I have 5 tiny (4 x 4) Cambridge home theater speakers, along with a 5 year old powered sub woofer.The sound is pretty good so far.Do these small speakers wear out with age?Would I better my system by buying another set of small speakers?
Do you realize that there are a bunch of new stuff that sounds like crap? If you like them then good for you. You can't make your own decisions on what you like? No matter what you buy there will always be something better or someone prefers something over yours. You are worried about wearing out? Why? Speakers are cheap and just replace if you need to.
I remember that system, and it was pretty good for being their entry level Ensemble bundle. The only part of a speaker that wears out so to speak is the foam surround on the speakers. This failure is age related and repairable. With your system, only the subwoofer would be prone to this, and you'll hear a bit of a rattling sound when it happens. Until then, just enjoy them. They are better quality than the affordable speakers sold today and when the subwoofer needs repair, it can indeed be repaired it's not a throw away item. Plus the cubes were also sold separately and can be used on any modern home theater receiver with a larger powered subwoofer. The setting for the speakers would be small when doing a system setup.
I still have some massive Boston Acoustic tower speakers from the late eighties and they still sound great. Although I have replace some of the individual speakers within the box as they wore out. I have some Jensen tower speakers from the early nineties which have never needed work. I also have a Sony surround sound system and Bose Wave radio from the mid to late 90 s and they still sound great. I suppose they lose some fidelity over time. But there is no reason to replace a speaker until it has blown or you want something better. When the speaker blows it sounds like s**t. Also when a speaker wears out. It s usually the foam around the edge is falling apart or the speaker gets really stiff compared to a new one. Unless you are really cranking them up all the time. 5 years is practically new for stereo components including speakers.
Speakers will eventually wear outbut not for a long time, like 10-20 years long. Whether of not different speakers will sound better depends mostly on your ears. If you can hear the difference between a speaker that costs $100 and one that costs $1000 then then yeah, upgrading makes sense. But if you can't tell the difference then the $100 set is fine. For home theater in general, the most important speakers are the front left and right. These are the ones used for music or other stereo setups. Your front center and rear speakers don't have to be anything fancy.
Speakers will only wear out if you play music VERY LOUD!!! which will blow them. Speakers can last like forever before getting dull. I looked into the Cambridge Speakers and saw that they were very good. If you really want a upgrade you can go with the iconic Energy Take Classic 5.1 surround sound speakers.Good luck with speakers!
