Speaker distortion

jozi

Just noticed im getting a bit of distortion from one of my speakers.

I've got a set of Gale 3040 floor standers, bi-wired to a Marantz amp. I've the amp hooked up to the pc, playing mp3's, with a coaxial cable.

I checked the speaker connectors on the amp and speakers and all were tight. It's only the bottom of the 2 mid ranged drivers on one speaker that is distorting.

Tried playing the same mp3 on my mp3 player and the same track on the cd, still slight distortion.

Could it be down to speaker wire ends being old? How will I know if I've blow the speakers (driver)?

Slaphead07

jozi wrote: »

It's only the bottom of the 2 mid ranged drivers on one speaker that is distorting.
How will I know if I've blow the speakers (driver)?

You're quite specific about which driver is distorting so I think we can assume it's blown. If you GENTLY place your fingertips on the diaphram of the speaker and GENTLY push it in do you hear a harsh grating sound? That will confirm blown drivers.

Gale speakers are fairly run-of-the-mill so the good news is that you'll get a replacement easily enough. Measure the diamater of the speaker, chekc the power handling and see if Maplins or whoever have one. 4 screws and a bit of solder will fix it.

jozi

I tried that and indeed a grating sound, had to push it in a little to hear it. The driver above it doesn't do it when pushed in the same way. What a bummer :mad:

Would it be possible to get the exact same driver unit rather than have miss matching ones?

Slaphead07

jozi wrote: »

Would it be possible to get the exact same driver unit rather than have miss matching ones?

Unlikely but you could contact Richersounds and ask (I presume that's where you got them?). To be honest Gale are not high end speakers so any decent driver that's 5.5" and can handle 120w will be fine.

jozi

your dissing my speakers :P

I'll fire of an email to richersounds, where I got them.

Thanks for the advice.

Richersounds.ie: John

Thanks Slaphead,

we should be able to source you the correct drive and to be fair 3040's were'nt at all bad speakers from memory they had a decent fabric dome tweeter and were pretty accurate for the money!

Anyway - I'll do some hunting for you and PM you,

ATB,

John Mc

jozi

Thanks John. Fired of an email the other day to Richersounds. Would be great to have an original speaker driver in it again. It's not to badly blown, really have to listen out for it with low volume, havent tried it to loud since in fear of making it worse.

cnocbui

jozi wrote: »

Thanks John. Fired of an email the other day to Richersounds. Would be great to have an original speaker driver in it again. It's not to badly blown, really have to listen out for it with low volume, havent tried it to loud since in fear of making it worse.

Try very lightly touching the diaphragm at various points around it: 12 oclock, 3, 6 9 etc. Note if the grating is worse at one location than others.

If it is, it indicates the voice coil is probably not centered in it's gap and is rubbing against something. This can happen if there is a problem with the suspension around the rim of the cone, where it attaches to the driver chassis.

I have encountered a driver where the glue securing the suspension had simply come unstuck, allowing the cone to shift off centre. The fix was as easy as a spot of PVA glue and putting a slight inward pressure on the suspension while it was clamped and allowed to dry.

If John can't source you a driver, there are people who specialise in fitting new suspensions to drivers.

jozi

Unfortunately its not a lose voice coil. Grating noise all around the driver.

I haven't done much looking for a new one just yet, busy few days and heading away on tue. Will be after that I get a chance to look for a driver.

It's not noticeable with all my music, mostly with low tones only, girl friend couldn't hear it but I definitely can

jozi

Bit of an old bump :eek:

For reasons I cant remember I never got round to fixing the driver in the speaker. For awhile I had a problem with my amp also and havent used the speakers but starting to miss them now.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good source for buying speaker drivers? If i can get something equal or better to replace both drivers in either speaker then I might do this, at least I will have my front speakers back again.

cnocbui

If it were me, I would pose that question here: http://www.diyaudio.com/