Ever Have One Of Those Evenings?


Tonight, I went downstairs, turned on the system, and it sounded like crap. Within an hour I had:

>Discovered that one of my Thiel 2.2's has either a dead woofer (most likely), or a crossover or internal wiring problem. Testing to diagnose will commence tomorrow, tonight I'm too P.O.'ed.

>Additionally discovered that the tweeter on the other side is distorting badly, and will need the dome/voice-coil assembly replaced (again).

>Confirmed that my most costly set of interconnects has a bad jack connection (these are Harmonic Technology Magic Link Ones, which naturally feature a plug design that cannot easily be opened up for inspection or repairs without destroying the heat-shrink sleeve).

>Faced the distinct possibility that my futzing around behind the preamp trying to ascertain the culprit in the latter problem - without first turning down the volume - may well have been the cause of least one of the first two problems.

>Realized that now, not only can't I listen to my system the regular way, but since the OEM (non-standard) headphone amp output jack I got from Musical Fidelity's distributor to replace the faulty original in my X-Cans quickly developed the same exact problem as the old one (no right channel with either set of 'phones), I cannot even listen with my headphones for the time being, except through my CD-R recorder's wimpy monitoring jack.

Looks like I'm on a steady diet of cable movies and NPR for a while. (Way to go, Trent Lott: at least you'll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind by this time next week, you plastic-haired cretin - your plight is the one redeeming feature of my evening!)
zaikesman
Slipknot--I know. I work in the Hall of the States, right near the Capitol, and sometimes I wish I didn't have my ear so close to the ground in this town. The things I hear are truly, truly frightening.
What do you guys hear about Hollings and the RIAA and their legislative agenda for software, hardware, and the internet? Couldn't Ashcroft and the feds ultimately use some of those provisions as further tools to monitor everybody's lives?
Zaikesman--short answer: yes! Long answer: far more than any of us can ever fully understand.
Um, getting back to my speaker...

I removed the silent woofer, and it checks out fine for continuity, registering 4 ohms (I haven't tried applying a music signal to it). The woofer's leads going back to the crossover also sound the buzzer on the meter. At the time I disconnected the speaker from the system, the mid and tweeter were working, and the woofer was doing nothing, even when the volume was turned up. It sounded to me like the mid and maybe the tweeter were showing some distortion at lower volumes than I would expect, but I chalked this up in my mind to the woofer's not functioning properly, thinking its voice-coil was fried and that this might have been affecting the overall circuit - not actually the case. When I disconnected the woofer, the solder joints on its leads were solid. Now I've got to wonder about the crossover. Any ideas before I call Thiel?

As if that weren't discouraging enough, it turns out the spare tweeter I found for the other speaker fails the continuity check. Ha! Guess that's why I hadn't remembered it in the first place. :-(

LATE UPDATE: Reinstalled the woofer, hooked up the speaker, played music, and I got some woofing, although it didn't seem to me like full-on woofing. I turned up the volume to see if I still perceived excess distortion, and I did - for a few seconds, then no more woofing again. Heard it cut right out. Bizzare - what in the crossover (if that's what it is) could be behaving like this? Something tells me this speaker is going to be taking a Kentucky trip...
Well, this about seals it - the impedance of the affected speaker measures over 25 ohm (with all the drivers installed), the other one about 4 ohms as intended. BTW, I've learned my lesson about digressing too much on a thread I've posted where I might eventually want some more advice - I seem to have effectively driven everybody away! Oh well, if I'm lucky, maybe I'll be listening to my speakers again by the time "Ol' Massa" Lott gets kicked either downstairs or out in early January...