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Faulty Royd Abbots

P

puddlesplasher

pfm Member
I have a pair of Royd Abbots and one speaker is playing up. The sound level is lower and distorted. I suspect it's a crossover issue. Have put them up for sale but was thinking of having a look at them myself. Other than a visual check on the crossover is there anyway of testing to test. In the past I have had a Royd crossover out and if I remember correctly they are quite minimal on components. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks
 
Look for any weak/loose solder connections in the speaker.

It maybe that a drive unit has failed

You could switch drive units over to other speaker to test
 
That's worth a try. I thought it was poor speaker cable connectors and redid those and after being switched off they played ok for about 1 1/2 tracks which is what made me think crossover. Will try and look over the weekend. Thanks for advise Joe Hart. I guess since you have been dropped by West Ham you have time to give audio tips
 
Have you checked the bass/mid driver on that side?
The coil, being open to the environment, has a habit of filling with dust/grot and then sticking/rubbing.
It is possible with very thoughtful,careful and gentle cleaning to remove the offending clag but proceed with the utmost care because there is very little clearance between the pole piece and the coil.
 
The Abbot is one of the fewer Royd 'speakers to have a dust cap over the bass/mid voice coil; so you can rule out the usual gumming up.

Assuming that you've ruled out the upstream components and speaker cables by switching the cables between speakers, I'd put and ear to the drivers and, if it is only the bass/mid that is lower in level and distorting, pull that driver and test with a direct signal connection to it (in free air after desoldering the positive leg of the crossover from back of the driver) before laying blame on the crossover.

If it does prove to be the bass/mid at fault then I believe that it is an off-the-shelf model, only slightly tweaked by Joe A. via addition of a tightly woven fabric over the back to 'add acoustic resistance and control excessive driver excursion'.
 
Craig B said:
The Abbot is one of the fewer Royd 'speakers to have a dust cap over the bass/mid voice coil; so you can rule out the usual gumming up.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I had a one owner pair about eight years ago that had open drivers that were full of dust and dirt. I knew the person that had them and the shop that sold them originally so I never questioned it.
Once I worked out a way to clean them without damage they were fine but looking around at a few images, shows dust capped units.
I wonder if they were very early or very late perhaps?
 
Could have been an early release with Royd's own 5" bass/mid, I suppose.

According to the Royd Prior and Abbot brochure, the latter models bass/mid unit is described as "6 1/2" cast magnesium chassis". I suspect it to be a Vifa M17W variant, as M21W was used on the Prior.
 
Thanks for all advice much appreciated. Both drivers are lower in volume and distorted. Have already checked all cables and swapped over amps left to right so quite sure it's the speaker. Looked inside yesterday and the bass/mid does have a cover so you are probably right on not being a gummed driver. I assumed it was the crossover as it is effecting both drivers on that speaker. I'm a amateur as far as this goes but worth a try.
 
All four binding posts are screwed fully tight against the bi-wire links, right?

If so, try removing the links and testing the bass/mid leg only and then the tweeter. If one sounds fine but the other is distorted, replace the links and reconnect the speaker cable to the two terminals that worked.

Note that some of the Royd models with bi-wire terminals were not divided electrically within, requiring a minor internal modification as well as removal of the external links for bi-wire use. Should your Abbots be among these then you will get silence from one set of inputs with the bi-wire links removed.
 
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