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fEARful™ Part Twelve (12)

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#141
parapentep70 said:
By accident I noticed something that looks wrong to me in your crossover: Look at last picture, 2nd screw from teh left. It can easily short two PCB traces that are possibly intended to be different nodes. In the previous picture it looks worse, in the last I can see there is some small isolation.

By the way, nice cab, I am stealing ideas for mine!
Click to expand...

Good eye, but that can't be it, as that is just a cutout of the same section. In other words, that screw sits in a U-shaped cutout, not in the middle of a trace between two nodes.

That's what I need, though, are some sharp eyes that haven't been looking at this thing for hours already!
 
#142
Okay, so you know the 3012LF and the 18sound are functioning, so work back from there.

My suggestions:

Try the low pass and 3012LF alone, then the highpass and 18sound alone. That might tell you which side has a problem.

It's hard to see what's going on in the pictures, because it's all speaker wire, but what is the wire going from the input jack up and out of the photo doing? Oh, probably the switch...

Check each component for continuity with your multi-meter. Sometimes you get a bad part.

Check that the input jack speakons are wired right. If you made your own speakon cable from parts, is that wired right? Try the cable from the amp to another cab. Check the speakon connectors for that rare factory failure, and just for now, take out the daisy chained input jack to keep it simple.

If that doesn't get it, take some time off and do something else while your brain works on the problem at another level. ( this beats my old method of throwing the offending parts across the yard, then searching for the parts in the tall grass and leaves...)

Relax, have a beer. (First rule of home brewing, works for cab building and most other things too.)

Did you check in over at the Greenboy forum?
 
#143
this beats my old method of throwing the offending parts across the yard, then searching for the parts in the tall grass and leaves...)
Click to expand...

LOL! I've done that a time or two...or three. :D

Please keep us posted as to what the fix action was. I'm trying to soak up all the info and tips I can before building the 3 crossovers for my 15/6/1.
 
#144
Looking at photos, I notice all the speaker wire is copper color, which would make it easy to confuse + and - sides, is there something printed on the wire insulation to help keep things straight?

Being super thrifty (cheap) I use black and white wire scraps pulled out of romex from house projects. This, and my patented cable tie color system for hi and low pass sections, helps me keep things sorted out. This crossover is from the 12/6 cube with the Alpha 6 mid, so no Lpad, and no switching.

I took three passes at it before I got it how I wanted it.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This is what happens when a carpenter does electronics. There has to be some wood in the project. Circuit plywood.

The 12/6 crossover, for some reason, seemed hard to figure out, so I brought the input wires from the jack and branched out into high (yellow) and low (blue ties) to keep it straight.

You'll figure it out!
 
#146
How are the crossovers connected to the Speakon? Probably you have two wires going to each spade terminal (+1, -1) Possbily the crimp is bad on one or both of the spade lugs and the wires arent' making contact with the metal of the spade terminal?
 
#147
Mikeddd,

The crimps seem to be solidly connected and read fine on the multimeter. Here is what I've discovered so far:

1. Neither speaker will work when plugged into the #2 spades on the Speakon. This is true for three different Speakons I've tried.
2. Both speakers work when plugged into the #1 spades.

Therefore,
3. I can only get one speaker to work at any given time.

What gives? Anybody have a clue?
 
#149
BurningSkies said:
Are you talking about the +1/-1 and +2/-2 or are you talking about two sets of speakon jacks? Unless you're set to bi-amp, it should all be +1/-1.
Click to expand...

So, you're saying I should twist the positives together for both speakers and the negatives together for both speakers, then put them both onto the +1/-1 spades only? If so, I'm beginning to see light at the end of this tunnel!

Yes, now it makes sense! then the #2s go out to the #1s on the other jack, to go out to another cab, right?
 
#155
BTW: Are there any assembly instructions out there for the 15/6/1 crossovers? There are lots of pics, but that doesn't help me to understand what gets soldered to what other part. I have the circuit boards that Leland supplies with the kit; I'm guessing the foil patches are the individual circuit paths? I.E. the + from the cap goes to this patch here and the - from the cap goes to this other patch over there?

I assume there is no harm in testing the crossovers (connected to the drivers) just sitting on the table? If something is going to be wrong I'd rather not have to remove the drivers and crossovers from the box to fix it. This assumes very low volume levels, of course.
 
#156
if you are gonna run the speakers unloaded [on the table top] keep the volume very low - just barely enough to tell they are working is plenty. Wait until they are in the box to push em cause unloaded drivers can be driven to damaging over excursion much easier than you might think.

good luck
 
#158
The x-over was very daunting to do for me. I found the more beer I drank the less I obsessed over it. Somehow the x-over on my 12/6 still works. I got lots of help here on TB. Full disclosure-I never did put the DPDT switch in the curcuit. Sounds great without it when I run my 12/sub. If you post your pics people will let you know if they see something that looks wrong. Good luck.
 
#159
Thanks, cableguy. I will definitely post any questions I have.

Bump for "assembly instructions." I'll be tackling the crossovers this weekend. Also, where to mount three (15/6/1) crossovers? I'm pretty sure I can fit two on the shelf but where to put the other one? Screwed to one of the girdle braces, maybe?
 
#160
[FONT=&quot]Re: Crossovers.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ok, everyone take a deep breath. The crossover isn’t that hard to build. Take it one step at a time. Draw out your physical circuit by hand before assembling. While your drawing, work your way through the circuit in your head as you go. Work on each ‘stage’ of the crossover as a discrete unit, that way you’re not getting overwhelmed by what seems like a huge pile of components. Work slowly. Work carefully. Check your solder joints, and make sure your components are secured better than you think they need to be, and that all loose wiring is also secured. I personally like them laid out on a non-printed board for simplicity, but Leland’s boards shouldn’t raise the stress level either. If you’re going to use a switch, work on that contingency now, don’t install then have to go back in and rip stuff up, because it’s a major pain.[/FONT]
 
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