Pinnacle PN5+ speaker fell on my head, no longer works (neither does my head)

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Last week, I was fiddling about, like Uncle Ernie, with one of my Pinnacle PN5+ rear surround speakers, which are mounted quite high. I was standing on a step stool, disconnecting the cables from my right-channel PN5+, which sits (sat) upon a 7'-tall armoire. When I got the speaker wires undone, I pulled one of my usual butterfingered mishandlings, the PN5+ fell, hitting me smartly on my head, but I caught it between my knees before it hit the ceramic tile floor (a feat I would not have thought possible for me).

However, now, though the 3/4" polycarbonate magnetic oil-cooled dome tweeter still works perfectly fine, the 5-1/4" midrange/woofer emits no sound whatsoever. Tried on the other (left channel) connection, same deal.

I removed the 5-1/4" driver and the tweeter from the diaduct speaker enclosure, and pulled out the batting -- apparently made from the stuffing in North Korean military jackets of the 1950s -- so I could see if there were any obvious broken solder joints or loose wires from the 5-1/4" driver and 3/4" tweeter to the crossover, or from the crossover to the input terminals. I couldn't find anything amiss, but I'm not sure about the wires that connect the magnetic coil of the 5-1/4" drivers to the driver's mineral-filled polypropylene cone. The basket of the 5-1/4" drivers is stamped steel, permanently connected to the cone frame, and with very small pressure-relief holes, so it's pretty impossible to see what's in there, but there's a larger hole where the internal connections are attached to a steel terminal block: spade-lug-terminated jacketed twisted-pair wires from the crossover to the terminal block, and then the bare (unjacketed) twisted pair of wires leading inside the steel basket from the terminal block to the magnetic coil horn driver. Obviously I'm not an electrical (or any other kind of) genius, but all the leads are well-attached, from both drivers to the crossover, and the 5-1/4" driver's terminal block to its horn coil, and the leads from the crossover to the nput jacks are perfectly sound.

I have, and can read, a multimeter, and I'm also a NASA-certified solderer (long, even more boring story), but I don't know doodlum-squat what to look for, in terms of component continuity and correct resistance values across all these connections.

Can somebody help this clueless knucklehead try to find why the horn driver don't work no mo'?

Any help appreciated, deprecatory comments not so much.

Thanks!

Bart Brown
 
Bart,
Look for a micro crack where the VC lead wires are attatched to the cone and run unneath the dust cap. Often times that miracle catch caught the cone and smooshed it, deforming it enough to break the lead. This may require removal of the dust cap to repair, but if visible simply scrape away the adhesive and resolder. Am PMEL certified in soldering so know you can do this. Just take your time :)
 
Thanks for the quick reply -- I just tried the AA battery with wires to the speaker terminals, no matter which way (+/-) the wires were attached, there was absolutely no movement or sound from the driver. Found a guy on another forum who has a good PN5+ driver he's willing to part with.

I think your "Often times that miracle catch caught the cone and smooshed it, deforming it enough to break the lead" was right on the money.

Thanks very much for your help!

Bart Brown
 
I have, and can read, a multimeter, and I'm also a NASA-certified solderer (long, even more boring story), but I don't know doodlum-squat what to look for, in terms of component continuity and correct resistance values across all these connections.
Bart,

If the driver reads around the rated impedance but makes no sound, the magnet has shifted and pinned the voice coil in place.
Sometimes you can get lucky and using a vice or clamps, shift it back in to place and epoxy it.

If the driver reads open, as Greebster said, you are looking for where it went open..
 
Another Pinnacle 5+ surprise!

A very kind member of another audio forum sold me a replacement Pinnacle driver out of his thrashed PN5+ cabinets, and it arrived safe and sound, but I thought that for safety's sake I'd take a closer look at the 5-1/4" midrange/woofer in my OTHER Pinnacle (the one that works), and discovered that, on THAT one, the moleskin or monkey-fuzz or whatever-it's-made-of dustcap on the 5.25" polypropylene-cone woofer is hanging on by the skin of its teeth (see picture). What's the best adhesive for gluing this dust cap back down?

Also, just out of curiosity, I noticed that there's a hole on the back of the magnet or magnet-housing, with a brass screen integrated into it. Is this just for heat dissipation? (see other picture).

Thanks again for all your help!

Bart

Loose dust cap (double click for full size)
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.



back of driver (double click for full size)
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
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