I have a 5.1 surround setup with a Sony STR-DE898/B 7.1 700W receiver and a set of pretty nice JBL speakers (front towers, center, rears and sub).
In the last few months, the left front tower has begun to pop occasionally. Any ideas why this might be?
Popping Speakers
Fri, 06/17/2005 - 00:58
#1
Popping Speakers
A popping noise is usually the result of a blown driver, the left-front speaker in your case. IF you can narrow it down to which driver (normally mid-range or sub drivers) replacing it is pretty easy if you can get the part.
You can get any parts you need from JBL they are really nice about that. Most of their products carry a one year warrenty
I've had these for years, so no warranty help here. And just today I noticed when trying to play an MP3 in stereo (as apposed to a DVD in 5.1 surround), that the front left is hurtin'. So, I think it's clear I'll have to do something about it.
I'll let y'all know what that something is when I get to it. (As crazy as my life is at the moment, don't hold your breath.)
Sigh!. I created a new thread before I searched to find this one I'd already created. Bad Jeff! :-(
Here's what I said there...
BTW Matt ia correct when he says its a bad driver, also know or called a speaker. Its the componet inside the speaker called the spider that gets weak and what happens on a high level or just the right tone or level , the driver will bottom out. Good Luck
Here's the rub... I've replaced the speakers, and it's still doing it. I asume a subwoofer can also have this problem?
Oh yes Jeff . The correct way to test a speaker would be to Find out what type of speaker were talking about,such as a full range,tweeter, bass,or sub base. Try to find out what the manufacturers specs. are on that speaker and hook up the speaker to an amp with a hookup to a tone generator. Run that puppy through the entire freq. range and see if it hits bottom. Now this method is not available to the user or comsumer, so a very simple way would be to take out the speaker , set it down on a flat surface,with the magnet on the bottom,and press down on the cone evenly haveway down the cone with both hands ,but don't press so hard that your fingers go through the cone. and see if you can bottom out the cone and voice coil. If you can't, most likly the speaker is good, but then if you still think this is the speaker that is bad, you will need to have it checked out by a pro. Also check the foam surround around the edges of the speaker, as it might not be broken, or look bad or damaged, but if you touch the surround, and it has no spring to it or it is very easy to crack or damage , your speaker is bad, as the surround also balances the cone around the spider and voice coil. There are some after market speaker supply places that will sell you foam surrounds for your speakers and if your very carefull, it will work well for a good home type speaker set up. I would not recomend that for the HIgh powered commercial type speaker as the speaker may not be balanced properly and you can blow up a high powered amp when the voice coil rubs away its protective enemal on the wire.
Thanks, Larry! Great suggestions. I'll check this tuff out and get back to you. Appreciate the response.
You can also use a volt meter to test the impedance of the driver. While not fool proof, I've often found that when a speaker blows, the impedance will be way off from what's stated on the driver.
Yes Matt absolutly true! But if its a mechanical failure, such as I think thats what Jeff has, the impedence or resistance would be fine. I have found, I think, now that I think about this, 75% of my experience with speaker repairs were not the normal blown out or burned voice coils. Although there were alot of OVER driven speakers and thats what causes this failure, but there mostly were the mechanical failure of the voice coil centering due to constant bottoming out of high powered speakers or the surround failure causing the offset of the coil also. This causes the voice coil to short as the coil rubs up against the magnet. Also I have see some peeps try to hook up a speaker to test an amp that has a short on the output stage! This is a no no, As the pure DC on the output burns these speaker like a firecracker.
I've discovered a few things. Any further input?
Suspecting that the problem was power-related, I unplugged my subwoofer from my receiver (which was powering it on only when the receiver was on), and plugged it directly into its own power strip. The popping noise now still occurs even when everything else is turned off.
Could it still be the coil?
Jeff, Have you tryed to switch around the right and left speakers yet to make sure it is a speaker issue or an amp issue? I dont think I read that if you did.
Everything but the sub is off, and it's still popping.
Does it still pop in the towers when they are on?
I don't think it's ever been the towers. I totally replaced the towers and everything's off, and it's still popping.
Well then Jeff I would say you need to replace the sub base driver. If its a single driver inside the cabinet OK good, but if its two drivers you call most of the time feel how the cone goes up and down and see which one moves more easyer. I myself would replace both or all the speaker drivers if it was mine.