked up a little more. The speaker looked bad, but cleaned up nicely.

Thank you for all the responses.

[tomteriffic]

I usually use a pressure washer and a wire brush.

[kenjones]

Black spray paint.

[LittleC]

Turn up REALLY loud and start banging away . . .

Actually, I'd probably leave it alone but if you really HAVE to; vacuum then a couple bursts of that compressed air stuff they use on computer screens.

[gorch]

After all, I'd say the beer-cigarette method is not the worst.

[Brewmaster]

Sometimes, as nasty as it may look, grunge is good. Whatever you can't get off by GENTLY using a swiffer, vacuum, or Blow Off, leave alone.

[veatch]

Take off the grill, lean the cabinet so the speakers are facing down, dime the amp, let gravity do the work.

[GaryT]

Probly the most common way Speakers are damaged. Dust Brushs, Lint Brushs, Blue Masking Tape, Compressed Air are all excellent ways to damage a vintage speaker.

[Armitage]

At most, the very ends of the softest paint brush, very lightly... but I'd leave it alone.