I have an EAW FR153HR and the midrange speaker stopped working. I removed the speaker and it works fine when powered directly. I reckon I fried something in crossoverland, but I don't know what I'm looking at.
I'm relatively handy, and I have a decent multimeter, but I have no clue how to trouble shoot this problem. I don't even really know what I'm looking at.
Pic Here:
Specs here: http://www.eaw.com/docs/2_Legacy_Products/Loudspeakers/FR_Series/FR153HR.pdf
I'm relatively handy, and I have a decent multimeter, but I have no clue how to trouble shoot this problem. I don't even really know what I'm looking at.
Pic Here:
Specs here: http://www.eaw.com/docs/2_Legacy_Products/Loudspeakers/FR_Series/FR153HR.pdf
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Test whether the midrange works or not by touching its contacts with those of a 9V battery.
It should click.
The cone will also move slightly (around 1 mm) , connected one way forward, the other way backwards.
If no sound , it's fried.
If it sounds, connect it straight to an amp and play some music, at low volume , a couple watts, we want to know whether it scratches, buzzes, farts, etc.
Good luck.
Not easy to suggest a replacement other than an original one, but if unavailable some Pro reconing shop such as Orange County Speakers may help you.
Post a couple back and front pictures to know what are we talking about.
It should click.
The cone will also move slightly (around 1 mm) , connected one way forward, the other way backwards.
If no sound , it's fried.
If it sounds, connect it straight to an amp and play some music, at low volume , a couple watts, we want to know whether it scratches, buzzes, farts, etc.
Good luck.
Not easy to suggest a replacement other than an original one, but if unavailable some Pro reconing shop such as Orange County Speakers may help you.
Post a couple back and front pictures to know what are we talking about.
How can I tell if capacitors are bad?
If they are bad, what's the best place to order them from?
Those two caps certainly look unhappy; clip them out, read their values and voltage (I hate electrolytics in crossovers), and change them. You could do a test with a tone generator and a multimeter, but you'd have to clip them out of circuit first, and since they're glued to the board getting at them's not that easy.
Remember to check whether they're non-polarised, which would normally be the case in crossovers, and get the same voltage, same capacity.
As to your local components supply, where are you based? I suspect my locals wouldn't be much use to you.
Remember to check whether they're non-polarised, which would normally be the case in crossovers, and get the same voltage, same capacity.
As to your local components supply, where are you based? I suspect my locals wouldn't be much use to you.
Not polarity conscious. Can be fitted either way. You can make a "bipolar" cap from two identical electrolytics fitted in series and wired "back to back" such that either plus to plus or minus to minus connect together. The total value is one half the value of each cap. So two 100ufs in series make a 50uf bipolar cap.
Electrolytic caps (of which those are) come two ways. polarized as used in power supplies etc or Bi-polar or sometimes called Non Polarized for audio applications.
Parts express is a very good source for caps. the caps will be marked with a value and a voltage. for example they might says 4uf 100v or 25uf 50v etc.
you can use a higher voltage rated part without issue. but the capacitance value in uF should be the same.
To me it looks like the top one of the two has failed and blown open. you are going to have to remove those two parts, order new ones and solder them in. do you have a soldering iron?
Parts express is a very good source for caps. the caps will be marked with a value and a voltage. for example they might says 4uf 100v or 25uf 50v etc.
you can use a higher voltage rated part without issue. but the capacitance value in uF should be the same.
To me it looks like the top one of the two has failed and blown open. you are going to have to remove those two parts, order new ones and solder them in. do you have a soldering iron?
Do something; when you're ordering the electrolytics, get a couple of 0.47µF papers (or polystyrenes, or what's available) 100V, and wire them in parallel. If those old caps have got hot enough to melt the plastic back like that, either you're getting too hot in there and you should replace the bass one at the top of your picture too (which will have dried out to a considerably lower value), or you've had RF instability and the inductance of the electrolytic has heated it up (All right, lousy explanation, but genuine possibility), in which case the paper will short out those frequencies.
Either way it's worth opening up the other cabinet before placing your order; you might well want to replace the caps in there, too.
Either way it's worth opening up the other cabinet before placing your order; you might well want to replace the caps in there, too.
First with very low volume music playing just bypass them with a wire or an alligator-clip setup and see if any sound at all comes out of your midrange.
Yes it won't be properly crossed-over but at low volume and for a few seconds it wont hurt anything.
-If nothing comes out then start looking elsewhere for your problem.
Changing them out once everything is functioning again probably would't hurt and could be a nice upgrade.
I've found EAW to have really decent crossovers for PA speakers. My 153's seem to have a totally different one than yours does -far more components on a board mounted to the side wall of the cabinet -and none of those type of electrolytics
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