One speaker sounds duller ( Vienna Acoustics Bach Grand )

These are ~15 year old floorstanding speakers I got used a few years ago. Just a few months ago I noticed the right speaker sounds dull ( lacks highs ) compared to the left. It is only apparent if I hard pan the balance right and compare it to the left speaker alone. With both speakers playing it is hard to notice the dullness. I did try swapping the left and right speaker to make sure it wasn't the amp. But the issued followed the faulty speaker.

Any suggestions how to debug if it's a bad tweeter or bad crossover or both? I am open to attempting to repair it myself. I only paid $300 for the pair. I do see someone has a crossover for sale on ebay:

 

I’m not a genius, but could it be the speaker wires or the connectors.

Also, how about the source, TT, CD, FM.... have you noticed the same issue with all sources. A misaligned cart will cause that type of issue. Even speaker placement may have that type of effect.

I have often noticed a similar issue, but it’s a transit thing. At times one channel seems a bit louder than the other. I move the speaker just a bit and normally that’s it.

 

So your speaker cable swap likely eliminated any source issues as the problem.

That really does leave you with a choice between crossover and tweeter. I suspect crossover but let's check...

Assuming it's easy to do, carefully swap tweeters. See how each speaker now sounds. If the problem remained with the suspect speaker then it's the crossover.

Me, I'd then contact The Speaker Exchange in Tampa and make arrangements to ship the crossovers to them for refurb. (Send them both, to make sure they remain a matched pair.) Should be easy to remove the whole plate and disconnect the wires at the tweeter and mid/woofer terminals.

In looking at some info I found online, your speakers have a very simple / straightforward crossover, made from very high quality / tight tolerance components. Assuming everything else about them is in great shape, it's well worth having a pro shop do the work.

The Speaker Exchange does fantastic work at a great price. I've used them myself (even from Canada!) and have recommended them to a lot of people who, to the best of my knowledge, have been very happy. Tell them I sent you!

Jeff

 

Place amp in mono. Put your ear up to the tweeters and listen. If one is not working correctly you will hear it immediately.

 

Yes, but the cable swap that the OP did effectively ruled out a source (everything up to the speaker) issue AND a mono signal will only confirm that it's the speaker, but won't tell you whether it's the tweeter, or the crossover (or, and this is a longshot, both.)

Jeff

 

True, but listening to the tweeter will confirm a speaker issue.

 

While @jeffmackwood is correct, I'd also build on what @allied333 said, insofar that with a mono signal* and the speakers next to each other, it will hopefully be more apparent if the sound difference is in the tweeter or woofer.
CAN you remove the tweeters? (Taping like some tiny something over the tweeter dome for protection!)

* (maybe this and/or early recordings by Elvis, Buddy Holly, and it's a requirement in any thread to mention The Beatles so use their mono mixes)

 

So you swapped the actual speakers or just the speaker cables? If the latter, it could be that the “dull” sounding speaker has less room gain compared to the other. Is one speaker closer to adjacent walls?

 

Swapping the speaker cables was definitely the a good logical first test. That would rule out anything upstream from the speaker. Try downloading a monotone test track. That will make it easier to pinpoint the problem when listening to the speakers independently. If you have and EQ or tone control on your amp, you can try turning up and down the mid and base to help better isolate the mid's and high's as you test. As other's suggest, I would definitely try adjusting the speaker placement before you go yanking out the tweeter. My guess, however, would be a bad cap or crossover.

 

if you do end up having to buy from that eBayer that seems to have a ton of Vienna Acoustics parts, they seem legit. I bought new grills for my Bach Grands and they're great.

 

Thanks, I tried your suggestion of playing various test tones from 40 Hz to 10,000 HZ. I noticed the low frequencies ( < 100 Hz ) sounded louder on the bad speaker. The higher frequencies had less volume on the bad speaker. So somehow bass is getting amplified too much and treble not enough amplification.

Does this narrow it down to cross over? Or could there still be something wrong with the woofer/tweeter?

 

If you didn't try this already, try placing the speakers right next to each other when performing the tone test in order to rule out placement. As others here have mentioned, you'd be amazed at how much impact speaker placement can have on acoustics. If you tried that and you still hear a noticeable difference, then I think the next logical step would be to swap the tweeters and woofers. If the problem doesn't follow, then it's probably a bad capacitor.

 

Should also mention that it may first be worth opening up the problematic speaker and just making sure that all of the internal connections are good and tight. Also take a look at the crossover to make sure that all the solder points look solid. You never know. It may be something simple.

If it turns out to be a bad crossover, it looks like there are a couple up for sale on ebay. One for $40 and another for $135.

 

I did try swapping the speaker placement, i.e putting the left speaker on the right side and the right speaker on the left side. The problem followed the bad speaker. So that should rule out placement.

I next unscrewed the crossover from the bad speaker. Here is what I see below. Is there anything non-destructive I can do to test before cutting wires and swapping cross overs with the good speaker?

 

I don't see anything that jumps out, but it's hard to say just looking at the pictures. Sometimes a bad cap or resistor is obvious and sometimes not. Short of swapping the individual speakers, I'm not sure what else to do. Perhaps someone else here can provide some advice on what to try next before clipping wires.

With that said, before you clip any wires, check where the wires connect to both the speaker and the crossover to see if they are soldered or just clipped. It may be as easy a just pulling a wire clip off of a post. If they are hard soldered at both ends, and you don't want to clip the wires, then I recommend using a soldering iron to melt the solder at the connection point on the speaker side to disconnect the wire.

As someone mentioned in an earlier post, if you do end up removing the speakers from the cabinets, make sure to carefully cover the dust caps to prevent accidental denting or damage.

Good luck. I hope you're able to locate the problem and I hope it's a simple and cheap fix.

 

Could I directly connect the speaker wire from the amp to the woofer and tweeter wires and play my test tones? For example connect speaker wire to the tweeter and play 2000Hz and compare it to same experiment on other speaker? If sound is the same, then for sure cross over is bad, no?

 

I definitely wouldn't recommend connecting the speaker wire from the amp directly to the woofer or tweeter. This could damage them. If you suspect that it's a bad tweeter, then I would start by just swapping the tweeters between speakers.

 

This is exactly why I only use loudspeakers with L-pads. Connections, wiring, resistors, internal speaker coils, rooms, and even ears are not 100 percent perfectly matched L-R. L-pads can correct that. Of course if you have a "bad" driver, connection, resistor, or anything else then it will need repaired.

 

Do you try swapping just the tweeters? Pull both and reinstall in the opposite speaker. That would point out if the problem lies with the tweeter, or the crossover, in the questionable speaker.

 

I haven't done that yet. First trying to see if there someway to test the tweeters and driver without having to cut or desolder wires. Could I drive both speakers with one cross over from one of the speakers by clipping the wires to the cross over?

 

I own the original Bachs and when I bought mine used I noticed one of the woofers was wired incorrectly. I pulled the drivers to check polarity and make the swap. The point is, the drivers weren't soldered in, they use clips. Have you checked yours?

I agree swapping tweeters is the next step.

 

I wouldn't recommend doing that either. If you don't have a soldering iron or are reluctant to de-solder the the wire at the connection, then I recommend just clipping each of the wires about 3 inches down from the tweeter. That should give you enough slack to pigtail them together and should also leave enough slack to hard solder them in the future. If you do go the pigtail rout, just make sure to put electrical tape over the pigtails once you have everything back in working order. You don't want the two exposed pigtails accidently touching each other either other down the road.

 

Yes, clips would definitely make things easier. I'm not familiar with the Bachs and was trying to find pictures online to see if they use clips.

You also raise a good point about the polarity. The OP should make sure to label the wires or to take a picture so they can be properly reconnected.

 

I swapped the tweeters by hooking up the wires to the "good" speaker's cross-over. They were clipped in, not soldered. So easy to swap.

Surprisingly very little sound came out of it. I could hear something but it didn't have any clarity. So sounds like dead tweeter is the diagnosis. I also tried connecting the good speaker's tweeter to the bad speaker's cross-over. It sounded nice and bright. So that means cross-over is fine.

I removed the two screws on the front of the speaker that hold the tweeter in. But nothing budged or came out? Is there some special technique to removing the tweeter?