On Wed, 21 May 2014 10:49:50 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote:

I've got a lot of big, small and medium speakers that have blown out over
the years. Typically I take them to the attic where they usually make
pretty good bookshelf supports.

In the spirit of domestic harmony, I am cleaning out said attic (anyone
*really* refer to their old college texts or books they have read in the
past anymore?). So with all the books being "de-accessioned"
(librarian-speak for "thrown out") I am left with a lot of bowed knotty pine
planks and burned out speakers.

If they can be salvaged, I can use them, but if they're likely to just blow
out again, I will send them to the curb monster that comes by late at night
before trash day.

So my question is this. Is it worth repairing 10 or 20 year old speakers?
Can replacements be readily had?

Depends on the speaker and what's blown. If it's just the "surrounds"
that have gone on a decent quality speaker it is well worth fixing
them. A lot of the speakers from the sixties and seventies are every
bit as good as the crap you buy today - even the "high end" chinese
junk.

Is there a good site for diagnosing speaker problems? I almost always
assume it's a fine wire winding in the voice coil that shorted when a
speaker no longer even responds to a battery "click" test but I that's an
assumption.

Is it possible to match the characteristics of the old speakers closely
enough without manufacturer info like a parts list?

Do crossover networks ever go bad? Can they be tested with a multimeter?

Yes, they can go bad. Test right at the speaker terminals - inside the
box.. If the speaker itself is good, cheap chinese crossovers are
almost litterally "a dime a dozen" on Flea Bay. Relatively good ones
are not terribly expensive either.
And yes, I googled it,

http://www.google.com/search?q=diagn...ms&btnG=Search

but I didn't like very many of the sites it revealed. I'll keep searching
but Google ain't what she used to be.

Hmm, should have added "blown" to the search term - much better. Still not
great, though.

Thanks in advance for your input.