It doesn't sound like the voice coil is shot, but more like the cone suspension is. I have seen instances when a speaker has been exposed to a short burst of more power than it can handle, the voice coil travels to the limit of it's excursion in one direction or the other. If it travels in and bottoms out, the edge of the voice coil assembly can get quite mangled and not be able to return to it's proper location in the gap. Too much travel outward, and the assembly can jump out of the gap and rest against the end of it.
You should be able to tell by looking at the outside surround - the flexible part that goes around the outside of the cone. It normally should be flush with the front of the speaker. If it angles either in or out, chances are pretty good your voice coil is no longer in the gap.
Either way, it sounds like you have a high probability of being a future recone customer.
