Speaker help

[rich18rich]

I just pulled a speaker from my 2X15 cab and it seems like only one speaker is working. The second only seems to be reacting to the air in the cab. All the wires seem fine.any suggestions? Also how do I check my ohms when one speaker works?

[Bass_Pounder]

What does the back of the working speaker say (if anything) ?

For the non-working speaker, you probably blew the voice coil if there are no other signs of obvious damage. You can check it by slowly moving the speaker cone in/out with your hands. If you feel any resistance or "scratching" - the coil is shot. You can also take a 9v battery, and place the neg to the neg speaker lead/pos to pos speaker lead. The cone should move outwards and make a thumping sound. - If nothing - it is dead.

[rich18rich]

Much thanks.
Both speakers say nothing. I was told it's an old Ampeg cab when it was given to me. and it also came with an (80s?)Ampeg head, solid state(unfortunately). But hey, both were free!!!
I put the speaker back in, but soon enough I'll pull it out again and try the 9-volt trick and I'll give it a feel.
Another question.
The connector tabs on the speakers don't require a weld, they're a push-release type. Does this help to tell what make/model speaker it could be?
And, most importantly, I didn't think to try reversing the wires on the non-working speaker. I fear I could hurt my expensive new head(VB-3). Is it possible the wires are just neg-to-pos & pos-to-neg? Could that fix the problem? I was kinda thinking it would just make it out of phase.?(if that makes sense) I'm obviously far from knowledgable on the subject.
Any more info would be great.
Thanks,
Rick

[rich18rich]

Can I try reversing the wires to the back of the one speaker without risking any damage to my head?

[will33]

Try reversing the wires when you do the battery test if the speaker tests good. Having the wires reversed puts the speakers out of phase with each other. Test the speakers individually, if they both work hook up the wires so when you put the + of the battery on the + at the input jack both speakers move out/forward together, flip the battery and they both move in/backward together. If they're out of phase one will be moving out while the other is moving in. You'll hear it as a big loss of lowend and volume in general. I don't think it'll hurt the amp if they're out of phase but if you don't know that's what's happening you'll crank up volume and bass trying to compensate for it blowing more speakers.

[scottbass]

Originally Posted by rich18rich

Can I try reversing the wires to the back of the one speaker without risking any damage to my head?

yes. It will probably make the speakers out of phase with each other (if they weren't already out of phase), but the overall impedance will not change if all you do is reverse the leads on one of the speakers.

[rich18rich]

thanks