SWR speaker problem

[robgo]

I've just bought a SWR Goliath III 4x10 for £300 off ebay. Probably a bit expensive, but it's a great cab.

Just tried it out at a practice for the first time and, while at sounds great, although at low volumes there's a noticable fuzz. At first i thought it may be a rattle, but I'm pretty sure now its a fuzzy distorted sound. It's not noticable at full volume though.

I checked out the cones and they all look fine except there's some white-grey speckled mouldy looking marks around the folds that run round the perimeter of the speaker. The speakers are the original BG1080C8s, wiring looks okay at a brief look, there's nothing loose, and the tweeter was turned all the way off throughout. (forgot to try it with the tweeter up).

Does anyone have any ideas of what the problem might be? Is it easily sorted or should I try to get my money back? Should I risk it at a largish gig next weekend?

 

[robgo]

And another thing... I was thinking about impedance, and wondering if anyone knew how these speakers were wired up. Presumably if it's an 8 ohm cab, they're wired in pairs in series and the 2 pairs wired together in parrallel to make 4 8 ohm speakers into an 8 ohm cab? Is the 4 ohm version just wired up differently or does it use different speakers?

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help!

 

[David Jayne]

It's series/parallel wiring as you said.
The problem is most likely a blown speaker, sorry.
Carefully push each one in and out listening for a scratchy sound.
Less likely, it's a loose connection.

 

[BassmanPaul]

And it could also be crossover distortion from your amp that you couldn't hear with your old speaker system(s).

Paul

 

[BassmanPaul]

The 4Ω version uses different impedance drivers as four 8Ω drivers can't be wired to 4Ω

Paul

 

[robgo]

It's series/parallel wiring as you said.
The problem is most likely a blown speaker, sorry.
Carefully push each one in and out listening for a scratchy sound.
Less likely, it's a loose connection.

Thanks. I'll give that a try!

 

[robgo]

And it could also be crossover distortion from your amp that you couldn't hear with your old speaker system(s).

Paul

Thanks, Paul.

I tried it with both my GK and my Peavey and it was doing the same thing, though.

BTW what's crossover distortion?!

 

[basspro]

Turn the horn all the way down and see if you still are getting that fuzz.

 

[Jim Carr]

You may have some acoustic insulation or wiring in contact with a driver cone. Try to isolate which driver is buzzing. Take off the grill, remove a speaker, check for anything loose near the cone, and check the others while your in there. Button up and retest.