Pushed in dust caps

elza

Active Member
I was reading about a set of speakers in another thread. It was mentioned that all of the dust caps had all been pushed in.

What in the hell so compels these morons to vandalize every speaker they see???!!!
 
The smaller dustcaps and soft domes look like push buttons, especially to small children. Even my 60-year-old sister thought a soft dome tweeter was a push button and I had to stop her before she jammed it with her finger. Just my take....Spooker
 
And then there are actual accidents. I bought floorstanding speakers from a guy last year, and he offered to deliver them to me as he was going to drive to my city anyway. He was driving an elderly family member to the airport. Well, the speakers made the trip safely in the trunk, until the old lady tried to take her bag out and of course leaned on the speaker. He caught her before her hand went right through the cone, but not before she pushed the dustcap in and deformed the coil carcass. No good deed goes unpunished.
 
There was a long thread on this a few years ago but I can't find it in a search.
 
I used a vacuum hose that I turned on and off quickly and it pulled the dome out very nicely on my old Von Schweikert VR4 Gen3.
 
If the dustcap is a softie there is hope.
Just use your fingers carefully going round the pushed in edges until they partly go
back, continue the work until it's back to original shape.
Careful with your nails!

Some other recommend kissing the dustcap or using the vacuumcleaner.
I've never managed to kiss like that, and be careful with the vacuum, it's not as easy as it looks.

Last trick is to dismount the unit, not fun tho.
 
I have a needle that I bent a small hook on the end with pliers, it works very well on pulling out dust caps. The very thick caps never go back into shape completely, I have cut them off and replaced them with new dust caps.

I have pushed in a dust cap before on accident, it was on a KG-4 which has the passive on the rear, I grabbed it to pick it up and move it forgetting about the passive. I was able to pop it out again, so it just shows you that chit happens.
 
I used a vacuum hose that I turned on and off quickly and it pulled the dome out very nicely on my old Von Schweikert VR4 Gen3.

I open the 'bypass vent' on the vacuum hose to reduce suction and then use a small nozzle adapter for cleaning cars to pop the dust caps out on my midranges. The bypass helps keep you from sucking the cone right out.
 
I've used tape before with good results. It only works if the dome or dust cap is thin enough. You have to be REALLY careful, but sometimes it works. The other suggestions above (bent needle and vacuum) also work pretty well.
 
The smaller dustcaps and soft domes look like push buttons, especially to small children. Even my 60-year-old sister thought a soft dome tweeter was a push button and I had to stop her before she jammed it with her finger. Just my take....Spooker

Hahaha.... :lmao: Hopefully, she won't poke your eyes mistaking it for a start button.

Kids, I understand.
Anything round/shiny and convex, they need to push it in.

I was in a thrift store and kids were running around pushing the speaker cones/dustcaps and pulling knobs off from the stereos. :yikes:
 
If you use a vacuum, wrap the end of the hose with a piece of terrycloth and hold it in place. It will leak and reduce the amount of vacuum, and prevent the dust cover from entering the hose.
 
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