Do you clean your rubber rings ?

[hifinutt]

Never heard of this idea of cleaning your speaker rings . is it worth doing ?

 

[gez]

Yes, but only very very rarely, and all I've ever done is very gently dust the top part of the ring and really only if I can see some dust build up on it. Probably actually better to do a light dust more frequently before the dust gets ingrained in any way.

Only reason I've ever done this is that dust is a possible cause of the deterioration of foam surrounds (at least in part). So probably for true rubber surrounds it's not necessary for that reason and it's just a cosmetic thing.


I'm somewhat surprirsed that Dynaudio recommend the use of any kind of chemicals. For sure I would never extrapolate the use of the products in the video for use on any other make of speaker.

 

[Tony L]

I’d be very reluctant to extrapolate that to other brands and surround compositions. It can be taken as safe for Dynaudio, but I’d go no further than that. When I have cleaned rubber surrounds on vintage speakers I’ve used nothing more than a little warm soapy water, i.e. I stick with techniques known safe for drive belts and idlers. I’d not use any spirits. Obviously foam or paper surrounds are a whole other thing and should mostly be left alone.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Just crank up the King Tubby and shake off the dust.

 

[Theo]

^ This ^

Alternatively, Massive Attack should do it.

 

[guydarryl]

I cleaned the rubber surrounds of my Rega Ela bass units with Gummi Pflege and cotton buds as an experiment, i had used it on my car door seals to good effect (I have a spare pair of Royd units for the speakers in case it caused problems). Lots of brown stains came off (I was a smoker over twenty years ago).
Surrounds looked very much better after - i failed to hear any difference though.

Not sure about the benzine idea though - some rubbers can absorb solvents, swell and distort.

 

[Tony L]

Not sure about the benzine idea though - some rubbers can absorb solvents, swell and distort.

This is my fear. Solvents certainly dry out idlers and belts and can result in cracking so I’d never even consider going near a driver surround with it.

 

[chiily]

This is worth a read from the great man himself http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/tips.htm#How_to_freshen_up_driver_rubber_surrounds

Stumbled across this info when I was looking for a way of cleaning the surrounds on a pair of Scan-speak 15W8530-K01s.

 

[Darren L]

I'd not use anything other than a slightly damp cloth in the worst case and probably a soft duster mostly unless it's a rubber ring for a bad case of 'roids, hopefully not

 

[davidsrsb]

Not sure about the benzine idea though - some rubbers can absorb solvents, swell and distort

Benzene is a potent carcinogen, nasty stuff.
I would try hard not to get finger oils on the surround. Handling drive belts is best done with gloves, so surrounds are probably the same

 

[guydarryl]

Benzene is a potent carcinogen, nasty stuff.
I would try hard not to get finger oils on the surround. Handling drive belts is best done with gloves, so surrounds are probably the same

Benzine and Benzene are two different compounds/solvents.

 

[FN19]

Damp cloth on rubber, I wouldn’t touch foam with anything other than a small feather duster

 

[Realysm_42]

Gives me the heebie jeebies.

 

[cooky1257]

Gummi pfledge, works a treat on nitrile and butyl rubber. I wouldn't use it on foam.