Bad driver, or speakers too good for the recording?

[Jason Brown]

I have a couple of CDs that distort in certain places while playing through my speakers which I hadn't noticed in the past when playing them in my old system(s). With both discs the offending noise is coming from the left channel.

I have never had a speaker go bad on me (yet), so I am wondering if there is a possibility that a bad driver could act up intermittently like this, or if a speaker problem would be apparent all the time.

If I listen to the same parts through my Grado 325 headphones, I have to listen at very low volume to discern if there's distortion or not. It diappears at higher volume. Either way, I cant get it to sound nearly the same as through my speakers.

Those of you who've had speaker drivers fail, please share your stories.

Thanks,
Jason

[SamS]

Jason,

I've heard a few midrange drivers fail before, and its pretty ugly :(

Try playing a track with mostly a vocal (i'd pick Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters from Elton John's "Honky Chateau" MFSL) and just play the offending speaker. Should be pretty easy to pick out any bugs.

FYI, a bad driver is usually caused by amplifier clipping. Since you recently got a more powerful amp, I'm at a loss to the potential cause. Could it have happened when you were using just your Denon?

[Steve Hoffman]

Go to your recrod store and buy a TELARC solo classical piano CD. Something you like, Chopin or something. This is the hardest instrument to record and the hardest to reproduce. It will expose every buzz, crackle, loose screw, distortion or lack of headroom in a system, every time.

[Jason Brown]

Thanks, guys.
I'll look for a TELARC piano CD. Honky Chateau will be harder to find in MFSL form of course.

"Could it have happened when you were using just your Denon?"

No, but that gives me an idea. Maybe my new amp has a problem. I'll have to borrow some speaker wire to run just from the Denon to the speaker to see what happens. I can't hook spades to the Denon or I'd use my current wire.


Here's another stupid question:
When I got this speaker cable, I accidentally reversed the polarity for the first few hours. That can't cause physical harm to the speaker, can it?

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by Jason Brown


Here's another stupid question:
When I got this speaker cable, I accidentally reversed the polarity for the first few hours. That can't cause physical harm to the speaker, can it?


No.

[Jason Brown]

Excellent, thanks.

I'm going to play stuff that I have now with heavy vocals and/or piano to see if I can get it to act up any more today.

[GabeG]

deleted.

[Steve Hoffman]

Jason,

If you want to confirm it it is your equipment or your speakers, just reverse the signal coming to the speakers, in other words make the left channel go to the right speaker and the right channel go to the left speaker.

If the breakup starts coming from the RIGHT, you know it's your electronics. If it stays on the left even though you've reversed channels, it's your speaker. Make sure your source material is MONO or mainly down the middle though...

[Jason Brown]

Thanks, Steve
The only mono mix I'm sure I even have is Cream's Disraeli Gears. So far, I've only been able to get the nasty sound out of 2 of about 20 discs I've played this weekend. Statistically, I don't think Cream is going to cause me any problems.

I am going to reverse the channels because I'm uneasy about having speaker problems considering where I bought them (this dealer is the biggest ********** in the business when it comes to returning defective merchandise).

For the moment, I'm going to look at those TELARC CDs you mentioned.

[Jason Brown]

Good call on the Malcom Frager Plays Chopin CD, Steve. There is some serious distortion in the left channel with this one - much worse than the other examples. I haven't nailed down whether it's the midrange driver or the tweeter, though.

I think that my best course of action under the circumstances is to take advantage of the offer that Paradigm dealers make where you can get a full-value trade-up toward better speakers, and get some 100s instead. I'll just get eternally blown off if I try to get it repaired.

[mne563]

Originally posted by Jason Brown
I think that my best course of action under the circumstances is to take advantage of the offer that Paradigm dealers make where you can get a full-value trade-up toward better speakers, and get some 100s instead. I'll just get eternally blown off if I try to get it repaired.

Hey, Paradigm offers a five year warranty. Uless you bought them from the back of a van, the dealer should be able to take care of this!

[Jason Brown]

You are correct - he should be.

He should've also replaced my Denon 2900 when it went bad the first week I had it. I let him tell me to keep checking back for the replacement for two or three weeks before I got smart and sent it back to Denon. (It only takes 3 days to get one in.)

I want the 100s anyway. I was probably going to upgrade in a few months, but now seems like the right time. Plus it'll be fun to call him after I exchange them and say "Oh, by the way...".

[Strabo]

Originally posted by Jason Brown
Good call on the Malcom Frager Plays Chopin CD, Steve. There is some serious distortion in the left channel with this one - much worse than the other examples. I haven't nailed down whether it's the midrange driver or the tweeter, though.


As Steve suggested, did you try playing this a few times with the speakers switched around?

The reason I asked is I have a Beethoven piano sonata on a Gale LP that had this same problem in one part of the recording. Knowing the reputation of Gale I slowly started upgrading things.
Started with a cartridge which made it slightly better. By the time I was done I had changed everything except the speakers:laugh: but now it plays just fine all the way through on those same speakers.

Moral to the story, it wasn't my speakers, it was an amplification problem.
I'd still try switching wiring around to see if it changes for follows the new wire layout.

[Jason Brown]

Originally posted by Strabo


As Steve suggested, did you try playing this a few times with the speakers switched around?



I did as a matter of fact. It's occurring in the same speaker each time. The fortunate thing is that most CDs cause me no problems, so I'll still be able to enjoy music for the 2½ weeks it's going to take for my Studio 100 v3s to get here from Toronto (I hope). As much as I love my current speakers, my next ones should be breathtaking!

[mne563]

Originally posted by Jason Brown
As much as I love my current speakers, my next ones should be breathtaking!

Keep us posted!

I just bought (and am currently breaking in) my second pair of Studio 100's (v. 2's) for a soon to be surround sound set up, I love 'em. The only negative comment I have is to be aware that they are power sponges, get a BIG amp!

What are your current speakers you are trading in?

[Jason Brown]

My current speakers are the v2 60s. I've only had them about a month and a half, but they are awesome!

You have four 100s? Wow.

I have a 205w amp right now. I'm hoping that'll do me for a while.

[mne563]

Originally posted by Jason Brown
I have a 205w amp right now. I'm hoping that'll do me for a while.

That should work fine. I originally had 100 watts, but you could have cooked marshmallows over that thing! I have a big room and I occasionally like things loud, so I then went to a Rotel 1090 at 380 w.p.c. which works great, even though it still can get warm. Rotel is relatively cheap for the amount of power you get and I'll be adding another Rotel 1090 for the rear surround. I'm currently shopping for a surround preamp/processor, suggestions are welcome!

If you haven't yet, check out this George Cardas site regarding speaker placement; it's definitely improved my set up:

Setting Up Speakers In A Rectangular Room (http://www.cardas.com/insights/index.html)

[Jason Brown]

Those rotels are nice. I almost went that route myself (1080), but I couldn't work out an audition, so I gave my business to the Parasound dealer.

Thanks for the link -- I wish I had the freedom to use that formula in my room.