Monitor amp/speaker problem

[[email protected][_2_]]

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I can't seem to find it
archived.

One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the volume
on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem, I guess. And
something I've dealt with for awhile.. but now it seems to be getting
worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback at a normal
volume.. it has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?

[Laurence Payne]

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:20:32 -0800 (PST), "
> wrote:

>I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I can't seem to find it
>archived.
>
>One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
>frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the volume
>on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem, I guess. And
>something I've dealt with for awhile.. but now it seems to be getting
>worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback at a normal
>volume.. it has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
>Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?


It's a common problem if your mixing board is a Mackie, one of the
range that suffered from the ribbon cable problem.

Else, all you're telling us is that something's broken. You'll find
out what by swapping speaker, cables, amplifier between channels.

[William Sommerwerck]

> One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
> frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the
> volume on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem,
> I guess. And something I've dealt with for a while. But now it seems
> to be getting worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback
> at a normal volume. It has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
> Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?

Well, the first thing to do is to SWAP THE SPEAKERS, right? If the problem
remains with the speaker, the speaker is at fault. If it remains with the
channel, then the amplifier or board is at fault. You then swap the input
cables to the amps. If the problem is still on the same channel, then the
amp is at fault. If not, the board. (We're assuming it's not some weird
problem with the cables.)

I'm going to be critical here. This is Troubleshooting 101, and anyone who
works with electronic equipment should know how to do it.

[Scott Dorsey]

> wrote:
>One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
>frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the volume
>on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem, I guess. And
>something I've dealt with for awhile.. but now it seems to be getting
>worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback at a normal
>volume.. it has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
>Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?

Any of the above. Could be a cable, also. Swap the speakers right to
left and see.

It's more likely to be the amp or the console, though. Leaky capacitors
causing a stage to get misbiased is a common cause for this. Then again,
dirty connections and cold solder joints cause it too.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected][_2_]]

On Dec 20, 8:51*am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> > wrote:
> >One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
> >frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the volume
> >on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem, I guess. And
> >something I've dealt with for awhile.. but now it seems to be getting
> >worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback at a normal
> >volume.. it has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
> >Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?
>
> Any of the above. *Could be a cable, also. *Swap the speakers right to
> left and see.
>
> It's more likely to be the amp or the console, though. *Leaky capacitors
> causing a stage to get misbiased is a common cause for this. *Then again,
> dirty connections and cold solder joints cause it too.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. *C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Ok, well actually I had already tried both the cables and switching
the speakers. So I know it's not those. Not really sure how to test to
see if it's the board or the amp, though. However, I do have a
headphone out on my board which is controlled by the same volume as
the mains. It does not have the same problem when listening through
the phones. Does this point to the amp?

[Laurence Payne]

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:31:09 -0800 (PST), "
> wrote:

>On Dec 20, 8:51*am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
>> > wrote:
>> >One of the speakers that I have for monitoring seems to go out
>> >frequently, only to be brought back into action by cranking the volume
>> >on my board momentarily. It's a pretty common problem, I guess. And
>> >something I've dealt with for awhile.. but now it seems to be getting
>> >worse and very annoying. Now I can't listen to playback at a normal
>> >volume.. it has to be blasting or the speaker stops.
>> >Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the amp, or the board?
>>
>> Any of the above. *Could be a cable, also. *Swap the speakers right to
>> left and see.
>>
>> It's more likely to be the amp or the console, though. *Leaky capacitors
>> causing a stage to get misbiased is a common cause for this. *Then again,
>> dirty connections and cold solder joints cause it too.
>> --scott
>> --
>> "C'est un Nagra. *C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
>
>Ok, well actually I had already tried both the cables and switching
>the speakers. So I know it's not those. Not really sure how to test to
>see if it's the board or the amp, though. However, I do have a
>headphone out on my board which is controlled by the same volume as
>the mains. It does not have the same problem when listening through
>the phones. Does this point to the amp?

So why did you say "Is the problem most likely in the speaker, the
amp, or the board?"?

The amp has two channels. Swap inputs and outputs so what was going
through the L channel now goes through the R.

[Scott Dorsey]

> wrote:
>Ok, well actually I had already tried both the cables and switching
>the speakers. So I know it's not those. Not really sure how to test to
>see if it's the board or the amp, though.

Switch right and left channels going into the amp. Does the problem move?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."