HELP - My woofer is not responding!

[leonp]

I've had my 340's about 3 years and loved them to death. During a party this weekend, we noticed that one of the speakers had lost its bass. Upon closer inspection, neither woofer was responding at all. I checked the thingies in the back the connect the two inputs, and they seem fine. So I think the problem is within the speaker itself.

My speaker and electronics knowledge is about a 5 on a scale of 1-10. I could try some minor repairs, but nothing major. SHould I remove the woofers by removing the screws in front and see if anything is disconnected inside? Any other hints?

thanks,

leonp

[BradJudy]

It's possible a wire to or from the woofer portion of the crossover became disconnected. It's also possible a capacitor in the crossover died, or even that both woofers got fried somehow.

[leonp]

Yeah, I'm hoping something came disconnected in there. If a capacitor is blown, I think I'm SOL. This was the left speaker in a front three, and the other two speakers are fine. I very rarely drive them hard, mostly for TV watching. I doubt if I did something which could have blown the woofer.

Anyway, is there an easy way into the speaker so I can see if there is something I can attempt to repair inside? Is this recommended? Has anyone ever done this?

leonp

[Quinn]

Ascend's warranty is 5 years on the 340s. Give them a call when they open.

If you want to look inside, unscrew the drivers and gently twist as you pull them out as there is a gasket between the driver and cabinet that is fairly easy to damage.

[curtis]

I would call Ascend before you attempt to look inside.

[bikeman]

I would call Ascend before you attempt to look inside.
Yep. I can tell ya from first hand experience that Dave F. likes to sort things out over the phone before surgery. ;)

David

[leonp]

Yeah, I should have contacted them first before posting here. I actually forgot that it would still be under warranty.

I sent an email to tech services. Hopefully we'll be able to resolve it together.

leonp

[davef]

Hi Leonp,

Sorry to hear that you are having some problems with one of your speakers. This could be a quick fix --- try this first... Remove the gold jumpers that connect the top speaker inputs (tweeter) to bottom speaker inputs (woofer). There are two jumpers.

Once removed, connect the speaker cable to the plus (red) and negative (black) woofer speaker inputs (bottom two).

Is there any output at all?

If no, move the speaker cable to the tweeter inputs -- if there is output from the tweeter but no output from the woofer, definitely a problem with the speaker and you should arrange to send back to us for evaluation.


Yeah, I'm hoping something came disconnected in there. If a capacitor is blown, I think I'm SOL.

Not possible -- there are no capacitors in series with the woofers. There are, however, 2 large inductors but it would require a tremendous amount of current to damage these inductors. We will be able to confirm the cause of failure upon evaluation -- more than likely, since you mentioned having a party -- someone might have turned the volume up way too high and your amp might have gone into heavy clipping, possibly producing DC voltage which can take out the voice coil of a woofer almost instantaneously.

Let me know what you find...

[leonp]

Thanks, Dave. I am at work already, so I will try that when I get home.

I checked the jumpers and they both seemed fine. I also tried both sets of inputs, but with the jumpers in all the time. Neither made a difference.

As to the cause, I'm pretty sure it was not the party. Unfortunately, I'm too old for the really loud music party thing. Plus, I was home and near the stereo the whole time. I would have heard if someone would have turned it up, even for a short time.

To be honest, I think it is something that happened some time ago and I just did not notice. We reconnected all speakers last night for a movie, and I had to strain to notice the difference. I don't have the ear I used to have :(.

Anyway, I'll check it out and let you know what I find.

Thanks,

leonp

[leonp]

Dave, I tried what you said and removed the jumpers. I got no sound from the bottom terminal, and tweeter sound only from the top terminal.

I sent you an email to tech support. Please let me know how I should proceed.

Thanks,

leonp

[leonp]

Got a note from Dave to ship it back so they can take a look at it and fix it.

I'm sure all will be well....

leonp