No sound from tweeters X 3!

[Blutarsky]

Okay, I am either finding something wrong, or setting myself up for eternal humiliation.

A friend commented that my nice Sierra-2 speakers sounded "colored". I took off the grills from my LCR S-2 speakers and found no sound at all from any of the RAAL tweeters. I set my receiver to pure audio, nothing, Adjusted the tone controls to maximum tweet and minimum woof, got out my stethoscope...no tweet. Just woof.

Surprisingly, the Sierra-2 woofer does a passable job as a single driver speaker, Kudos here

Usually damaged drivers make bad sounds. This makes no sense to me. Did I blow all of them? I set my Yamaha Aventage for -15 dB max to protect things

Help!

B.

[curtis]

Time to call Ascend. If it is the RAAL, this is the first time I've read of one malfunctioning. Is it happening with all three S2's? If so, I am doubting it is the tweeter/speaker.

For the woofer...glad it sounds good even if it isn't getting the fullrange signal.

[davef]

Okay, I am either finding something wrong, or setting myself up for eternal humiliation.

A friend commented that my nice Sierra-2 speakers sounded "colored". I took off the grills from my LCR S-2 speakers and found no sound at all from any of the RAAL tweeters. I set my receiver to pure audio, nothing, Adjusted the tone controls to maximum tweet and minimum woof, got out my stethoscope...no tweet. Just woof.

Surprisingly, the Sierra-2 woofer does a passable job as a single driver speaker, Kudos here

Usually damaged drivers make bad sounds. This makes no sense to me. Did I blow all of them? I set my Yamaha Aventage for -15 dB max to protect things

Help!

B.

It is often difficult to localize the HF output of ribbon tweeters. My guess is that you would know instantly if the tweeters weren't working as the speakers sound horribly muted without them. Do you see any physical damage to the ribbons? I don't recall if you purchased complete Sierra-2's from us or just the kits - but if you upgraded yourself and you don't see any damage to the tweeters, be sure to check the internal connections. The only reason there would be no sound from the ribbon tweeter would be if it were completely torn in half (highly unlikely unless massive clipping or some type of power surge) or if connections came loose internally.

Let me know...

[Blutarsky]

Thanks for the replies. I purchased the S-2s new.

We see no damage. What would torn RAAL tweeters look like?
My wife is able to hear very faint sounds from the tweeters. I recently put a new amp into my stream, but I don't understand how only the tweeters would be affected. I will call Yamaha and Outlaw to see what they think.

I much prefer simple problems.
B.

[white_darren]

I recently put a new amp into my stream, but I don't understand how only the tweeters would be affected. I will call Yamaha and Outlaw to see what they think.

Time for some isolation testing. If you had been running a Yamaha receiver and recently added an Outlaw amp, remove the amp and go back to your old setup. If it sounds the same as with the amp, see if you can connect the S2s to another receiver. Or, swap your S2s for another set of speakers connected to your receiver and amp and see if they exhibit the same problem. With 3 speakers seemingly misbehaving all at once, there is most likely a common source for the trouble. Whether that was a damaging power surge or a bad upstream component remains to be seen. One thing I've learned over the years though is to never try to reason my way through a problem like this. Far too often the problem turns out to be the thing you assumed it couldn't possibly be.

[davef]

Thanks for the replies. I purchased the S-2s new.

We see no damage. What would torn RAAL tweeters look like?
My wife is able to hear very faint sounds from the tweeters. I recently put a new amp into my stream, but I don't understand how only the tweeters would be affected. I will call Yamaha and Outlaw to see what they think.

I much prefer simple problems.
B.

From visual inspection, you would know without any doubt if the ribbons were torn. Ignoring the comments from your friend, do the speakers sound OK to you? You are an experienced listener and my guess would be that you would know instantly if the tweeters were not working. You wouldn't need your friend to tell you...

That said, are you using the Yamaha auto-EQ? If so, you might turn this off and re-run it. A new amplifier would have a different loop-back reference than the amps build into the receiver...

[Blutarsky]

DOH!

After too much time testing and thinking, it turns out that I have major high frequency hearing loss, worse in my left ear, the one I habitually use for close up driver assessment. I merely turned around and held my right ear close to the tweeters and heard tweet, diminished though.

Now, I need to search for audiophile hearing aids.

Hope my experience adds to the Ascend Forum data base.

Thanks to all.

[RPM]

I am wondering if that habitual driver assessment is the cause of your Hearing loss.

[sonicboom]

Just an inquiry on the side: How would the Raal tweeters (or ribbon tweeters in general) compare to traditional domes in terms of long term reliability?

[davef]

Just an inquiry on the side: How would the Raal tweeters (or ribbon tweeters in general) compare to traditional domes in terms of long term reliability?

Reliability has proven to be excellent. When it comes to tweeters, high quality domes or high quality ribbons like RAAL's, reliability really comes down to what the tweeter is being fed. Clean unclipped signals within the rated power handling and tweeters will last a very long time.