Double Bass Speaker losing its oomph during a gig.

[Roger Davis]

I remember reading a discussion concerning losing volume in a speaker towards the end of a gig. Something about the voice coil heating up with a corresponding loss of output. I have experienced this recently and would be grateful for any discussion on the subject. Otherwise I'm sure Les will direct me to the original thread.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I'm no expert, but every time I have experienced a loss of volume in my entire career, the culprit ended up being closer to the beginning of the signal chain. I would check every other component before suspecting the speaker unless I hear speaker distortion or see something amiss visually with the speaker. YMMV.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Roger, do you mean that one?

Amplification conundrum

I think Chris means in front of any electronics ...

It could also be that the ears get tired after a long gig, i.e. because the other play louder or turn their amps up or simply because that volume level kept going for a longer time (but this might happen earlier than at the end).

 

[Roger Davis]

That's the one! Thanks very much.

 

[jthisdell]

I agree with DoubleMIDI's response, often towards the end of a night the crowd gets loud and your ears get tired and turning up has little effect.

 

[lowfreq33]

Ear fatigue is more likely the cause. It is possible for a magnet to temporarily weaken due to high heat, but the voice coil would probably burn up well before that point.

 

[fdeck]

I agree with the ear fatigue part, but there's also the gradually rising volume of the band and possibly the audience. And I've experienced cases (not my preferred situation) where the volume level rises to the point where the limiter kicks in on my amp, and then there's no more sound even if I play harder.