Did I somehow ruin my speakers?

[Nate S]

Hello Audioholics!

First time poster here in some serious need of some help.

Just to give the whole story...my amp finally arrived today (Marantz PM 5005) and I connected my turntable (AT-LP120-USB) and my speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 10.1)

After initial hook up, the digital input to my iPhone sounded GREAT...the turntable, not so much. However the problem that I'm now having now is that is when I was working to figure out why the TT was sounding off, the woofers in the speaker completely shut off!

I'm still getting sound in the tweeters, but nothing else. Now it sounds like I'm listening to bad computer speakers. I've unplugged the amp, reconnected all the wires, and still the same thing. Like I said before, the speakers were working perfectly fine at one point. Any ideas as to why this could be happening?

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Hello Audioholics!

First time poster here in some serious need of some help.

Just to give the whole story...my amp finally arrived today (Marantz PM 5005) and I connected my turntable (AT-LP120-USB) and my speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 10.1)

After initial hook up, the digital input to my iPhone sounded GREAT...the turntable, not so much. However the problem that I'm now having now is that is when I was working to figure out why the TT was sounding off, the woofers in the speaker completely shut off!

I'm still getting sound in the tweeters, but nothing else. Now it sounds like I'm listening to bad computer speakers. I've unplugged the amp, reconnected all the wires, and still the same thing. Like I said before, the speakers were working perfectly fine at one point. Any ideas as to why this could be happening?

So--both woofers are out? The first thing to check is whether you have a worst-case scenario on your hands. Lightly push in on each woofer. Do they move freely? Or do they seem frozen?

 

[Nate S]

So--both woofers are out? The first thing to check is whether you have a worst-case scenario on your hands. Lightly push in on each woofer. Do they move freely? Or do they seem frozen?

Thanks for the quick response!

Yes, both woofers are out. When pushing on each woofer, they both move freely. Although, one seems to have more movement than the other...not sure if that's splitting hairs of not

 

[tyhjaarpa]

They should move freely. What kind of difference there is in movement?

One thing I would check is that those copper plates connect binding posts on back of the speakers. As I suppose you are running just one wire to your speakers and you are not bi-amping?

Should look like this and your speaker wire going either on top or bottom connectors:

Perhaps you can take picture of your connection on back of speaker?

 

[markw]

Is this with all sources or just the turntable? I'm not too sure it's got a phono input.

If it is, you might want to check the TT manual to assure any switches needed to be set to use it's internal phono pre, assuming you're using analog connections.

 

[Nate S]

Is this with all sources or just the turntable? I'm not too sure it's got a phono input.

If it is, you might want to check the TT manual to assure any switches needed to be set to use it's internal phono pre, assuming you're using analog connections.

There is a phono input, but this issue is happening with all sources...leading me to believe it could be an issue with the speakers.

 

[Nate S]

They should move freely. What kind of difference there is in movement?

One thing I would check is that those copper plates connect binding posts on back of the speakers. As I suppose you are running just one wire to your speakers and you are not bi-amping?

Should look like this and your speaker wire going either on top or bottom connectors:

Perhaps you can take picture of your connection on back of speaker?

I actually am bi-amping the speakers. The trip plates have been removed as well, with wire going to all four posts. I would send a picture, but my newb status on here wont allow it until i have 10 posts :/

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I actually am bi-amping the speakers. The trip plates have been removed as well, with wire going to all four posts. I would send a picture, but my newb status on here wont allow it until i have 10 posts :/

If that is the case I would try without bi-amping and see what is the result. So remove 1 set of wires and add those plates for connection. Maybe there is something wrong with your bi-amping setting?

 

[Nate S]

If that is the case I would try without bi-amping and see what is the result. So remove 1 set of wires and add those plates for connection. Maybe there is something wrong with your bi-amping setting?

Just tried that, and on both post sets....still getting the same thing. If for some reason the speakers did "go to heaven", would this be out of the ordinary? At first everything was fine, and then without any notice the subs go out. I didn't hear any noise indicating that anything went wrong....just sucks because these speakers are only like 10 minutes old

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Just tried that, and on both post sets....still getting the same thing. If for some reason the speakers did "go to heaven", would this be out of the ordinary? At first everything was fine, and then without any notice the subs go out. I didn't hear any noise indicating that anything went wrong....just sucks because these speakers are only like 10 minutes old

If that is the case it indeed sounds like something went wrong with the speakers. You can try to get them under varranty. Dont know how those things work on speakers.

 

[markw]

It's highly unusual that both woofers would go simultaneously.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

It's highly unusual that both woofers would go simultaneously.

True. But sounds really odd as well that he doesnt get sound out of them from either posts with plate on.

 

[TLS Guy]

Do a battery test. Undo the jumper and connect a 1.5 volt battery to the bottom (Bass) binding posts. As you connect and disconnect the battery there should be a pop, pop and the woofer cones move in and out.

If nothing happens then both woofers are likely fried. If they have both failed at once then you caused it somehow.

This is a lesson in not doing complicated things with no benefit, in this case passive biamping..

If both woofers are blown, somehow in your set up you caused DC off set.

 

[sterling shoote]

I suspect the speakers are fine. I also suspect it's the amp which is the source of your problem. Disconnect everything and put everything back in original state, then reconnect without bi-amping. See if things then work perfectly, if so, then bi-amp. If bi-amping does not work, call Marantz or get service manual for your amp to see if you have blown a fuse. What I think happened here is incorrect wiring from amp to speaker/s, or you left jumpers on woofer section.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I suspect the speakers are fine. I also suspect it's the amp which is the source of your problem. Disconnect everything and put everything back in original state, then reconnect without bi-amping. See if things then work perfectly, if so, then bi-amp. If bi-amping does not work, call Marantz or get service manual for your amp to see if you have blown a fuse. What I think happened here is incorrect wiring from amp to speaker/s, or you left jumpers on woofer section.

He already posted that he tried without bi-amping, plates on with both terminals and the woofers didn't produce sound while tweeters did.

 

[TLS Guy]

I suspect the speakers are fine. I also suspect it's the amp which is the source of your problem. Disconnect everything and put everything back in original state, then reconnect without bi-amping. See if things then work perfectly, if so, then bi-amp. If bi-amping does not work, call Marantz or get service manual for your amp to see if you have blown a fuse. What I think happened here is incorrect wiring from amp to speaker/s, or you left jumpers on woofer section.

He already did. He needs to do the battery test, which is simple and 100% reliable. That will tell for certain if the woofers are blown.

Strange as it seems it appears both woofers and or the inductor in the low pass circuit are blown. In which event this has to be a case of DC off set.

 

[Nate S]

He already did. He needs to do the battery test, which is simple and 100% reliable. That will tell for certain if the woofers are blown.

Strange as it seems it appears both woofers and or the inductor in the low pass circuit are blown. In which event this has to be a case of DC off set.

Thanks for all the help! Tried the battery test and got no sound. I originally bi-wired the speakers and was 100% certain that all of the wires were hooked up correctly. One thing that I did just notice, which could be the reason why the speakers went awry, is the nominal ohm rating for the 10.1s is 6. When bi-wiring to the 5005 8-16 ohms are created. Obviously, I'm new to all of this...maybe that was the issue? Probably just stick to single wiring for the next round?

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks for all the help! Tried the battery test and got no sound. I originally bi-wired the speakers and was 100% certain that all of the wires were hooked up correctly. One thing that I did just notice, which could be the reason why the speakers went awry, is the nominal ohm rating for the 10.1s is 6. When bi-wiring to the 5005 8-16 ohms are created. Obviously, I'm new to all of this...maybe that was the issue? Probably just stick to single wiring for the next round?

Are the speakers working fine now?

From the info that you provided in this post......I have serious doubts that you know what you are doing here.......on any of it.......

The "battery test" isn't to produce sound. All he was saying is that as soon as you touch the batteries to the terminals you SHOULD see the cones move, then you immediately disconnect the battery and the cones should move back into relaxed position. If that doesn't happen like that, then you have a problem on the speaker!

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for all the help! Tried the battery test and got no sound. I originally bi-wired the speakers and was 100% certain that all of the wires were hooked up correctly. One thing that I did just notice, which could be the reason why the speakers went awry, is the nominal ohm rating for the 10.1s is 6. When bi-wiring to the 5005 8-16 ohms are created. Obviously, I'm new to all of this...maybe that was the issue? Probably just stick to single wiring for the next round?

Where you bi-amping or bi-wiring? You said in a post above you were bi-amping. There is a huge difference.

You are not correct about the impedance. Bi-wiring does not change the impedance. Bi-amping each amps sees just the impedance offered by the speaker/filter section it is connected to.

If this was bi-wiring and you did this correctly, then your receiver is faulty and had a DC offset they blew your speakers. However two amps would have to have failed at the same time.

If bi-amping was involved, then I suspect that you inadvertently connected two power amp positives together, which will cause a massive cascade of problems instantly.

 

[Nate S]

Are the speakers working fine now?

From the info that you provided in this post......I have serious doubts that you know what you are doing here.......on any of it.......

The "battery test" isn't to produce sound. All he was saying is that as soon as you touch the batteries to the terminals you SHOULD see the cones move, then you immediately disconnect the battery and the cones should move back into relaxed position. If that doesn't happen like that, then you have a problem on the speaker!

I may not know exactly what I'm doing here, but connecting wires from an amp to a speaker isn't rocket science. Nothing happened with the cones at all when doing the battery test.

It could very well be that a fuse blew on my amp, but if that were the case...would any sound come out at all?

Either way, I'll be contacting the Marantz as well to look into that aspect as well.