magnesium speaker cone corroding, oxidation, seas, eton

Magnesium, as a material for cone drivers and dome tweeters, has some great properties.

Some high-quality products come in magnesium versions, or apply an alloy containing magnesium.

Unfortunately, magnesium, in its purest form, isn’t stable for some people’s home environment.

Humidity tends to corrode the material, rendering the speaker unusable in few short years.

A fellow in Australia had his five-year-old SEAS Excel drivers (W12CY001) rendered pretty much scrap, thanks to living in the wrong place...

Granted, the air in his house is likely a bit saline due to the proximity of the ocean, which probably accelerated the deterioration process.

This is unacceptable. Come on Seas. Surely you could treat your drivers, so they last!

This must suck very bad when it happens to you. Seas driver aren't exactly cheap.

I had these same issues, despite living ~2000Km away from any salt water.

Below are pictures from my Transducer Lab tweeter (N26MG-G) and from my Eton (3-400/a8/25mg)

Both of them were in my basement for about a year, unboxed and "forgotten in a corner".

The basement humidity tended to be high in the autumn and spring months, and back then, I wasn't using a dehumidifier.

Yet, it’s not like humidity was 90% either. It hovered between 50%-75%, with 75% being the peak range.

Here’s what resulted:

Tlab tweeter

close up

those dots appear within 12 months

until you look up close.

back of driver seem fine for now.

Tlab tweeter

1/5

I think magnesium as speaker material shouldn’t be considered at all, unless treated by some sort of corrosion resistant finish.

Too bad. I was eyeing the flagship Eton Arcosia series for a future project. Now, it’s not going to happen at all.

If someone had similar issues, please email me a picture and I'll be glad to post it.

One more on the left from Miami, Florida, USA.

Picture provided by Mr. Rodriguez via Email. (Sept 2nd 2020)

Seas Excel and Mr Rogriquez reach to Seas custumer support left him with no solution...

Picture and video abvove are from Mr. Yot. He lives in Thailand

December 2022 and SEAS offered nothing but excuse, no discount or replacement...