speaker repairs advice/referral needed

[handcrafted]

Ladies, gentlemen, whorns, and Stanley:

I need the name/contact info for a reputable audio repair person in Norman. I have a set of JBL floor speakers which I bought about 7 years ago, and the woofer's gone out on one of them. I'm pretty sure it's a wiring issue, because it's not distorting, it's just not putting out any sound. I think it's developed a short, because my amplifier occasionally bitches and the protection circuitry kicks in (it shuts itself down), which means there is an impedance problem in the output circuit.

Normally, I'd be all macho and try to fix it myself, but these are expensive speakers, I lub dem, and I do not want to part with them unless absolutely necessary. So I want someone who'll do a professional job and who won't sell me a cone if I don't need one, etc. Any help, TIA.

[JohnnyMack]

www.paradigm.ca

YWIA

[colleyvillesooner]

I start by poking the woofer with a screwdriver.

[handcrafted]

www.paradigm.ca

YWIA

If I wanted to spend a ****load of money on new speakers, I would go to audio dimensions and do just that. However, I currently do not own said ****load of money.

[SoonerWood]

You might be amazed at how easy those are to fix. Unscrew the driver and pull it out and see if there is any sign of disconnectage or overblowage.

It might just be the driver. If that's the case - www.partsexpress.com (http://www.partsexpress.com)

Whoops, missed the part about not wanting to be macho. n/m

[Oldnslo]

Youngblood Sound in OKC.

Dude is awesome to deal with.

[SoonerWood]

Does Youngblood fix stuff?

Don't let him talk you into the green marker and the CD de-magnitizers though... heh

[handcrafted]

Youngblood is like ultra high-end stuff. I'm not sure they'd work on anything as "pedestrian" as a JBL home speaker. In any case, I'd be afraid of what they'd charge me.

[Taxman71]

www.paradigm.ca (http://www.paradigm.ca)

YWIA
Werd. If you want good stuff for a low price try www.htd.com (http://www.htd.com)

[slickdawg]

In my stereo shop days, I would have told you to send them to JBL to
have new cones put in. I suspect JBL still has this service available, just
how much it costs is the question.

I had a pair of JBL 4312 monitors for years, incredible speakers.

[slickdawg]

If you want to get fancy and try to debug the issue, pull the woofer out,
disconnect the wires, and get a voltmeter to check the impedence on
the speaker. You may also want to check continuity while moving the
cone of the woofer to try and detect a short in the voice coil.

Your problem sounds like a voice coil going bad.

I'll go back to my geek corner now.

[handcrafted]

If you want to get fancy and try to debug the issue, pull the woofer out,
disconnect the wires, and get a voltmeter to check the impedence on
the speaker. You may also want to check continuity while moving the
cone of the woofer to try and detect a short in the voice coil.

Your problem sounds like a voice coil going bad.

I'll go back to my geek corner now.

Spek! That's actually helpful. If I can't find someone to look at it for me I may just go the macho route and try not to "Tim-the-Toolman-Taylor" it up.

[slickdawg]

Spek! That's actually helpful. If I can't find someone to look at it for me I may just go the macho route and try not to "Tim-the-Toolman-Taylor" it up.

I should have added - you are supposed to have 8 ohms of resistance on
your speaker, so that's what it should show. It it shows 0, then you
likely have a fried voice coil, or you aren't touching the leads on the
speaker just right.

[Zbird]

Reverse speaker connections at the receiver. Check to see if the speaker in question is better now and if it is, unplug both speakers. Unplug receiver and all connecting cables. Tie receiver power cord to tie down spot on boat, throw receiver over the side of boat when you wish to drop anchor.

[apusooner]

Turn your amp up to 11. If you amp doesn't go to 11, then that's the problem.

[handcrafted]

Reverse speaker connections at the receiver. Check to see if the speaker in question is better now and if it is, unplug both speakers. Unplug receiver and all connecting cables. Tie receiver power cord to tie down spot on boat, throw receiver over the side of boat when you wish to drop anchor.

That one I thought of, and did. The amp's fine.

[handcrafted]

Turn your amp up to 11. If you amp doesn't go to 11, then that's the problem.

It does go to 11, but that wasn't supposed to be the problem. My amp puts out 130 watts per channel but the speakers are rated for 200, so there's no way I should have blown a coil unless it had already developed a short (due to age I suppose).

[SoonerWood]

I think distortion can destroy a coil too even if the amp rating is lower than the speaker watt rating. But of course, you would have had to have been listening with it turned up to 11

[SoonerWood]

I say just go get some Legacy-Audio Focus 20/20's and call it good. :D mine RAWK!

[slickdawg]

It does go to 11, but that wasn't supposed to be the problem. My amp puts out 130 watts per channel but the speakers are rated for 200, so there's no way I should have blown a coil unless it had already developed a short (due to age I suppose).

No no no no no no no no no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because your speakers are rated for 200 watts does not mean
they are "safe" for anything under 200 watts. Actually, the closer
to 200 watts you are, the better.

The UNDERPOWERING of the speakers leads to overheating of the voice coil,
and typically fries it. A good rule of thumb is to never turn your volume up
over 2/3 of the maximum it goes to. So if it goes 1-10, don't go up past
six, and you won't fry a voice coil.

[apusooner]

It was supposed to be a spinal tap reference. My previous comment that is

[handcrafted]

No no no no no no no no no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because your speakers are rated for 200 watts does not mean
they are "safe" for anything under 200 watts. Actually, the closer
to 200 watts you are, the better.

The UNDERPOWERING of the speakers leads to overheating of the voice coil,
and typically fries it. A good rule of thumb is to never turn your volume up
over 2/3 of the maximum it goes to. So if it goes 1-10, don't go up past
six, and you won't fry a voice coil.

Okay, I'll take your word for it, though it's kind of hard to wrap my brain around. In any case, turning the amp to 5 rattles my windows, so I've never been past halfway.

[handcrafted]

Tell you what, though. The more research I do, the more it looks like I can get some much better speakers for less than I paid for this pair. Speaker prices must have dropped a lot recently. I may just save up and go shopping this fall.

[handcrafted]

Hey Slickdawg. Lemme ask you a follow-up question. I have always heard that the more headroom you have in your speaker/amp system, the better. In other words, get speakers that are rated for a lot more power than your amp can put out. This gives better performance at lower volumes. Given what you said earlier, is that true? Or should I get speakers that are rated for exactly what my amp can put out?

[SoonerWood]

Seriously take a look at these: www.av123.com (http://www.av123.com)
The designer has roots deep in the speaker design industry and puts out an incredible product and the prices are unbeatable for what you get. I had a pair of the 550's before I bought some Legacy-Audio Focus. I sold the 550s to my parents just so I could still listen to them from time to time. The fit and finish is fantastic with rosewood or ebony veneers and piano black caps. They have what is commonly referred to as High WAF (Wife acceptance Factor) due to their good looks and amazing sound. They are a very mellow, laid back sound similar to KEF. If you like the 'in your face' sound of Klipsch (those annoy me) then you might not like them.

I don't know what your price range is, but you will find something there for any price range and it will be superior to whatever you can find in another brand. I always try to mention these when someone is in the market for new speakers because I feel they are the best bang for the buck. I don't have any affiliation with them, just an appreciation for good audio...

[slickdawg]

Hey Slickdawg. Lemme ask you a follow-up question. I have always heard that the more headroom you have in your speaker/amp system, the better. In other words, get speakers that are rated for a lot more power than your amp can put out. This gives better performance at lower volumes. Given what you said earlier, is that true? Or should I get speakers that are rated for exactly what my amp can put out?

That's not exactly right.

You want to look at the rating for sensitivity on any given speaker.
For example, if the sensitivity is 92db, that means that with one watt of
power, that speaker will produce 92db of sound at one meter distance from
the speaker.

With that said, you have to double your power to gain 3db of volume from
that speaker. A matrix for this (using my 92db sensitivy speaker) would look
like:

Watts DB
1 92
2 95
4 98
8 101
16 104
32 107
64 110
128 113
256 116
512 119
1024 122


If you are wanting more volume at lower power, you need speakers with
a high sensitibity rating. For example, Bose typically has a very low
sensitivity (in the mid 80's) while Klipsch has a high sensitivity (low to mid 90's).

To get the ideal match, you want your speakers to be rated close to the
maximum output of your amplifier.

Does that help?

[SoonerWood]

I don't think amp power to speaker rating matters much. More importantly is the quality of the signal from the amp. You can get high efficency speakers rated at 100 watts and run them with a 5 watt amp and they can sound terrific. Hook up a crappy 100 watt amp and you can ruin your speakers.

Oh and Bose sucks BTW. :D

[slickdawg]

I don't think amp power to speaker rating matters much. More importantly is the quality of the signal from the amp. You can get high efficency speakers rated at 100 watts and run them with a 5 watt amp and they can sound terrific. Hook up a crappy 100 watt amp and you can ruin your speakers.

Oh and Bose sucks BTW. :D


No doubt. They are about the least efficient speakers made.
We always joked "no highs, no lows, must be Bose"

The quality of the amp certainly makes a difference, but when you overdrive
any amplifier, you tend to introduce distortion, which in turn, melts voice
coils.

I had a Carver M1000 amplifier (500 watts per channel) on my JBL 4312's (rated at 200 watts), and that sounded extremely good.

[SoonerWood]

My speakers are rated at 95db and Legacy-Audio recommends an amp anywhere between 10-500 watts for them. This is why it's sometimes hard to match the amp rating to the speaker.

[slickdawg]

My speakers are rated at 95db and Legacy-Audio recommends an amp anywhere between 10-500 watts for them. This is why it's sometimes hard to match the amp rating to the speaker.

It's a big challenge to get a good match for those exact reasons.

Of course, you've got a great sensitivity rating, so that makes
your audio life fairly easy. :)

[apusooner]

We always joked "no highs, no lows, must be Bose"



Bose= Bring other sound equipment