Tweeters appear to be dead?

[bpetruzzo]

I'm sorry if this question has already been asked, and answered. I'm not a super audio-savvy person and my lack of vocabulary was wreaking havoc on my search efforts, so I finally just gave up and thought I'd ask.

I have a pair of B&W DM610 speakers that I picked up from a yard sale some time ago. They've worked flawlessly for years now. Just after I moved last year, the receiver in my system started simply shutting off out of nowhere. I would usually wait a while, then just turn it back on. That was no problem until the other night. When I finally turned it back on, the high-end frequencies just weren't there. As it turns out, the receiver turning off has been a result of a short in the wires somewhere--or so says the receiver's manual. I'm concerned that I permanently damaged the speakers.

I tried simplifying the wiring, plugging into different ports, and I tried a different set of speakers which worked fine--just to confirm it wasn't something wrong with the receiver. The B&W speakers, just aren't outputting anything to the tweeters. I also found that if I bypass the crossover and send a signal directly to the woofer, it sounds much better. Obviously still nothing coming from the tweeter, but the woofer sound is much clearer.

I've dismantled the speakers to see if there was anything obviously amiss inside, like maybe one of the magnets exploded or something. That wasn't the case. It all looked normal to me. Now, I'm thinking the problem must be the crossover. Could my shorted wiring have destroyed the crossover? Are there any ways that I could test or confirm that without a lot of fancy tools?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[DrDyna]

It sounds a bit to me like a crossover part may have developed a short, a coil perhaps? It's much easier to test if you have a multimeter. You may also be able to test the drivers in the B&W speaker by momentarily connecting them to the leads inside your working speakers provided they also have a real crossover.

What sort of speakers are the ones you used to test the receiver to make sure it was working?

[Andy5112405]

Try briefly brushing a 1.5V battery across each tweeter. Just brushing the wires across the terminals should give an audible crackle from a good tweeter.

[bpetruzzo]

The other speakers are a pair of Infinities. They sound alright.

Unfortunately, I did get to the bottom of the problem and thoroughly destroyed the tweeters in the process.

After taking everything out of the cabinet, I spent a lot of time examining the tweeters. I also tried sending a signal directly to them, just to see if anything at all would happen. It didn't. I mean nothing. So I examined more closely. Gently pressing on the tweeter revealed that there wasn't any give whatsoever. The diaphragm (I just learned that term, I hope I'm using it right) wasn't able to move at all. So I removed some of the casing and found that some element on the magnet had become dislodged and was squeezing the rim of the diaphragm preventing it from moving. I tried to carefully reset the magnet. But, you know, it's a big freakin' magnet and they don't tend to want to let go of metal. So, instead of reseating the magnet, I ripped the diaphragm off then released a string of obscenities.

Here's the magnet that became unsettled or something:


And here's my poor, foolishly massacred tweeter:


I looked to see the availability of parts, since after doing some research I found that these were apparently really nice speakers. But the tweeter assembly runs about $150, and $300 seems like an awful lot of money.

Now I considering replacing them with these:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SS-B3000-...cmu_pg__header

People seem to like them. Any thoughts on any of this?

[Andy5112405]

$300 dollars doesn't sound right for tweeters.

B&W DM601s3 nautilus tweeters are only £30. each. At least in the UK.

[bpetruzzo]

Originally Posted by Andy5112405

$300 dollars doesn't sound right for tweeters.

B&W DM601s3 nautilus tweeters are only £30. each. At least in the UK.

I didn't think so either. But it's the only place I could find them. The parts are listed at:

DM610 TWEETER DIAPH ZC05460 DM500-600 SERIES TWEETER DIAPHRAGM $54.30 12
DM610 TWEETERS ZZ05460 DM610 TWEETER $108.60 4

I assume I would need both the Tweeter and the Tweeter Diaphragm? Still, even if the tweeters are $108, I would still need two of them and $200 is still pretty costly for me. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. The website I got that listing from is here:
Parts Pricing & Availability

I couldn't find anything on eBay either. :/

[DrDyna]

Originally Posted by bpetruzzo

Now I considering replacing them with these:
Amazon.com: Sony SS-B3000 Bookshelf Speakers with 8-Inch Woofer (Pair, Black): Electronics

People seem to like them. Any thoughts on any of this?

I've never heard those, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say your B&W speakers outclass the Sony ones by a significant margin.

Even if you replaced the tweeter with a different one with close enough specs you'd probably be happier.

[Andy5112405]

Originally Posted by bpetruzzo

I didn't think so either. But it's the only place I could find them. The parts are listed at:

DM610 TWEETER DIAPH ZC05460 DM500-600 SERIES TWEETER DIAPHRAGM $54.30 12
DM610 TWEETERS ZZ05460 DM610 TWEETER $108.60 4

I assume I would need both the Tweeter and the Tweeter Diaphragm? Still, even if the tweeters are $108, I would still need two of them and $200 is still pretty costly for me. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. The website I got that listing from is here:
Parts Pricing & AvailabilityI couldn't find anything on eBay either. :/

NO.

The complete tweeter is just that - ready to use out of the box.

If you had a good magnet assembly and had just burnt out the tweeter you can replace the diaphragm.

A speaker repairer may be able to fit new diaphragms after mending the magnet assemblies.

[DrDyna]

Originally Posted by bpetruzzo

I assume I would need both the Tweeter and the Tweeter Diaphragm?

No, probably not, they are usually listed as "diaphram" so that you can replace just that part if its broken, or "tweeter" which is the diaphram plus the magnet.

[bpetruzzo]

Originally Posted by DrDyna

I've never heard those, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say your B&W speakers outclass the Sony ones by a significant margin.

Even if you replaced the tweeter with a different one with close enough specs you'd probably be happier.

Lol, I should've known asking a forum of audiophiles about $80 Sony Speakers probably wasn't going to result in the, "Oh yeah, you'll never tell the difference" that I was hoping for. But I am totally one of those people who likes to know he has something decent, even if he can't tell why. It's awfully vain of me.

So you're suggesting it would probably be better to just replace what's there with something similar, but cheaper? I gotta say, I'm pretty handy, but I wouldn't even know where to start on that one.

Here's another puzzler. Upon closer inspection, the other tweeter isn't stuck the same way the other one was. Maybe the other one wasn't working all along but I just couldn't tell, or wasn't paying close enough attention. So, I suppose it could still be the crossover.

Try briefly brushing a 1.5V battery across each tweeter. Just brushing the wires across the terminals should give an audible crackle from a good tweeter.

Can you explain what you mean by this. I have the 1.5V battery, but I 'm not sure what you mean by brushing it across the tweeter. Or do I need to attach wires to the batter polls and brush those across the terminals?