Tweeter not working?

[tomlinscote]

If you like the speakers and their sound then you should get a whole new treble unit, I'd go so far as to say replace them as a pair.

I made my own speakers some 17 yrs ago and have replaced both treble and bass units once in the last 17 yrs both times as pairs, though obviously I didn't have to pay B & W prices so it depends on your budget.

Tommo

 

[Michaelholder1]

Well at a guess i think its going to cost me £50 to replace the tweeter as they quoted me around that much to do the same for some 603 s2s. I dont fancy replacing them as a pair when i dont need to. When you said i'd do best to replace the full tweeter why is that?

 

[Overdose]

Typical specifications given on manufacturers details are across the speaker terminals and are for total impedence of whatever circuitry is inside the box, not usually for each individual driver, as this is largely irrelevent to the buyer.

So, so wrong. Have a look at http://seas.no/index.php or http://www.scan-speak.dk/ . Remember the subject concerns individual drivers, as did all responses, except, perhaps, yours.

And who makes the tweeters for the B&Ws?

The subject was about a driver fitted to B&W Dm602 s3s and B&W are unlikely to publish detailed individual driver details on a home consumer website.

 

[eggontoast]

When you said i'd do best to replace the full tweeter why is that?

Probably because you said the ferrofluid had leaked out.

There's no point on penny pinching for just a few quid, just repair them properly.

 

[Overdose]

When you said i'd do best to replace the full tweeter why is that?

Probably because you said the ferrofluid had leaked out.

There's no point on penny pinching for just a few quid, just repair them properly.

+1

Also, if one tweeter has failed, the the other would have been placed under similar stress, so you would be best advised to replace them as a pair, as has been suggested already.

 

[Michaelholder1]

Unfortunately as a student I dont have the money to replaced the other tweeter as well. What damage is caused to speakers by being over driven for long periods of time?

 

[eggontoast]

Unfortunately as a student I dont have the money to replaced the other tweeter as well. What damage is caused to speakers by being over driven for long periods of time?

I wouldn't worry too much about the other tweeter, it's more of a case of good practice to replace both. When being over driven the voice coils heat up; this can cause the varnish to bubble and it then fouls on the magnets. Prolonged over driving leads to what you have, a burnt out voice coil, it just burns out like a fuse does.

 

[Michaelholder1]

Oh ok I see, they should try using cooled speakers, although i should imagine that would mess with the acoustics of the speaker quite badly! I'll think about it when i get my engineering degree haha.

 

[eggontoast]

Oh ok I see, they should try using cooled speakers,

They do, that's what the ferrofluid does. It's an oil like substance which has filings in; this is injected in the gap between the magnets and the filings in the fluid keep it in place. This fluid is then in contact with the voice coil and the magnet and conducts the heat away from the coil to the larger surface area of the magnet, effectively making the magnet the heat sink.

 

[Michaelholder1]

Well I understood that part but i meant a method of removing the heat from the whole tweeter itself. Even then i should imagine the magnets make pretty poor heat sinks.

 

[Dougal1331]

The only way you'll overheat a ferrofluid tweeter is with way too much power, or a clipping amp pumping distortion into it.

As you lent them out for a party, my bet is on the latter...

During sensible use, you won't blow a tweeter- tends to be those who get a little too exuberant with the volume control after a couple of shandies who run into problems!

 

[Dougal1331]

Well I understood that part but i meant a method of removing the heat from the whole tweeter itself. Even then i should imagine the magnets make pretty poor heat sinks.

Tweeters don't generate a lot of heat. The magnet is perfectly good at wicking it away under normal circumstances. It's a sizeable lump of ferrous metal, therefore pretty good at conducting heat...