Quote Originally Posted by Laneyflower
I don't quite understand what you mean with reference to my first posting. ................ I am confused by this mid-range driver - the centre of the speaker contains a tiny cone over a metal cone and there is very little outside 'cone' to see - which bit is actually the cone and should it be easy to see if it is damaged, I can see no tears or holes or anything
Certainly nothing about your basic ability was meant, it's just that speakers involve a great deal of very speciallized knowledge and based on the way you asked and also the closing line on your recent post implies you have little driver knowledge.

The description of the cone you supply reads more like an inverted cone driver or could you be looking at the tweeter? Midrange inverted cone drivers are usually 5 to 15 cm in diameter and are convex instead of concave. Almost all tweeters are made this way but their diameters usually fall into the 1.5 to 3 cm range. Midranges may have convex or concave dust caps whose diameter can be anywhere from 10 to 70% of the cone diameter, some have a phase plug which is mostly shaped like a missle nose cone, centered and usually does not move with the main cone.

In any event, many driver failures can not be seen because they happen inside the motor. A very common driver failure is a distortion of the cone supports, this allows the voice coil inside the driver to rub on an internal part, usually this is awful but if it just barely touches at high excursions, it might cause a "fuzziness" Cone supports are a "spider" at the base of the cone (at the back outside the cone) usually pleated and a surround ring at the front outside edge of the cone which may be pleated paper, doped silk or some kind of rubber.