Semi-Technical kind of question about speakers

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J

jclaydon

New DJ
Jan 23, 2008
447
0
54
High River, AB
I recently bought a pair of kinda cheap but very ok sounding 3-way speakers but not surprisingly the horn/tweeter is starting to fail on one of them.

I was wondering if anyone who has built their own speakers would know if I could replace the horn with a better quality part from a well known manufacturer or if there might be some possible issues with fit *or anything else I haven't thought of*

Or alternatively I was wondering if you could use car stereo parts.

I know absolutely nothing about building or repairing stuff, but I do know a friend of mine who is a freaking genius when it comes to stuff like that..


-James
 
jclaydon said:
I recently bought a pair of kinda cheap but very ok sounding 3-way speakers but not surprisingly the horn/tweeter is starting to fail on one of them.

I was wondering if anyone who has built their own speakers would know if I could replace the horn with a better quality part from a well known manufacturer or if there might be some possible issues with fit *or anything else I haven't thought of*

Or alternatively I was wondering if you could use car stereo parts.

I know absolutely nothing about building or repairing stuff, but I do know a friend of mine who is a freaking genius when it comes to stuff like that..


-James
Click to expand...


Then maybe you could ask him. :sqwink::sqlaugh:
 
What type of horn/tweeter? I am assuming that as a three way it has some sort of crossover in it (other than a resistor?

If it uses a piezo HF for the highs they are pretty cheap to buy I would just replace it with another one! Radio Shack carries several different ones!

If you get into it as a project you may find it cheaper to simply buy another pair of speakers considering that you may have to add a real crossover $30 to $100, HF horn and driver at least another $100!
 
cclark65 said:
first of all, what are the speakers so we know what there is to work with.
Click to expand...

Gee that might help. Btw i have talked to my friend but I haven't heard back from him yet, i think he might still be on his sabatical.

anyway here is what I bought *try not to laugh too hard, they actually sound a heck of a lot better than they look*

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Studio-PA-DJ-Hom...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5a4eb32c

I have an active crossover that i use with these but I think the one the speaker has is just a resistor.


These are just backup speakers that I use when i need extra coverage or when I am doing karaoke at a smaller venue.

I would kind of like to learn about this kind of stuff, so I don't mind spending extra money to learn.

thanks

-James

P.S. if the picture isn't clear enough, I can take some closeups with my digital camera.
 
jclaydon said:
Gee that might help. Btw i have talked to my friend but I haven't heard back from him yet, i think he might still be on his sabatical.

anyway here is what I bought *try not to laugh too hard, they actually sound a heck of a lot better than they look*

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Studio-PA-DJ-Hom...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5a4eb32c

I have an active crossover that i use with these but I think the one the speaker has is just a resistor.


These are just backup speakers that I use when i need extra coverage or when I am doing karaoke at a smaller venue.

I would kind of like to learn about this kind of stuff, so I don't mind spending extra money to learn.

thanks

-James

P.S. if the picture isn't clear enough, I can take some closeups with my digital camera.
Click to expand...

Here in Houston you can replace both Horn and Tweeters for less than $10.00 total. They are not High Quality Horns and tweeters though. More likely they would be in the same category as Pyle Pro.
 
Gosh, 92dB sensitivity is rather low. But if it's something you want to fix and work with, replacement drivers are probably available.
 
if you do go with real horn drivers as replacements, you'll probably have to pad them down quite a ways to match the rest of the system, otherwise the highs are gonna be very loud over the bass and mids, as most aluminum or titanium drivers have a much higher sensitivity, usually well over 100.

Ideally, get an exact replacement, be more careful with the EQ settings maybe, or just driving the speaker in general.

Once you've come to realize the limitations of this particular speaker, you can sell them and buy something different. If it sounds good that's great, but if it's not going to hold up to what you are going to throw at it, then you need something better.
 
Well actually what I was hoping for eventually, as a way to learn, was to replace EVERYTHING as I could afford it, what I wasn't sure of is if I would have to re-wire stuff which would make me nervous, but I'd still do it when my friend comes back.

-James
 
Actually you would use both a resistor and a cap You put an 8ohm resistor across the terminals of the Peizo so that the amp sees it as an 8 ohm load then for a "crossover" you would use a 10 uf cap for around 2000 hertz X-point. for 1800 hertz use a 10 uf and a 1 uf in parallel. For 3000 hz use 5.6 uf and a 1 uf in parallel. Just remember that the majority of Peizo tweeters will burnout at about 200 watts!
 
it sounds like (pun intended) you should replace the whole speaker.
lots of speakers "sound good"...but cannot last the rigors of the road.
if you break 'em or blow 'em (pun NOT intended) then you wasted the money you could have invested in new speakers.

cheap home speakers are like most cheap home electronics...
they are meant to be disposable, not repairable.
 
jclaydon said:
Well actually what I was hoping for eventually, as a way to learn, was to replace EVERYTHING as I could afford it, what I wasn't sure of is if I would have to re-wire stuff which would make me nervous, but I'd still do it when my friend comes back.

-James
Click to expand...

James,

No offense intended, my friend. I am just trying to understand your purpose for buying these cabinets. Is it experimental?

Reason I ask, you mention replacing the internal components. I'm just wondering why you'd invest in a pair of boxes like these then invest in replacement components.

Thoughts?
 
Fred Wright said:
James,

No offense intended, my friend. I am just trying to understand your purpose for buying these cabinets. Is it experimental?

Reason I ask, you mention replacing the internal components. I'm just wondering why you'd invest in a pair of boxes like these then invest in replacement components.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

My reasons for buying these are pretty straight forward.

1. I was using these as my main speakers until about 6 months ago. I buy the best quality i possibly can, but I only had *i JUST lost it* 1 gig every week to pay for all my expenses and equipment. That doesn't give me very much money to play with to get what I want. It may cost more in the end, but it is much easier for me to spend $100 at a time getting EXACTLY what I want, than to save up for a year to get something that can't be used immediately. The way I figure it, in the end I'll have spent $2000-$2500 for something that is only worth $1000-1500 in parts but at least I'll know how to fix them if something breaks, and I'll be able to use them the whole time I'm learning

The only exception to my usual pattern of spending was I NEEDED a new amplifier and the cheapest quality one was $600 and since it would have taken me at least six months to save up for it, i financed it along with some other equipment that I wanted, that's when I got some better speakers. The only reason i was willing to risk it was because all my bills are paid from my disability income.

2. I want to learn how to build my own speakers from a kit. I figure it would be a lot easier to learn on a pair of $300 speakers than experiment on the ones i JUST bought! :sqwink:

-James
 
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