I was thinking exactly this. In this sense we all become β testers for all types of new technology, be it in cars, audio, and more.
We do a lot of prototype work for the auto industry and all of the manufacturers have stringent test requirements that try to establish a useful life of the product but the longest “lifetime” test I have seen is 30 days in an enviro chamber with prescribed atmospheric conditions.
No test can completely predict the actual useful lifetime and once in a while a surprise will show up in the field. That always gets everyone excited. We do a lot of prototype mitigation work to address issues like that. They always try and keep things on the QT as along as possible.
The manufacturers will do almost anything possible to keep from being issued the “R” word from the feds as recalls - especially safety recalls - cost them a lot of money and a little faith.
All of them are trying to spend the least amount of money and get just one lifetime of use out of the part / engine / car. They would like it the best if everything failed at precisely the right time as to not make the customer mad and get them in line for the newest thing.
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The speakers I wrote about are 30 years old. Ferrofluid is still used today to cool voice coils. No sour grapes here for me.
The entitlement some of you feel and express here is most unattractive.
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Entitlement?
I see only the recognition that products often need to be placed in the marketplace before the manufacturer knows what will happen after the product has been in consumers’ hands for a long time.
It is a bane of new high-tech products for both manufacturers and consumers.
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Ferrofluid is supposed to be around 20 years life before it gunks up, depending on usage.
It is a pain (a LOT of second hand speakers from the eighties/nineties suffer from it of course).
Foam surrounds are another problem, though more visible.
If possible better to replace the tweeters though I have done the clean/replace a couple of times (but not on any of my main speakers).
My oldest pair of speakers are from around 1970, and still sound great - all “trad” materials, concertina paper surrounds, old glues (animal based?) and paper cones for all three drivers 
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The caps in the crossovers makes a night and day difference in sound because they are directly in the signal path. I upgraded the old stock caps…
…with These…
…and all the fogs and veils vanished and all you hear is resolution!
Don’t take these hi end caps too lightly.
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I’ve replaced the ferrofluid on many a KEF Reference Series tweeter, as those from the late 70’s through the 90’s had ferrofluid cooled tweeter voice coils. Patience and a steady hand are necessary. Wouldn’t do it today as my hands are no longer steady enough to assure refitting the voice coil with out buggering it up. Yes, the ferrofluid was never intended to last into perpetuity. Find a knowledgeable tech and you are set, as the repair is doable.
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Not taking the signal path caps lightly.
Unfortunately I could not fit the ten-pack of parallel 10uf’s into the chassis after all! (And trying to solder in there was painful so the way to go is to have external crossovers…)
It’s about 200€/$ for a set of Jantzen Z-caps for all the caps in both of my Audio Physic crossovers so I better live with the lower output imbalance until I can afford a comprehensive set.
And have to say - it was not a pleasant surprise to see Audio Physic used really cheap electrolytics in a speaker that cost about 4k some 18 years ago. Well, all of that stuff in there is cheap! Intertechnik, but just cheap.
Why did you use ten 10uf’s? Why didn’t you use just one higher quality, higher voltage 100uf cap instead? It would sound better and save a lot of space.
Well, just as a temporary fix because I had a bunch of 10uf’s…
Yes, better do it properly, when I can afford it.
Foil inductors are intriguing too. And niobium resistors…
Again, that’s why I’ll go for external crossovers, easier upgrade modularity as capital increases.
Best thing I ever did (with one of my pairs of speakers - Monitor Audio R352s) was go to external crossovers. Makes furtling around with the crossover so very much easier (and allows “proper” biamping with active line level crossover if that ever takes your fancy )
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