Speakers melted? Why?!?

[Nakattk]

I have a problem/mystery. I was sitting on my couch and turned the vol up a little bit on my Onkyo receiver, but i noticed that no sould was coming out just a strange light poping sound. Then I noticed smoke rising from my two front channel speakers. I cut the power to the reciver and pulled the speaker cable form the front speakers. I opened the two fronts up and the tweeter was melted, but the rest of it looks fine. I have had this unit for years with NO problems. It was an all in one system so its not like I mixed the wrong speakers + I have had this setup for over 5 years with no problems. Please help anything is helpful! I am afraid to even turn the receiver on. What would casue this?

Update: I turned the receiver on and tested the other speakers and they get signal and sound ok. I even hooked up the melted ones and they got a signal, but the tweeters are melted. I am totaly confused.

 

[Nakattk]

update 2: I disconnected the tweeters from the front channels for now. I still get sound from the loudspeakers, just not the tweeters. I do not have the money to replace my whole system as of yet. Do you think it will be ok if I just use it as is for now and kill the power to the reciever when I am away? This totally sucks... I have had no trouble from this equipment for over 5 years and not I am afraid of all of it.

 

[TLS Guy]

update 2: I disconnected the tweeters from the front channels for now. I still get sound from the loudspeakers, just not the tweeters. I do not have the money to replace my whole system as of yet. Do you think it will be ok if I just use it as is for now and kill the power to the reciever when I am away? This totally sucks... I have had no trouble from this equipment for over 5 years and not I am afraid of all of it.

The only way that could happen is if your receiver has developed a fault. The receiver must have developed a supersonic oscillation and fried the tweeters.

The other possibility is that you turned your rig up much too loud and generated a lot of distortion products and fried the tweeters.

In fact as I think about it, I think you caused the failure, as you fried two tweeters. I doubt two channels would go into oscillation at once, so most likely you drove your receiver into hard clipping and fried the tweeters.

You need to replace the tweeters at least. You might want to have your receiver put on a scope and at least check it does not oscillate when pushed hard, then you won't damage your next speakers or tweeters.

 

[highfigh]

That "fault" in the receiver was probably clipping, caused by "turning the receiver up a little bit". I would bet it was turned up more than "a little bit".

 

[Nakattk]

when I turned it up I did not even get past 30 on the volume before I saw the smoke. I usually run it between 30 and 40 on the volume everyday. Maybe something in the reciever or remote got stuck and drove it up without me knowing. I will probable replace the reciever anyway it is kind of old and outdated. Any recommendations? I mainly watch movies and game. I have a medium size living room with vaulted celings. Some thing around $800?

 

[GranteedEV]

when I turned it up I did not even get past 30 on the volume before I saw the smoke. I usually run it between 30 and 40 on the volume everyday. Maybe something in the reciever or remote got stuck and drove it up without me knowing. I will probable replace the reciever anyway it is kind of old and outdated. Any recommendations? I mainly watch movies and game. I have a medium size living room with vaulted celings. Some thing around $800?

I own this unit and I've found its amps to, for my needs, never audibly strain

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MARSR6003/Marantz-Sr6003-100w-X-7ch-Home-Theater-Surround-Receiver/1.html

I would however start with new speakers. It's sketchy if your speakers are melting on you. All-in-one systems generally are made with low sensitivity parts with low thermal power handling. A medium sized room can be decently demanding imo. If your speakers are 84db sensitive and you're sitting 10 feet away, for example, you may very well be clipping a cheap receiver with weak current reserves.

 

[timoteo]

Tru dat homie g funk!!!!

 

[bikdav]

Good Point

I own this unit and I've found its amps to, for my needs, never audibly strain

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MARSR6003/Marantz-Sr6003-100w-X-7ch-Home-Theater-Surround-Receiver/1.html

I would however start with new speakers. It's sketchy if your speakers are melting on you. All-in-one systems generally are made with low sensitivity parts with low thermal power handling. A medium sized room can be decently demanding imo. If your speakers are 84db sensitive and you're sitting 10 feet away, for example, you may very well be clipping a cheap receiver with weak current reserves.

If those speakers were the Onkyo speakers that were part of the system, appreciably larger speakers of a different brand would probably prevent this incident from happening again the way you stated it did. That said, if you ever hear clipping distortion again, turn down that volume control.

 

[Nakattk]

Here is a pic of the melted tweeter if anyone is interested