J

Jwheel

Audioholic
Does anyone know of a good method/way to tell if a tweeter(s) is blown? The reason I ask is, I can hear a faint rattling type sound coming from my tweeters. Not all of the time but it has me a little worried. I was watching Master and Commander about 1:15 minutes into it when I first heard the sound coming from my left rear surround. I got up, rewound it and heard the same sound from all my speakers and it makes me think all my tweeters are blown. I just want to know if anyone knows of a good test or something to either put my fears to rest or let me know if indeed they are blown. Thanks in advance.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
I sure hope someone responds to my above question. I have ordered the Avia DVD audio calibration disk. Should the frequency sweeps help me determine if I have blown tweeters?
 
gregz

gregz

Full Audioholic
Jwheel, although it is possible, it's somewhat unlikely that all your tweeters are blown. There are two ways you could end up with a whole set of blown tweeters:

1) Your receiver is seriously malfunctioning

2) An unattended teenager wanted to see how loud the system could go

I have some CDs that make my tweeters sound blown, as well as some movies on VHS. Some tweeters are more forgiving than others with certain harshly recorded sounds.

The frequency sweeps should help you put to rest your worries. If you can do a sweep from 1KHz up to 20KHz without hearing the nasty buz, I think you're in good shape.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
Thanks very much for replying. Funny thing is, during that scene of Master and Commander (1:11:00 in) only the rear surronds make the noise. The center channel and the mains don't. I swapped the wires from my mains to my surrounds and tried it and got the sound from the mains but not the surrounds. This makes me belive that it is the recording and not my speakers. The Avia disk came today and I'm going to check it later today. Thanks again for you're reply. I'm the only one who uses the system - no kids and the wife doesn't even know how to turn it on.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
Good news and bad news

The good news is that since the problem changed speakers when you switched wires, that rules out the speakers as the source of the problem.

The bad news is that it's either in the receiver or the DVD player.
 
gregz

gregz

Full Audioholic
The bad news is that it's either in the receiver or the DVD player.
...or the DVD itself.

When I heard what I thought was a blown left tweeter while listening to a CD, I swapped speakers. When the problem persisted in the left, I swapped receivers. When the problem remained, I played the CD on my DVD player instead of my CD player, and the sound became more pronounced.

Let us know how your test CD works for you.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
I'll let you know how the test CD works. I hope it isn't the reciever - it's brand new (RX V2500). The DVD player might be a different story. It is a JVC XV-S40 - pretty old. I'm hoping it is the DVD. I'll let you know later after I run the sweeps with the Avia disk.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
Well guys, I think I have some really bad news. When I ran the ambiance generator clicks on the Avia disk, I heard the rattling on my surround tweeters and on my front mains. Not as srtong on my front mains though. I did not hear any rattling whatsoever on my center channel though. Also when I did the frequency sweeps, if there is any kind of rattling whatsoever, does it mean that the tweeters are blown? There was rattling coming from all the speakers. I think I just confirmed my fears. Anyone else have this disk and done the same test that can tell me if they are blown or not?
 
R

ruadmaa

Banned
Blown Tweeter

Jwheel said:
Well guys, I think I have some really bad news. When I ran the ambiance generator clicks on the Avia disk, I heard the rattling on my surround tweeters and on my front mains. Not as srtong on my front mains though. I did not hear any rattling whatsoever on my center channel though. Also when I did the frequency sweeps, if there is any kind of rattling whatsoever, does it mean that the tweeters are blown? There was rattling coming from all the speakers. I think I just confirmed my fears. Anyone else have this disk and done the same test that can tell me if they are blown or not?
To my knowledge most of the time when a tweeter burns out it is totally inoperative.

See what the other folks say in regard to a tweeter malfunction.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
Okay, let me tell you about some other tests I did last night. Since the center channel was the only speaker in my setup that did not make a noise with the abient clicks and the frequecy checks, I tried each speaker (FR, FL, RS, LS) plugged into where the center channel would be on the back of the reciever and ran all the tests again (frequency sweep and the clicks) and there was NO RATTLING from any of them. They all sounded fine when used as the center channel. Now for the kicker, when the actual center channel was plugged into either the FR or FL, there was a little rattling (just like the mains did) and when it was plugged into either one of the surrounds, there was lots of rattling (just like the surrounds did). This makes me believe that there is nothing wrong with my tweeters!! Whew!! But, leads me to ask two questions:

1) Are the frequency sweeps and ambient clicks on Avia suppose to sound the same through all the speakers?

2) If so, does it matter what surround mode I'm in (like Yamaha's DSP modes or 7-Channel stereo)? I was in the General DSP mode while running the test. I didn't try any other modes yet - wife was getting upset with all the noise.

3) If it doesn't matter could does this mean that either my DVD player is the problem or maybe my reciever?

BTW, Thanks for all the help!!
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
I could be wrong, but...

I don't think you should be using any DSP modes when setting up your system wih these discs.

DSP modes can create "artifacts" which may or may not be realized as strange noises.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
markw said:
I don't think you should be using any DSP modes when setting up your system wih these discs.

DSP modes can create "artifacts" which may or may not be realized as strange noises.

Is there a preferred mode to be in when using Avia then with the Yamaha Rx V2500?
 
R

ruadmaa

Banned
Preferred Mode

Jwheel said:
Is there a preferred mode to be in when using Avia then with the Yamaha Rx V2500?
You would most likely want to use the "Straight" selection from your remote. This offers no enhancement or sound fields.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
ruadmaa said:
You would most likely want to use the "Straight" selection from your remote. This offers no enhancement or sound fields.
I'll have to give the "straight" selection a try. Thanks again.

Tell you what, I'm sure glad that my speakers don't have blow tweeters. I just bought them a month and a half a go.
 
J

Jwheel

Audioholic
Well, last night I spent a lot of time calibrating with the Avia disk. I set each speaker to 85db at master volume 00 (Is there a better volume to calibrate at? 00 seems awfully high on the scale). When I ran the sweeps and other test tones with my reciever set to "straight" I didn't hear any odd buzzing or humming sounds from the tweeters (Glad for that).

I watched the Incredibles on it last night after the calibration. Eventhough Master volume 00 is 85db, I watched the movie at master volume -15db. 00 would have been WAY too loud. Anyway, thanks for all the advice. This forum is AMAZING!
 

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