I decided to create a desktop system and planned on repurposing a pair of mini monitors from an Energy Take 5.1 home theater setup. I connected the speakers and the sound was thin on one side; a bias to the other side. It turns out that there was no sound coming from the woofer on the thin side.
My first step was to physically switch the speakers, though I felt that if sound was produced by the tweeter that it was unlikely that there was an issue further up the chain. Once switched the thinness moved to the other side, so it was the speaker. I pulled the front baffle off to see if the wires were connected to the woofer and they were. I saw the crossover, but I didn't really investigate further, as I didn't know what I was looking for. The other two mini monitors from the set are dead and gone, otherwise I'd just replace the bad one with one of those.
I have already ordered another pair of speakers, but I would still like to fix the speaker if possible. I think it would be a good learning experience for an electronics newbie. Given that I have narrowed the problem to inside the speaker cabinet, how do I go about troubleshooting the issue?
Thank you.
My first step was to physically switch the speakers, though I felt that if sound was produced by the tweeter that it was unlikely that there was an issue further up the chain. Once switched the thinness moved to the other side, so it was the speaker. I pulled the front baffle off to see if the wires were connected to the woofer and they were. I saw the crossover, but I didn't really investigate further, as I didn't know what I was looking for. The other two mini monitors from the set are dead and gone, otherwise I'd just replace the bad one with one of those.
I have already ordered another pair of speakers, but I would still like to fix the speaker if possible. I think it would be a good learning experience for an electronics newbie. Given that I have narrowed the problem to inside the speaker cabinet, how do I go about troubleshooting the issue?
Thank you.
Thanks for the advice. I checked the speaker and the circuit is open, so the speaker is bad. I was hoping that it was just a connection issue. It's not really worth it to replace the driver, as the prices for similar sized drivers alone are worth more than the speaker. I was really hoping it was just a connection issue.
Thanks again for the help.
Check the connections on the crossover. I've had a pair of speakers with a "defective" tweeter, and reflowing some solder joints in the crossover fixed the issue. Most likely a connection was a bit off from the factory and then cabinet vibrations managed to shake it completely loose after a while.
@Nisbeth I literally checked both woofers (removed them from the enclosures), as I couldn't remember which one was "bad". I think I got 3.9 ohm reading for one and for the other there was no resistance measurement at all, so I do think it's the woofer that is bad. If my understanding of how this works, as I'm fairly new to electronics, please point it out to me, but I thought each driver should show a resistance close to it's published rating. There could be a bad connection in the crossover, but that would be in addition to what I believe to be an issue with the woofer itself.
I have seen a YouTube video of a guy taking apart a woofer to fix where the voicecoil(?) had become dislodged. That seems like a lot of work, but I might give it a try. I have nothing to lose but time. 🙂
I have seen a YouTube video of a guy taking apart a woofer to fix where the voicecoil(?) had become dislodged. That seems like a lot of work, but I might give it a try. I have nothing to lose but time. 🙂
If the woofers were disconnected from the xover when you measured them, then yes that means one of them is bad. If you've measured with the crossover still connected you just confirmed that the speakers are not identical, but not exactly what the problem is.