Have I blown a speaker?
Discussion
I've suspected for a while that I have a problem with one of my speakers, and I don't think I can ignore it anymore.
Mostly, it seems to sound fine. However - for certain tones, it is definitely not right - the tone isn't "smooth" - it almost sounds like something is vibrating. It happens most with the kind of tones you'd hear when you were moving around a menu item on a console and selecting things - the kind of "bing" as you select things tends to be the tone that sounds a bit broken.
I assumed I'd blown the speaker but I'd expect this to have a much greater effect on overall sound?
Having never blown a speaker before, I'm not sure what to expect.
Mostly, it seems to sound fine. However - for certain tones, it is definitely not right - the tone isn't "smooth" - it almost sounds like something is vibrating. It happens most with the kind of tones you'd hear when you were moving around a menu item on a console and selecting things - the kind of "bing" as you select things tends to be the tone that sounds a bit broken.
I assumed I'd blown the speaker but I'd expect this to have a much greater effect on overall sound?
Having never blown a speaker before, I'm not sure what to expect.
OP....can you play sound from your PC / laptop / phone through your 'suspect' speaker?
If yes then you can use a sweep test to work out what is wrong. These YouTube links should work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFX-68TINQ
Assuming the sweep highlights the problem then you can also download your own signal generator to play the specific frequencies where the problem happens. Just Google audio signal generator freeware...........there are loads to choose from.
Its not going to fix the problem for you but will identify what's wrong.
Good luck.
If yes then you can use a sweep test to work out what is wrong. These YouTube links should work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFX-68TINQ
Assuming the sweep highlights the problem then you can also download your own signal generator to play the specific frequencies where the problem happens. Just Google audio signal generator freeware...........there are loads to choose from.
Its not going to fix the problem for you but will identify what's wrong.
Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestions.
To answer some questions, they are KEF Reference 201/2s.
I am 100% sure that the vibration noise comes from the main driver of the RH speaker (as I look at them). When I am playing something that causes the problem (watched a film at the weekend which had some piano music in it, and it was quite bad) it is easy to listen closely to the speakers to isolate it. However - I do have some other reasonable speakers as part of my surround setup (Monitor Audio GS10s) so will try putting them as the front left / right to be sure the problem disappears.
Dealer I bought them from has guessed it might be the drivers, and has quoted slightly under £300 or slightly under £200 depending on which it is. That wouldn't be too bad.
To answer some questions, they are KEF Reference 201/2s.
I am 100% sure that the vibration noise comes from the main driver of the RH speaker (as I look at them). When I am playing something that causes the problem (watched a film at the weekend which had some piano music in it, and it was quite bad) it is easy to listen closely to the speakers to isolate it. However - I do have some other reasonable speakers as part of my surround setup (Monitor Audio GS10s) so will try putting them as the front left / right to be sure the problem disappears.
Dealer I bought them from has guessed it might be the drivers, and has quoted slightly under £300 or slightly under £200 depending on which it is. That wouldn't be too bad.
Well, the fix seems to have been surprisingly simple.
I swapped the suspect speaker with one of the GS10s and sure enough the problem disappeared.
Then I swapped the original speaker back, and the problem has not returned. The vibration noise was definitely coming from the main driver, and the speaker did seem to be properly mounted on the stand when I disconnected it. But I can only assume that there was something wrong with how it was seated on the stand which was causing the vibrations at some kind of resonant frequency.
What's really odd though is the difference it's made. Not only has the vibration disappeared, but the whole sound stage at the front is massively improved, which I don't understand at all. But not going to worry about that too much!
I swapped the suspect speaker with one of the GS10s and sure enough the problem disappeared.
Then I swapped the original speaker back, and the problem has not returned. The vibration noise was definitely coming from the main driver, and the speaker did seem to be properly mounted on the stand when I disconnected it. But I can only assume that there was something wrong with how it was seated on the stand which was causing the vibrations at some kind of resonant frequency.
What's really odd though is the difference it's made. Not only has the vibration disappeared, but the whole sound stage at the front is massively improved, which I don't understand at all. But not going to worry about that too much!
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