Pretty cheap speakers. I'd give them away and put my money in a proven design that you can build yourself if that's what you are looking to do,
I've got to disagree. Those speakers look a lot of fun to me for a DIYer to fix up. A good first project. 😀
12" bass, 4" midrange and 3" tweeter.
Whip that bass out and have a look inside at the crossover. Make notes of which wires connect to what.
Those are all cone drivers, so either they work or they don't IMO. No dried up ferrofluid to worry about. Just listen to each drive unit to see if they are working. Then you can test each driver with a 1.5V battery aka the crackle test. If they sound wrong, it shouldn't be hard to check the crossover components or look for a broken connection.
It's nice to have a multimeter and a soldering iron in these situations.
This sort of speaker can sound surprisingly good and the cabinets look quite decent. Once you post some pictures we might suggest some improvements, or at least a fix if something has gone wrong. The visual inspection is the first step. 🙂
12" bass, 4" midrange and 3" tweeter.
Whip that bass out and have a look inside at the crossover. Make notes of which wires connect to what.
Those are all cone drivers, so either they work or they don't IMO. No dried up ferrofluid to worry about. Just listen to each drive unit to see if they are working. Then you can test each driver with a 1.5V battery aka the crackle test. If they sound wrong, it shouldn't be hard to check the crossover components or look for a broken connection.
It's nice to have a multimeter and a soldering iron in these situations.
This sort of speaker can sound surprisingly good and the cabinets look quite decent. Once you post some pictures we might suggest some improvements, or at least a fix if something has gone wrong. The visual inspection is the first step. 🙂
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This is a good way to cut your teeth in understanding how not to build a speaker.
Having said that, you can mess around with it by:
- finding out how much bracing helps
- finding out how much dampening the walls help
- finding out if a cheap pair of dome tweeters can be successfully integrated into the system. My guess is that the Sony uses a simple first order crossover so should be cinch. Issue would be SPL since the dome may be louder.
No need to rewire or change the crossover as I doubt that there will be any audible difference.
Every lesson is worth learning unless you keep repeating it. Have fun!
Having said that, you can mess around with it by:
- finding out how much bracing helps
- finding out how much dampening the walls help
- finding out if a cheap pair of dome tweeters can be successfully integrated into the system. My guess is that the Sony uses a simple first order crossover so should be cinch. Issue would be SPL since the dome may be louder.
No need to rewire or change the crossover as I doubt that there will be any audible difference.
Every lesson is worth learning unless you keep repeating it. Have fun!
Welcome!
I agree with Steve's assessment of your speakers. It sounds like you are new to this hobby, and these speakers are a good learning tool to begin with.
I would first look at the woofers. If they have foam roll surrounds that are disintegrating, then they are not worth fixing in my opinion.
My next check, if you heven't hooked them up to an amplifier yet, is to do a resistance check with a multimeter. They should read about 6 ohms dc resistance.
If all looks good, hook them up and listen. You may find blown tweeters from them being played too loud.
I do not know if there are fuses in the speakers, but that is another possibility.
Check them out and report back.
I agree with Steve's assessment of your speakers. It sounds like you are new to this hobby, and these speakers are a good learning tool to begin with.
I would first look at the woofers. If they have foam roll surrounds that are disintegrating, then they are not worth fixing in my opinion.
My next check, if you heven't hooked them up to an amplifier yet, is to do a resistance check with a multimeter. They should read about 6 ohms dc resistance.
If all looks good, hook them up and listen. You may find blown tweeters from them being played too loud.
I do not know if there are fuses in the speakers, but that is another possibility.
Check them out and report back.
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Many speakers like this have connectors that need wiggling from time to time. You may find the drivers are ok. I agree on the woofers though. If the surrounds are gone then you may as well start again, unless this is your starting point for a new hobby and then you can consider some inexpensive replacement drivers. You have to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any.
I agree with Steve - Just because they look cheap, doesn't mean they will automatically sound bad.
Just unscrew each driver and attach either a cable going to an amplifier (go careful on the volume when testing the tweeter) or a 1.5v battery. There's no need to disconnect the driver when testing, just leave it hanging on the cables. If you play some quiet music through each driver, you should be able to determine if the drivers are faulty or not.
If the drivers are ok, check the crossover board for burnt components or loose connections.
Just unscrew each driver and attach either a cable going to an amplifier (go careful on the volume when testing the tweeter) or a 1.5v battery. There's no need to disconnect the driver when testing, just leave it hanging on the cables. If you play some quiet music through each driver, you should be able to determine if the drivers are faulty or not.
If the drivers are ok, check the crossover board for burnt components or loose connections.
I have a pair like those I think mine are SS 5U and some other numbers.
I replaced the capacitors and lined the box with some stuffing. They are nothing to brag about but my youngest daughter was happy with them for mains in her 5.1 system.
Bracing would help the cabs as would better drivers.
Mine have low power speakers of an alinco design.
I replaced the capacitors and lined the box with some stuffing. They are nothing to brag about but my youngest daughter was happy with them for mains in her 5.1 system.
Bracing would help the cabs as would better drivers.
Mine have low power speakers of an alinco design.
I'm surprised that some folks get so snooty about cheapish designs. Sony speakers are really very well built, albeit to a price. They even fitted little wooden battens near the woofer to strengthen the cabinets.
I have mentioned this before, but my Sony E44 has terrific drivers, albeit the crossover was a mere 2.2uF to the tweeter originally.
Naturally, being a crossover man, I did a much better filter and added some rubbery panel damping. Though I'm always wary of adding bracing, which can make things worse IMO.
The drivers are some of the best I have ever heard, the woofer is efficient and lively and clear and that little mylar cone/dome tweeter is exceptional. You wouldn't guess that from looking at them. Fitting a Morel soft dome made them sound worse! And cone tweeters have a nice easy-listening quality IMO. 😀
I have mentioned this before, but my Sony E44 has terrific drivers, albeit the crossover was a mere 2.2uF to the tweeter originally.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Naturally, being a crossover man, I did a much better filter and added some rubbery panel damping. Though I'm always wary of adding bracing, which can make things worse IMO.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The drivers are some of the best I have ever heard, the woofer is efficient and lively and clear and that little mylar cone/dome tweeter is exceptional. You wouldn't guess that from looking at them. Fitting a Morel soft dome made them sound worse! And cone tweeters have a nice easy-listening quality IMO. 😀
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