Water Leak Damage to speakers - Help!

[ChadFL]

Woke up this morning to the sound of a drip and it turns out the severe storms of last night caused a roof in my ceiling... right over my entertainment center of all places. My main TV, receiver and everything else was spared thanks to the speaker shelf over my TV. However my front and center speakers are now "warped." No water got inside the speakers but the damage to the wood finish isn't very pretty. Anyone know if this can damage the sound of my speakers and know if there's any way of saving them? I was thinking since these Polk RTi's are real wood finish maybe I can sand them down and re-paint them. Any ideas Big Daddy?

I might just accelerate plans to buy new fronts and a center that I wasn't going to do till later in the year and retire these speakers to another room.

[MaCruz]

Sorry to hear about that Chad. I hope it didn't do internal damage to your speakers. At least you don't have to buy a new TV.

Anyway good luck, I hope it's just your speakers and roof damaged as it's storming right now in Jax. Very bad!

[Integra8]

Do you have a Sound Advice store near you? They sell Polk speakers, or used to when I lived in FL, maybe they can help someway with the cosmetics of the wood??

Jeff

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by MaCruz

Sorry to hear about that Chad. I hope it didn't do internal damage to your speakers. At least you don't have to buy a new TV.

Anyway good luck, I hope it's just your speakers and roof damaged as it's storming right now in Jax. Very bad!

I'm looking at the radar anxiously right now. My friend who is a roofer is trying to seal the leak right now. So far Daytona has been spared but a LOT of rain s popping up all over central Florida. We had hail at my house last night aroudn 7 pm and I believe that is what caused the roof to leak.

As for the speakers the actual inside parts were untouched. But I'm afraid just the warped wood on the top and bottom of the speaker might negatively affect performance. The speakers damaged are just Polk RTi's that were cheap compared to the rest of my home theater, so it's no huge loss.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Woke up this morning to the sound of a drip and it turns out the severe storms of last night caused a roof in my ceiling... right over my entertainment center of all places. My main TV, receiver and everything else was spared thanks to the speaker shelf over my TV. However my front and center speakers are now "warped." No water got inside the speakers but the damage to the wood finish isn't very pretty. Anyone know if this can damage the sound of my speakers and know if there's any way of saving them? I was thinking since these Polk RTi's are real wood finish maybe I can sand them down and re-paint them. Any ideas Big Daddy?

I might just accelerate plans to buy new fronts and a center that I wasn't going to do till later in the year and retire these speakers to another room.

Sorry to hear that.

Use a hair dryer and make sure the drivers are dry. That should take care of the problem. A little bit of warping should not affect the sound.

If there is major damage and drivers are completely gone, you can easily replace them. Unfortunately it will cost you money. You need to contact the manufacturer. Parts Express has a good supply of speaker drivers. There are many other places that repair or sell speaker drivers. Check the DIY Speaker Building thread. There are a lot of links there.

As far the cabinets are concerned, you can sand them and re-paint or re-stain them. Check crazyBlue's home theater. He completely refinished the surfaces of all his speakers and subwoofers.

I hope you have some sort of insurance to cover the damage.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Sorry to hear that.

Use a hair dryer and make sure the drivers are dry. That should take care of the problem. A little bit of warping should not affect the sound.

If there is major damage and drivers are completely gone, you can easily replace them. Unfortunately it will cost you money. You need to contact the manufacturer. Parts Express has a good supply of speaker drivers. There are many other places that repair or sell speaker drivers. Check the DIY Speaker Building thread. There are a lot of links there.

As far the cabinets are concerned, you can sand them and re-paint or re-stain them. Check crazyBlue's home theater. He completely refinished the surfaces of all his speakers and subwoofers.

I hope you have some sort of insurance to cover the damage.

Thanks Big Daddy. I checked thoroughly and there is no water that actually got inside the speakers, just on the wood on the top and underneath the speaker that warped the wood. I'm sure they'll work fine once I hook them back up. I patched the roof for now to stop the leaking and I moved the TV and equipment to a safe area till I know the roof is good. Unfortunately we're having even more bad storms today and probably tomorrow. As for insurance, I don't think anything is covered. My house is currently uninsured since I live in the beachside and nobody will insure me till I get a new roof, which should be very soon. And my speakers are about 2 years old and I'm sure standard warranties don't cover water damage. I'll probably just go ahead and finally have a new roof done within a week or so. Got an estimate and it's around $6K, which I can afford.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Thanks Big Daddy. I checked thoroughly and there is no water that actually got inside the speakers, just on the wood on the top and underneath the speaker that warped the wood. I'm sure they'll work fine once I hook them back up. I patched the roof for now to stop the leaking and I moved the TV and equipment to a safe area till I know the roof is good. Unfortunately we're having even more bad storms today and probably tomorrow. As for insurance, I don't think anything is covered. My house is currently uninsured since I live in the beachside and nobody will insure me till I get a new roof, which should be very soon. And my speakers are about 2 years old and I'm sure standard warranties don't cover water damage. I'll probably just go ahead and finally have a new roof done within a week or so. Got an estimate and it's around $6K, which I can afford.

That's good to hear Chad. This means you'll be able to insure it, right?

[Integra8]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Thanks Big Daddy. I checked thoroughly and there is no water that actually got inside the speakers, just on the wood on the top and underneath the speaker that warped the wood. I'm sure they'll work fine once I hook them back up. I patched the roof for now to stop the leaking and I moved the TV and equipment to a safe area till I know the roof is good. Unfortunately we're having even more bad storms today and probably tomorrow. As for insurance, I don't think anything is covered. My house is currently uninsured since I live in the beachside and nobody will insure me till I get a new roof, which should be very soon. And my speakers are about 2 years old and I'm sure standard warranties don't cover water damage. I'll probably just go ahead and finally have a new roof done within a week or so. Got an estimate and it's around $6K, which I can afford.

Hurry and get that insurance, when we lived in Sarasota our insurance company of 19yrs dropped us like a hot potato after the continuous bombardment of hurricanes in 04/05, and we didn't have any damage! THEY WILL NOT COVER YOU IF A DEPRESSION,TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE COMES WITHIN 3 MONTHS OF YOU GETTING COVERAGE and make landfall by you. Good luck though!

Jeff

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by John72953

That's good to hear Chad. This means you'll be able to insure it, right?

Yes, but with very few providers. I live on the beachside on the eastern side of Florida. There are almost no companies that offer me insurance even with a good roof except for the state-run insurance company. I havn't had homwowner's insurance on the house since 2005 when my provider dropped me because we were hit by 3 different hurricanes in 2004. I've just been lucky for a lot of years that no major hurricane has hit me since then.