If you are shipping a speaker(s) to us for repair, please BE SURE that the cone or diaphragm and suspension (roll) is WELL protected from damage and that the packing material cannot contact or push up against it.  It might seem that we should not even have to discuss this, but, we receive shipments even from big time driver vendors who skimp on this (or their packing / shipment departments just don’t think, or just don’t care(?)  For a horrendous example of a vendor who was actually trying (each tweeter came in a box big enough to hold several of them!), but something in the thought process just wasn’t there, please see this picture: 

 
(Click image to enlarge)

Obviously, these got returned!

Additionally, if you use packing peanuts or similar material, use a strong bag, a sealed inner carton, or other means, to isolate the speaker from the packing material.  (Removal of or cleaning packing peanuts, shredded paper, or foam fragments — especially the “static charged ones” – from a driver can be one of the most tedious, and sometimes frustrating jobs around, and we WILL charge you for it.)

We will post some pictures of proper driver packing techniques.  Please note that very often there is “more than one way to skin a cat”.  So, these examples are not “gospel”, they are intended to get the general idea(s) across, and give anyone not familiar with shipping drivers some direction and intent to follow. 

Protection of exposed roll woofer (no gasket, or front gasket is shorter than the roll.)  This is a typical method:

Pic showing the “general idea”.  For this picture (only), we just had the cardboard wrapped loosely around the driver and board, as we eventually would pack two drivers onto the cutout board / into the cardboard wrap.  (Click this and the other images to enlarge.)

Pic from the front, before the cardboard wrap.  The 2nd set of screw holes will be used to mount a 2nd driver face to face with the first.  (Be sure the rolls clear each other if you do this.)

Note that in this instance, we also wanted to protect the outer flat area of the roll, so the cutout diameter is a little larger than the roll trim O.D.  Use a large enough board to have some strength to withstand impacts.
 
 
Here is the view from the rear.  Note the washers used due to the large mounting holes in the L810 woofer frame.  (Click on the image[s] to enlarge.)

Once the cardboard “wrap” is on, then pull it down over the driver with packing tape to keep the driver from sliding around.  This is just the 1st bit of tape (remember, a 2nd driver would eventually be mounted to the cutout board, so we only started 1 piece of tape for the pics.  By the time we got the 2nd driver on, and everything all taped up thoroughly, the tape manufacturer probably liked us a lot…

Another view of the beginning of the taping down of the cardboard to hold the driver & cutout board in place.  If using standard packing tape, use 2 or 3 layers in the location shown, to prevent tearing of the tape, and encircle the “pack” 2 or 3 times to help keep the tape from popping loose.  (Sometimes the adhesive in inexpensive tape will pull loose under lateral pressure.)

More coming soon…