Testing Studio Monitors for Blown Component

[saint]

I know this will sound silly, but I was wondering if their is a method for testing studio monitors for a blown drivers or component. I have a set of Event ASP8s and for some reason I feel that 8\" drivers are not hitting hard enough. I was playing a track that had some rather digitally distorted bass parts (drums and bassline) and wonder if that can damage anything. I played some other music and feel that it is not as bass heavy now (though it might be a psychological effect or my ears are blown ).

I tried a test tone set all through the bottom end and sounded fine. I was just curious if other people have wondered the same thing and how they tested their components. Also, how hard is it to blow out a driver or component (how resilent are top of the line monitors)? I appreciate any feedback on this question(s).

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

I listen through my PSP8's louder than I'd like to admit & they haven't suffered in any way I've noticed. My Flying Mole amps that are used to power them seem to clip earlier now than before, though.

Perhaps you could test your monitors by running a test tone through them to check if they're flat from top to bottom.

 

[saint]

I ran a set of test tones through the speakers, everything seemed to sound fine (all the way down to 30 Hz). I have cranked my monitors up to the limits a few times, where the light will start to go out and then I back down. I rarely listen to them that loud though. My only concern was that I had a track in Logic that was running in the red (clipping), but the monitor volume was about at 1/3 of the max volume. I am probably tripping, but just curious about taking care of my monitors. The Event manual is pretty darn slim, they don't even have information on the clip light (I had to email them).

Cheers

 

[Cat5]

Sounds like a psychosematic problem to me. ...just the kind of thing that drives me to pull my hair out. I am paranoid about my speakers too and have always wondered about the effects of distortion in the program material. I never found any conclusive evidence to suggest that it was in fact dangerous though.

You have to watch out for DC on the speakers, and frequencies lower than 20 HZ which can really burn your magnets with ebough power behind them. DC is 0Hz and is sure to fry speakers.

Tht thing is, a 44.1 source can't really contain these frequencies, nor can any other digital source that is properly filtered (which most are) at the AD/DA stages, so other than pushing too much power you're probably safe.

You could fuse the speakers just to be safe. Anyone know where to get some decent speaker fuses cheap?

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

I've always understood that fusing causes more problems than it helps. btw, how'd you get -33 posts???

 

[Akis]

btw, how'd you get -33 posts???

It's one of those nice things with this forum software... 2 days ago it displayed a non-existent post dated back in 1970 as the latest one in the main forum! :?

 

[Cat5]

I've always understood that fusing causes more problems than it helps. btw, how'd you get -33 posts???

I've been typing backwards. It's not as easy as you'd expect! :wink:

I've always thought fuses would probably interfere with the signal integrity, considering I CAN hear the difference between cheap thin speaker wire and high grade wire (not to mention distance). Anything that would pop under stress has got to be thin enough to impede the signal at least in some frequency areas.

Shane

 

[T-Dogg]

These are the 4 ways I've seen speakers die, definately not a be-all-end-all way to diagnose if there's a problem, but maybe it'll be helpful.

1. The surround or speaker cone gets ripped... here damage is obvious to diagnose...

2. The coil inside the speaker gets hot and shorts to itself, or snaps altogether. Pretty easy here too, cause you wont get any sound, save for maybe a very bad hum...

3. The speaker coil rubs up against the magnet structure it sits in (usually due to too much power, which causes erratic movement or even too much heat making the coil expand.) When this happens, the speaker might work, but the coil may have been damaged by \"crashing\" against the inside of the magnet structure, causing it to constantly rub. To test for this, take the speaker out and with your hands push it in and out -- EVENLY is the important thing here, applying equal pressure (well, as best as you can) across the cone while moving is across its travel path. If you hear any \"scratching\" or feel something rubbing, you got a problem. If the speaker travels nice and smoothly you're probably in good shape.

4. The mechanical components of the speaker have strectched due to the force of the speaker under too much power... Here, the spyder (i think that's what its called -- basically the accordian lookin thing on back) may have been over stretched or the chassis warped even. This ones tough to test. You could try taking a 9volt battery and \"popping\" the speaker by connecting the +/- terminals to those of the speaker. Try connecting in both directions -- one way will hold the speaker in, the other will push it out as long as the battery is connected. What you're really looking for is to see that the speaker returns to a consistant center position relatively quickly when ya take the battery off. Additionally, when the battery is connected, make sure everything looks symetrical -- for example, the surround shouldn't be even slightly \"bunched up\" anywhere, and should frame the speaker evenly in both \"in\" and \"out\" directions. Definately not a science though, you'd need some sensitive equipment to really tell in all but the worst situations. Easier to tell on bigger drivers, like 18\" subs, where you might find a little wobble when the cone returns to normal position...