Why is my woofer rattling?

[psyphre]

Hi,

I finally put together my speaker. After all the hard work and burn marks (from the solder) and scratch marks from the cabinet I finished.

Unfortunately when I turned it on I can hear rattling from my woofer. I tightened the screws and its still there. I even took it out again and put it on the floor and played music. The rattling is still there. It is definetely the woofer and not the box. Ive worked so hard and its ruined by some annoying rattling

I'm not an expert on speakers, infact this is my first proper DIY. Does anyone know what could be causing the rattling?

Thanks in advance.

[Richard Ellis]

Can you describe the type of sound it is making?
How loud is the music you are playing?
The bass content, if it is too high will 'bang' the cone at its limits badly if it is out of the enclosure. If it makes a "scraping" sound at low volumes the coil inside is misaligned and therre is not much you can do for it. With the music 'off' manually gently push the cone to see if it makes the suspect scraping sound. This 'procedure will bring up the "scrape" sound easily. Check for any visible detached components of the speaker itself. Sometimes the braided leads going from the terminal to the cone itself can be rattling by themselves (touching other areas its' not suppose to)
Run music thru it, pick it up, watch the braided leads move try to localize the suspect sound.

[speakerdoctor]

It might also help if you told us what is the brand and model number of the woofer.

[psyphre]

Thanks richard for the quick response.

The rattling sound it makes is the same as the sound you hear when a strip paper vibrates really fast. Does that make sense? It's the only description I can think of.

I am not playing my music very loud. It happens when I play it quietly or when I play it loudly. It just becomes more obvious when I play louder. It happens on piano traacks, rock, electronic etc.

I cant see anything on the outside (eg the leads) rattling against something when I play.

When i push the speaker with my fingers I do indeed hear a scrape sound So that means its a misaligned driver? The scraping sound doesnt sound the same as the rattling/vibration sound though, but maybe cos I cant move it as fast as when it plays music.

If the scraping is the issue does that mean its defective and Sea's will take it back?

Thanks again.

[Richard Ellis]

Yeah I think Its' toast.............A driver really should be quite silent when you push on it........Do you have a 'right' or left you can compare it to? If you do "hear" a difference yeah Its' bad.
______________________________________________Rick ............

[psyphre]

speaker doctor:

The woofer is an 8" SEAS L22 H1208.

[psyphre]

Afraid I havent. I just bought 1 because its my first time and its quite expensive so I wanted to make sure I got 1 speaker right before I made the 2nd.

Thank you very much for your help, I'll see if I can get it taken back and replaced.
Shame, ive only had it 2 weeks, and ive only been using it 1 day Just my luck....

[MisterTwister]

I wouldn't rely on testing by pushing cone. you hear rubbing coil because you can't push it linearly. especially in high quality motor like seas, where coil is very close to the pole.
It may have partly detached cone from surround or detached spider.
impedance measurements will show the problem with driver also.

[speakerdoctor]

I'm thinking partially detached spider or surround. I've seen this before with a flapping sound.

Brand new Seas? That's a shame. They are known for their high quality standards.

[Richard Ellis]

True..What I was hoping for was 'psy' would indeed push it in gently and straight...Its' kinda a trade-off, tight tolerences on coil to pole , better performance vs. possible failures (Out of Spec).
Perhaps on "musical/Guitar" drivers they open up these tolerences........I got the impression our guy doesn't have any test gear to spec out the driver.
______________________________________Rick........ .