advertisement


Professional Speaker testing ?

I've never had a problem myself, but would discourage brut force.

Thin chipboard cabinets may be an issue if insufficient glue is used to build them. If the base can be ripped off by four blobs of Blutack or the joints open with a bit of bass I would say the cabinets are made to a substandard level.
 
Twisting is the best option yes. I'm not talking about 4 blobs of blu tak here.... Sometimes on stands with a solid top plate most of the area has been covered in blu tak in some cases and has then had the weight of the speaker and several years to "set". As I say I saw it once myself (not my speakers or me that had applied the blu tak) and it was an ex second hand hifi dealer friend (Bob Surgeoner, who now runs NEAT speakers FWIW) who obviously had to do this more often than most who told me had seen it a few times...
 
If you need them professionally tested Al, I can do that for you and drivers aside, I have access to all the parts needed to refresh just about any loudspeaker crossover for example. I can also sort grille repairs (or new grilles) and cabinet works. Test frequency sweeps may tell you if there's anything obvious wrong but so will just about any music CD. Unless you have some way of measuring sweeps you wont know whether left/right channels are balanced, and room interaction will play a part too, so they're of limited value in reality.

If they sound good, why not just use them. The main issue with ALL speakers much over 15 years old which use electrolytic caps in their crossovers is rising ESR with age and changes in capacitance value. These things can reduce driver sensitivity and change the crossover points, so almost all older speakers using these caps can be very economically brought back to factory spec with a simple like for like cap replacement.
 
If they were in a sauna perhaps.

But joking aside, if the OP really does want to get these speakers checked out then Pac1 is the man to do it and can also do any required refurbishment.
 
The most likely issue on conventional speakers is sticking ferrofluid in the tweeter. In the early stages this frequently causes one edge of the coil to stick a bit and is heard as spitty treble. Measurement shows high distortion as the lower end of the tweeter range and a tilt in balance to a rising high treble
 
YNWOAN said:
If they were in a sauna perhaps.

But joking aside, if the OP really does want to get these speakers checked out then Pac1 is the man to do it and can also do any required refurbishment.
Click to expand...

davidsrsb said:
The most likely issue on conventional speakers is sticking ferrofluid in the tweeter. In the early stages this frequently causes one edge of the coil to stick a bit and is heard as spitty treble. Measurement shows high distortion as the lower end of the tweeter range and a tilt in balance to a rising high treble
Click to expand...

Agreed on both .

BTW Doing sweep tones is pretty much useless as if done in any normal room you will find huge peaks and troughs in the perceived sound level... which will turn into a different set of huge peaks and troughs in the perceived sound level if you move a few inches in any direction, depending on the frequency of course... with lower tones you may need to move a few feet to get this effect. Have fun deciding which response is correct. OK non of them are!
 
HolmImpulse and a PC microphone does the job - it measures distortion too, which reveals the ferrofluid problem and bass driver suspension and surround problems
 
Speakers have amazing longevity. My first system in about 1966, included second hand Leak Mini Sandwich speakers. They are still in use somewhere in my family, I think my niece.
 
david12 said:
Speakers have amazing longevity. My first system in about 1966, included second hand Leak Mini Sandwich speakers. They are still in use somewhere in my family, I think my niece.
Click to expand...

I've got a pair of these.... strange beasties. Elliptical woofer due apparently to a quirk of purchase tax legislation at the time! Quite clean and uncoloured mids but no bass to speak of. I haven't tried them hard up to a wall which is likely what they were designed for though...
Very inefficient also I seem to recall, which combined with power handling of probably 20 W or so means not exactly suitable for parties!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top