Need help troubleshooting crossovers on my 1x15 Dietz cabs

[OhDamnSon]

Hello all! This is my first post...

I got a hold of two 1x15 Deitz pa cabs. Dietz were handbuilt cabs from the 70s built by a legendary gear dude here in Austin, TX. Well known for his mythical bass cabinets, Ray Henning I believe designed these cabs for local artists. I've also heard that he sold Stevie Ray Vaughn his famous tele that he played on for years. May be a myth, but likely true since SRV called Austin home.

Anyways... here's whats goin on:

Cab A: has 15'' Eminence (200w, 8ohm) speaker, and Peavey 22xt Tweeter. Both drivers work when plugged into normal (full range) and separately when biamped.

Cab B: Sub works. Tweeter only works when I use the Hi input on the cab, not on normal input (where both tweeter and sub should work together).

Both cabs have the same crossover- an X8 (800hz, 8 ohm). Except one is Electro Voice X8 and the other is University Sound X8 (both are exactly the same. I don't believe these are made anymore.

TWO THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND:

1. There is an extra component in each cab, connected to the crossover. They both consistent of a coil of wire on a spindle, two AAA battery style metallic tubes and a rectangular ceramic piece. In Cab A this component is bypassed or not connected to the crossover at all. Could this be whats causing the tweeter to not work with the sub in normal mode in Cab B???? What is this extra Component? Is it necessary?

2. The tweeters get distorted at higher volumes (but within there power handling range), during peaks in bass. If the crossovers are working shouldn't they only be sending freq's the the drivers can handle? What am I missing?

So, there you go... my first post! These cabs have some history to them and I'd hate to see 'em go to waste so... Please help if u can! Thanks in advance!

[wintermute]

Hi and welcome to diyAudio I've moved the thread to multiway since it is a multiway speaker

You might want to post a picture of the mystery crossover component. It sounds like it is some sort of coil but hard to tell from the description.

on point 2, the crossover slope is probably not steep enough, or the crossover point is too low. It could also be that the amp is clipping on the bass transients.

Tony.

[OhDamnSon]

Pic legend:
A1 is Cab A's crossover section

A2 is Cab A's extra component (disconnected)

B1 is Cab B's crossover section

B2 is is Cab B's extra component