Left tweeter seems to be dying, sounds weak

[Billy Jack 145]

Yea tinnitus sucks I have it from years of construction, systems, and gun fire. Ain't a day goes by I don't hear ringing in my ears so best get used to it if your gonna play with systems all your life. 

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, Billy Jack said:

Yea tinnitus sucks I have it from years of construction, systems, and gun fire. Ain't a day goes by I don't hear ringing in my ears so best get used to it if your gonna play with systems all your life. 

weirdest thing is it went away or sounded less loud, when i would tilt my head at an angle or cover my ear with my finger....

[Billy Jack 145]

Yea that is weird mine is louder when I cover my ear like laying my head on a pillow. No noise at all is when it's the worst.

[///M5 2,833]

Be careful with your ears!  It is the only sense we have that is best the day we are born.

 

Test bench in this case meant just hooking it up to a frequency source and an amplifier.

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Be careful with your ears!  It is the only sense we have that is best the day we are born.

 

Test bench in this case meant just hooking it up to a frequency source and an amplifier.

ok thanks. only way i can think of to play just the tweeter is to disconnect the midbass woofer? so the signal would still have to go through the crossover.

unless theres some way to just play the tweeter without the crossover? i dont see how?

[///M5 2,833]

Any speaker can be connected directly to any amp/setup.  Just could damage it really easily.  

ie, it would be possible to blow a tweeter with 1w at the wrong frequency.  Really making sure you are only playing safe frequencies through it are 100% necessary.  Keep the gain down (ie start at ZERO and turn up slowly) and only listen to frequencies that are 2x Fs or more and you will be fine.  It can be safe much lower, but that requires more attention and will not be necessary to confirm there is a difference between the two.  It will also isolate any install problems or buzz/hum.

 

[///M5 2,833]

Not saying I recommend you do that, but I personally would.  Hell you need it out to send it in anyways.

 

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Any speaker can be connected directly to any amp/setup.  Just could damage it really easily.  

ie, it would be possible to blow a tweeter with 1w at the wrong frequency.  Really making sure you are only playing safe frequencies through it are 100% necessary.  Keep the gain down (ie start at ZERO and turn up slowly) and only listen to frequencies that are 2x Fs or more and you will be fine.  It can be safe much lower, but that requires more attention and will not be necessary to confirm there is a difference between the two.  It will also isolate any install problems or buzz/hum.

 

 

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Not saying I recommend you do that, but I personally would.  Hell you need it out to send it in anyways.

 

ok thanks. yea lol sounds a tad bit complicated for me to do. just because i dont know what 2x F means?

and well you say i can easily destroy the tweeter. but thanks for letting me know.

i like to know what options i have available. and hey i may feel daring and try something new every now and then, but yea, like you said ill just send out the tweeter.

theres definitely something weird. i think the tweeter that i always though was fine, sounds okay at times. but then again, at times it sounds very harsh and high pitched. although theres not distortion that i can tell. unlike the other speaker which occasionally makes a crackling noise. so im very curious if the new tweeter will also sound very high pitched and slightly painful at times. but as long as it doesnt crackle, then im sure i can go ahead and use my parametric EQ to attempt to fix the harshness. but i think i should start by getting a new tweeter before i mess with the EQ any further.

also..... i want to use a knife or something sharp, to make a very light and small scratch into a part of the outer casing of the tweeter. or something to be able to identify if they send me back the same exact tweeter. i honestly think they may just send me the same tweeter. of course i may be able to notice it by listening... but id rather know 100% without having to second guess it.

what would you suggest? a small scratch with a knife should work? i feel like a sticker or permanent marker can easily be removed with rubbing alcohol lol. a small scratch shouldnt damage the tweeter, nor do anything bad, just to let me identify it

[///M5 2,833]

Resonant frequency of the tweeter.  I googled your set real quick and couldn't find it.  Normally it is listed for raw drivers.

Start at 3000Hz and you'll be fine even not knowing it.  Go up from there.  If it is the tweeter you'll hear a difference.  If you don't it could be lower in frequency too, but the lower you go the quieter you need to play it to keep it safe.

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Resonant frequency of the tweeter.  I googled your set real quick and couldn't find it.  Normally it is listed for raw drivers.

Start at 3000Hz and you'll be fine even not knowing it.  Go up from there.  If it is the tweeter you'll hear a difference.  If you don't it could be lower in frequency too, but the lower you go the quieter you need to play it to keep it safe.

ok thanks. i was thinking about disconnecting my tweeter a bit earlier today so i can drop it off at post office tomorrow. but i am busy tomorrow till midday and ill check this real quick if i can. but if not i think i may just send the tweeter in. and i should hopefully get the tweeter back in around 7 days at the most. and ill post back here when i get it for an update.

hope it works!

[Billy Jack 145]

I wouldn't worry about them sending you the same tweeter back heck they only pay pennies on the dollar to build them they ain't worried about the cost. Didn't you say they where alpine s series alpine is usually a pretty reputable company now some of these smaller internet places are the ones you gotta watch. But if you got it at a dealer can't they just take care of it for you?

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, Billy Jack said:

I wouldn't worry about them sending you the same tweeter back heck they only pay pennies on the dollar to build them they ain't worried about the cost. Didn't you say they where alpine s series alpine is usually a pretty reputable company now some of these smaller internet places are the ones you gotta watch. But if you got it at a dealer can't they just take care of it for you?

its alpine type R, the SPR 60c speakers

i got them from sonic electronix

and ive heard they have a reputation of sometimes selling refurbished items, but listing them as new. but it was a decent price at their place at the time. thinking back im not so sure i would buy from them again. but luckily they do have the 1 year time where i can exchange it if theres an issue or something

so ill send back the tweeter, and i think they will test it, and then send me a new one.

they claim to have a fee if they test it and its not actually having any issues. but it is having issues as far as i can tell.

[Billy Jack 145]

No sonic and ssa are probably the best 2 places you can deal with. My nephew wired a hifonics brz2400 down to a .25ohm and burnt it up and they shipped him a brand new one so I was impressed they would warranty something that had clearly been abused and fried like that. But they do sell refurbished items but they list them as so. Now if they have a product sent back that's not been used they may test it and if it's ok they might sell it but I doudt they would try to pass off a refurb as new. Just from my experience I would say your good to go no worries. 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Billy Jack

[///M5 2,833]

12 hours ago, Billy Jack said:

I wouldn't worry about them sending you the same tweeter back heck they only pay pennies on the dollar to build them they ain't worried about the cost. 

Indeed.  I bought spare replacement F1 Status tweets brand new for $30/piece which when you realize the MSRP was $4000 for the set it shows what you are buying with name brand gear.  They better honor the warranty...

[Billy Jack 145]

3 hours ago, ///M5 said:

Indeed.  I bought spare replacement F1 Status tweets brand new for $30/piece which when you realize the MSRP was $4000 for the set it shows what you are buying with name brand gear.  They better honor the warranty...

Yea no doudt. I have seen the sales sheets for the zenon factory where 80% of this Korean subs and amps are made and it's appalling what some of these dealers charge us for it. Like the big 12k amps where $450 a piece with a minimum order of 30 and there what $2650 when they hit the Amarican shore. And that includes freight shipping their only other cost is tax and duty once it reaches the port and what ever it cost to in grave their logo's and numbers on it. And the subs where even cheaper the big triple stacked 80lbs woofers where $200 a pop. They had crates of tweeters you could buy by the pound. And the mids where practically nothing to like a few dollars. We should all get together and do a group buy of 5k's for $175 a piece and get a awesome deal. I would be using 5k amps on my tweets and mids then lol. 

[Florida_Audio 55]

5 hours ago, ///M5 said:

Indeed.  I bought spare replacement F1 Status tweets brand new for $30/piece which when you realize the MSRP was $4000 for the set it shows what you are buying with name brand gear.  They better honor the warranty...

i tried looking those tweeters up, cant find them. just curious what tweeters they are, since you said you used them. lol wanted to see what you use.

but also..... pleaseeeeee simple question i hope....

so i was messing around with my speaker wires at the amplifier. and mixing the polarities.... i remember i made them out of phase before and noticed right away. but this time its much harder to tell. its very subtle differences, it seems. but i think i do like the left speaker out of phase, and the right in phase. it seems to make the left speaker less harsh and less piercing.

but it made me question if the speakers themselves were wired correctly to begin with. because if the speakers are wired out of phase on the speaker itself.... then by making the wires at the amplifier out of phase, it should then mean its actually in phase then? right?

as in the speaker is wired - to + and + to -. but then at the amplifier its wired - to + and + to -. then the two being out of phase, would actually mean the sound being played is in phase? right? im not sure if its actually wired like that. but wondering. because at the amp when i swap the polarity then it sounds overall better, i think.... less punchy and more of a well rounded sound. on the left side....

so to check if its in phase or not. i took off door panels and played a woofer tester thing on youtube, ill link it below. but it definitely made the midbass woofer bounce and different low end frequencies. but i tried to look to see if the speaker was pushing out or pushing inwards. and i kept swapping the polarity at the amp back and forth. disconnecting negative terminal at battery and reconnecting it.... took me awhile

but i cant fking tell if its pushing in or out.... all looks the same lol.... other than electrical equipment to check the polarity, how can i tell if its in phase? ive seen some apps on my phone, but none seemed to work? all seemed randomly saying in phase or not?

thanks m5!

[///M5 2,833]

It doesn't matter, just use what sounds best.  That is the trouble with playing music in a cabin, it doesn't behave like it would in a free field environment.

 

...but yes when you flip the wires twice it is back to normal.

[Billy Jack 145]

Get yourself a 9 volt battery and touch the speaker wire to it and it will only move one way. Makes it real easy to see which way the cone is going. 

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

It doesn't matter, just use what sounds best.  That is the trouble with playing music in a cabin, it doesn't behave like it would in a free field environment.

 

...but yes when you flip the wires twice it is back to normal.

i know you would say that! lol

but yea okay i will go off of what sounds good.

but im also just curious if its actually putting it back in phase, when its reversed polarity at the amp, because maybe the speaker was wired wrong initially

1 hour ago, Billy Jack said:

Get yourself a 9 volt battery and touch the speaker wire to it and it will only move one way. Makes it real easy to see which way the cone is going. 

ive heard about doing this. but also heard you can damage the speaker doing it...

[Billy Jack 145]

Want hurt a thing not enough juice. It just barely moves the cone in one direction. I have never had a problem doing it.

[Randal Johnson 544]

Never tried that with tweeters. 

[Florida_Audio 55]

3 hours ago, Randal Johnson said:

Never tried that with tweeters. 

never tried what? alot of things have been said about tweeters here loll

[Randal Johnson 544]

My bad, should have quoted.

Using a 9 volt battery on tweeters.

[Florida_Audio 55]

1 hour ago, Randal Johnson said:

My bad, should have quoted.

Using a 9 volt battery on tweeters.

for testing polarity we were talking about mid bass woofer. well at least i was talking about it

i dont know if you can even see a tweeter cone push out or in?

and i wouldnt even consider putting a 9 volt to a tweeter lol. id assume that would definitely destroy the tweeter?

[Florida_Audio 55]

ok guys! just went to post office and dropped tweeter off. i put it in a regular envelope, and tore off some very thin bubble wrap around the tweeter. meh. i hope it will be fine when shipping it back. cost me like $2.50 for shipping. should arrive to sonic on friday. and then sonic said it takes them up to 3 days to test it and see if its actually defective... thing is, it plays music okay, and at times pretty good. but.... in comparison to the other tweeter, it plays much lower volume and it does distort only at certain parts. i hope they are competent enough to do some test with equipment and i hope that would show the issue immediately. and if not, then i may need to call them and explain everything ive tried and my reasoning why i sent it back. i hope they dont even bother testing it and just send me a new tweeter. and this makes me question if the tweeter they send me will be new? like why would they open a new set of spr 60c speakers just to take out 1 tweeter. if anything they might just send me a used tweeter..... i really hope its new....