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Can You Physically See If You Have a Blown Speaker?
- Thread starter Smallmouth_Bass
- Start date
Different types and levels of damage will manifest differently.
What has you worried? Odd sounds, smells, no sound, distortion, no bass, rattling, cracling......??cracking......???
If you can look directly at the cone, are there any creases in the paper?
What has you worried? Odd sounds, smells, no sound, distortion, no bass, rattling, cracling......??cracking......???
If you can look directly at the cone, are there any creases in the paper?
Many times the cone will look perfect, other times it may be torn around the edges.
Speakers can die from mechanical failure from trying to move too far back and forth ripping the cone at the edges and or wrinkling the cone around the dust cap or at the very least stretching the suspension. Shear long term over powering can burn up the voice coil and sometimes locking up movement of the cone, the cone could even start to burn!!
Take of the grill and push on the cone and see if you feel or hear a rubbing or grinding sound.
Touch a 9 volt battery to the speaker cable or the terminals on the speaker and see if it moves.
Is this in a combo amp or a stand alone speaker cabinet?
Speakers can die from mechanical failure from trying to move too far back and forth ripping the cone at the edges and or wrinkling the cone around the dust cap or at the very least stretching the suspension. Shear long term over powering can burn up the voice coil and sometimes locking up movement of the cone, the cone could even start to burn!!
Take of the grill and push on the cone and see if you feel or hear a rubbing or grinding sound.
Touch a 9 volt battery to the speaker cable or the terminals on the speaker and see if it moves.
Is this in a combo amp or a stand alone speaker cabinet?
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,037
- 5
- 220,965
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Can you visually see a blown speaker... occasionally.
It depends on the type of damage, but the foolproof way to determine it is by testing.
Well, I was playing a gig last weekend and noticed my sound sounded different towards the end of the show, like something weird was going on. I am not sure what it was. I didn't change the volume or any settings, so it wasn't a case of ear fatigue and bumping up the volume over the course of the night. I was running the combo amp with the volume at about 11:00 with only a low mid boost and slight bass boost on the bass preamp. Nothing extreme. (It's a Traynor SB112, by the way).
I usually carry the room with my stage amp (small bars), but in the last set I put some bass through the mains which was also coming through the stage monitors and I am wondering if that changed something.
On another occasion, someone was telling me that one of our mains sounded distorted. Was it because one of the gain levels was too high or something wrong with the speaker?
That's why I was wondering if there is something you could physically verify without dismantling anything.
I usually carry the room with my stage amp (small bars), but in the last set I put some bass through the mains which was also coming through the stage monitors and I am wondering if that changed something.
On another occasion, someone was telling me that one of our mains sounded distorted. Was it because one of the gain levels was too high or something wrong with the speaker?
That's why I was wondering if there is something you could physically verify without dismantling anything.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,037
- 5
- 220,965
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
I have a sealed box that I can sweep a suspect driver in, but I will measure Fs and if it's more than ~15% lower than the correct value it means that the suspension has been damaged. There are other noises to listen for, sometimes one of the winding ends (usually the bottom) can fail at the adhesive level.
It's a lot more complicated when looking for the root cause. That said, with a powered PA speaker, some listening is necessary to determine if it's both LF and HF elements making the noise, and sometimes swapping the driver(s) between cabinets to be sure the issue follows the drivers and doesn't remain with the original cabinet.
Depending on your amp, low mains voltage can result in distorted sound. Test your amp somewhere else and see if the distortion is still an issue. Lights and a heavy load from amps can make a venue’s power sag.
This is good to carry to gigs. It costs just a few bucks. Low mains voltage can damage your amp. Look for DM55 at amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Eversame-80-...s=Plug+In+Voltage+Meter&qid=1671763426&sr=8-9
This is good to carry to gigs. It costs just a few bucks. Low mains voltage can damage your amp. Look for DM55 at amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Eversame-80-...s=Plug+In+Voltage+Meter&qid=1671763426&sr=8-9
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I appreciate your response, but I am not sure I understand it. When you say you have a sealed box, do you mean you have another cabinet that you place a suspect speaker into to troubleshoot?
(Keep in mind my electronics knowledge is very basic. I can calculate the impedance for speakers (I think), but that's about the extent of my understanding.)
No.
Gotta open it up somehow. At least remove the grill if it's removable, which may be minimal but still is dismantling.
Only other non-invasive test is the battery test at the cab input. That just tells you the cab still makes sound, which you've established already, I believe.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,037
- 5
- 220,965
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Yes, I have a sealed box for testing drivers.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
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- I suck, but nobody really notices
Sometimes.
You can check the tinsel leads, the spider, the cone, and anything else you can see for visual damage.
But, most of the time you can't see anything wrong.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
Plug a 1/4" cable in your cab, and touch a 9v battery to it. The bad speaker will suck in, or not move at all...sometimes.
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That is a fair test to establish the connection polarity and that the speaker will still respond to an input signal. However, it won't confirm that the speaker hasn't been damaged to the point where it doesn't work correctly at higher input levels.
Using a speaker cable with 0.25" TS connectors. Plug the cable into the cab as normal. Touch the tip of the other connector at the other end on the positive terminal of a PP3 battery and touch the sleeve of that connector onto the negative battery terminal. If the cone moves and you hear a thump then the speaker isn't destroyed but may still be walking wounded.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
I appreciate the instruction, but I understand about the battery test. I'm questioning that a "suck in" is an indicator of a bad speaker. If you connect the battery the opposite way, a good speaker will also exhibit rearward movement, which is what I presume is meant by "suck in".
As far as sweeping the drivers and such, that's all kind of obfuscation. The simple "good/no-good" nature of the battery test is all this OP needs to worry about at first, and I expect even that is going to be a significant challenge, given the nature of the post.
There is a big chanse It's not visible even to experts unless It's taken apart.
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