How do you know when your speakers / amp are damaged?

JimmyT · #1 06-17-2010, 07:17 PM

Hey all,

A bonehead maneuver leaves me wondering if / what I damaged. I have my AG Whappo Jr. connected via speakon to my Aguilar DB 750, and wanted to connect my new Berg 210 - didn't have a long enough speakon cable so I tried to connect 1/4 from the Aguilar to the Berg. Well, my old eyes didn't see that their isn't a 1/4 out and I connected it to the preamp out - their was a very loud buzz..

I'm still getting sound now and air movement through the (2) 12's but the cab definitely sounds different, loss of high end and I don't hear anything but hiss through the 6 inch spkr and two tweeters.

How can you know if / what you damaged in your multi-speaker cab? Something a non-tech person can test or find an audio tech to take it in?

Can you damage a speaker and it still produces similar sound levels but not quality?

Thanks for any thoughts!

tekhedd · #2 06-17-2010, 07:21 PM

You connected the speaker out and the preamp out in parallel? Possibly you damaged the preamp-in on your amplifier. Your speaker is probably fine unless it made a very loud noise.

If the tweeter is hissing it's also probably not blown. (Compare using different head?)

Oh, and I'm sorry. No matter what is damaged, it's a bummer!

lbwdog · #3 06-17-2010, 08:02 PM

You had the Whappo Jr. connected properly with a Speakon?
Then you ran a cable from the amp's preamp out into the Berg Cab?

Should be no damage at all if that's the case. The preamp signal is very low level compared to the actual speaker output of the amp, and if they were connected separately, there should be no interaction between the two. There is the possibility that the loud buzz/hum you heard could have damaged some drivers though.

Best way to check all the drivers in the multi driver cab would be to play a good, full-range CD into it and listen to all the drivers individually to make sure the woofers are woofin', tweeters are tweetin', and the mids are.......well...middlin'. Actually, you should be able to hear vocals from the mids.

JimmyT · #4 06-17-2010, 08:28 PM

Thanks guys. That is precisely how I had it hooked up... I'll try a CD - good suggestion.

johnk_10 · #5 06-17-2010, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbwdog

You had the Whappo Jr. connected properly with a Speakon?
Then you ran a cable from the amp's preamp out into the Berg Cab?

Should be no damage at all if that's the case. The preamp signal is very low level compared to the actual speaker output of the amp, and if they were connected separately, there should be no interaction between the two. There is the possibility that the loud buzz/hum you heard could have damaged some drivers though.

Best way to check all the drivers in the multi driver cab would be to play a good, full-range CD into it and listen to all the drivers individually to make sure the woofers are woofin', tweeters are tweetin', and the mids are.......well...middlin'. Actually, you should be able to hear vocals from the mids.

+100
excellent diagnosis and suggestion.