New build issue: VERY quiet speakers...

[ChrisR1983]

Hi

I finished building my first pair of speakers on Sunday; a momentous occasion & I'm so proud of my work so far...

Problem:

I plugged them in and couldn't hear anything, so I turned up the volume and on full whack I could just hear my Pink Martini CD. No where near loud enough to drive my scan speaks.

I'm using standard Chord speaker cable, a musical fidelity X-A1 and a standard cheapo CD player (for now).

I think it might be because the internal hook-up wire I'm using is very thin. Very thin. Before I go ahead and buy more hook-up wire and spend a day re-wiring these things, any ideas on what else the issue could be?

Many thanks

Chris

[wintermute]

Hi Chris,

How thin is very thin? I don't think that is going to be your issue somehow... The main problem you will have if your wire is to thin is that it may not be able to handle the power you give it, the resistance of even very thin wire should still be well less than an ohm for the sort of lenght that you will have inside a speaker.

If you put a multimeter across the terminals (on low ohms setting) what reading do you get? depending on the impedance of your speakers and crossover network, I'd expect to seem something between maybe 4 to 8 ohms.

I assume you have some other speakers that you can connect to make sure the problem is with the new speakers and not the amp.. It almost sounds like you have the wrong input selected on the amp and what you are hearing is crosstalk from the CD input on another input which is only bleeding through at very high volume on the amp.

If it isn't too difficult I would double check continuity (with a multimeter) between speaker terminals and the crossover, and the crossover and the driver terminals. If you have some aligator clips you could try (at low amp volume) bypassing your crossover completely and driving the woofer only (don't try the tweeter you might blow it) and seeing whether you get any decent sound coming out. My suspicion will be that you have something wrong with the wiring to/from the crossover network, or some bad solder joints in your crossover.

Tony.

[ChrisR1983]

Hi Tony

Thanks for coming back to me so quickly.

I was afraid that you were going to say something like the above... The wire is single core and less than 1mm thick, maybe even less than 0.5mm.

I'll try the multimeter tonight.

I don't have another pair of speakers but I do have another amp that I've tried and I get the same issue.

I think the most likely cause then given the information above is that I've wired the up the crossovers incorrectly (again) so I'll have a tinker with them tonight & report my findings.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers

Chris

[prickears]

G'day Chris,

If you have a multi meter, take a resistance reading of the speakers @ the terminals. Is this reading consistant with specs ie, 8 ohm? Also try another speaker on the amp, make sure your problem isn't there. Even with thin wire, you should get more than it sounds like you are. Make sure your wires haven't freyed, especially where they have been stripped, and aren't shorting some where. Double check your resistors (and other components) on your xo are correct values and are soldered on, as per instructions (was this a kit?). I strongly suggest you do not use them until you have found the problem!!!!!
It sounds like something very simple, good luck!

Keep us posted, Mick.

[prickears]

Chris,

Failing all this, just double check that you havn't hooked the tweeter up to the low pass and vice verse on your xo, this will also give a VERY thin sound and could damage the drivers! I have made this mistake!, lucky no harm done!

Cheers, Mick.

[ChrisR1983]

Thanks Mick.

I haven't used a kit I used a design by Wilmslow Audio here in the UK. Someone on here told me to connect a battery to the terminals on the back and hopefully I'll get a nice thump when I do. I do get said thump. Its just very add, the sound coming out of the speakers sounds good its just so quiet.

I'll have a tinker around tonight as I didn't really look at other problems that it could be as I just assumed it was a cable issue.

I'll keep you posted & thanks

Chris

[wintermute]

ok less than 1/2 mm thick is very thin, but I still doubt it would be enough to have the effect you are describing. Is it silver wire or something?

It's a bit of a long shot, but is it possible there is a problem with your CD player, or Interconect from your cd player to amp? before you go pulling anything to bits I'd seriously consider trying a different source and interconnects, you've done the amp so it can most likely be ruled out, but maybe there isn't any thing wrong with the speakers...

Tony.

[ChrisR1983]

I started by buying some very expensive wire by Duelund but completely messed it up by cutting the lengths too short (newbie error) so its currently cheapo Maplin stuff. I plan on changing this after I've got them working and can afford some better stuff.

I will have a tinker with the CD player - its one of those awful DVD players you buy from Argos for £18 but all I can afford after spending £1800 on the speakers.

I'm also using some pretty awful banana plugs from cambridge audio that I think might not be making great connections.

Chris.

[powerflux]

this reminds me of how i got a denon pma-560 for free. tape monitor- wrong input!

if the wire is too thin, there are two options: you hear perfect sound, or the wire burns and there is no sound.

use a DMM (digital multimeter) to check the outputs of your amp; or better: speakers you know that are good. if you can hear music like it should be with different speakers, check each driver for short/open and double check the wiring of the filter.

[pinkmouse]

Has the CD player an on-board volume control? If so, is it turned up?