My speakers are shouting at me

[richidoo]

Thanks Steve, they do still sound awesome, but there are times when there's just somethin not right. Today I was determined to put a finger on it. I put on Bartok Dance Suite for Orchestra and played only the right channel with all the battling loud dissonant splatty muted trombones alternately in each speaker. Left speaker sounded like kazoos, the other like real trombones. I repeated it back and forth a few times to make sure I wasn't imagining it, (or to practice imagining it?) There is definitely something wrong with something on the left side.  Unless you listen to it all the time, you might not notice it. Flutes accents are the worst, they are like a bomb going off in your head. It shouldn't be like that. The trombone thing removed any doubt that may have been lingering about it. In previous post I wrote what happened with the blown tweeter.

Thanks WEEZ. I do feel better sending it all in. I just have the natural urge to fart around with it instead of just getting it finished like an errand. Also a little hesitant to send my good friend's body parts off in a cardboard box!!   I started to swap the xovers tonight and said screw it, not my problem anymore. There's nothing I can do anyway. Thanks for putting me onto the xover. You're the MAN!

[opnly bafld]

I think I'll be able to send it off tomorrow, we'll see how long it takes, and how much $.
Rich

I have a Legacy Pace Maker sub and a few years ago I thought I had turned everything off when moving interconnects and oops there goes the plate amp. I don't think it was even in warranty (should not be covered anyhow), but they fixed it for free.
So hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised.

Lin

[richidoo]

So hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised.
Lin

Thanks Lin, I love pleasant surprises!  

[Brian Bunge]

Rich,

Yes, I think sending in the whole shebang is the best thing to do.  That way they can test everything all at once.

[richidoo]

I heard back from Bill Dudleston today. He agreed that checking questionable drivers and xover is a good idea. He has a tight spec to which he tunes the crossovers, so he will check them both.

I got it all packed and ready to go.  I hope I get it back reeeal soon. Thanks for the help guys.
Rich

[richidoo]

Legacy reports they will try to get to it this week. Parts have arrived safely. YAY!

Meantime, In keeping with the title of this thread, I am using a loaner pair of speakers and hearing THE SAME DAMN THING! Ringing, shouting sound in upper mids. I have this new CD of Liszt's Schubert transcriptions which is a very solo clear piano recording, very dynamic. It has become my new shouting sound demo disc. Those high piano notes are murder.

So now I realize it is not the Legacy speakers. They definitely needed repair as evident by the different tonality L to R, and I'm glad that is getting taken care of. Seems to be a couple things going on after all.

When I hooked up the loaners, smallish BG Z7 speakers I was not totally suprised to hear the ringy sound in the room, since we had pretty much exonerated the Legacys. Thanks! I put my receiver in place of the tube amps, to see if my tube amps had anything to do with it.  The Onkyo 65wpc rx sounded awful! YUK! The funniest thing of all was using it as DAC for SB3. It sounded like a toy. Just a big plastic piece of junk. Switching to analog input and direct setting with no processing made a huge improvement, but beside the point.  The sound was still very blurred, harsh, brittle, compressed, whatever. I could still hear the ringing but it was so blurred it was less pronounced than with the clear and dynamic tube amps.  I was even using cheapo copper twisted wire because the Rx couldn't handle spades. So everything in the system was replaced and the ringing still remains. It's gotta be the room. Duh? I was afraid of that. But now there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Face the music. I already asked my wife for a new house. She said sure, in about 12 years when my baby girl graduates from HS.

I will start a new thread over in Psycho Acoustics lair about the room. Or maybe just sell it all and get back into RC gliders.  
Rich

[stereofool]

Rich,

Any news on the Legacy's yet??

If not, hopefully you will get it back, SOON!

[richidoo]

Hi Stevo!
No word yet. A couple weeks ago I wrote to find out wassup, he was out town, but he said he would make it his top priority this week. I just wrote to him again. He has stayed in contact, so I am not too bent yet.

As much as I like these little BGs, they are starting to get on my nerves now, not because of what they're doing wrong, but only because I know what I am missing!! haha  Actually they really are amazing with a little bass trapping. But I am anxious to get into tuning the new room but no point with the little speakers, they don't excite bass freqs strongly enough.

Can't wait to get the Focus back in action again. They look so sad sitting there silent with no guts. All the rest of the stereo has left them for dead and moved upstairs  

 
Seeya

[Rocket]

Hi Richidoo,

Can you get someone like Carlman to audition your system for you and possibly bring along some speakers?  I hate to say it but sometimes we can get a little paranoid about the way our system sounds and really focus on the negatives all the time.

Good luck.

Rod

[richidoo]

Hi Rod!
Thanks for the good idea. Carl has been over to work on the shouty problem and helped me to work through the puzzle of what was wrong. Carl, Bryan, WEEZ and several others have kept me out of the funny farm and on the right track to getting things fixed, for which I am grateful. If you read AN you will see a shotgun blast of posts everywhere about what I thought was wrong at different points in the discovery process. Most of that was before I learned about the crossover being damaged. When I compared both speakers to each other while playing identicle signal it was obvious there was something very wrong in one. That combined with new amps that are much more dynamic and have the power to really excite resonances in both of my potential stereo rooms I was finding myself in a pickle with several "causes" working together to to confuse me. Thanks to everyone's advice I think I have a handle on it now. Time will tell..

I am relatively new to the hobby, only about 2 years, so I am still learning what to point a finger at when I hear a problem. This situation has taught me a lot. You're right though, I am very paranoid! That's why I stay here on AN where it's safe for me - haha!!     When my system sounds great one day and then it doesn't anymore it makes me crazy trying to figure out what is wrong. The feeling you get from listening to a great system is extremely addictive. I feel strung out waiting for it to return.  

Rich

[richidoo]

Xovers are fixed and shipping back.  

[stereofool]

\/  I know you will be thrilled to get them back.

The offer to help move them upstairs, still stands.

[richidoo]

Thanks Steve. I'm gonna try to get my wife to carry them up there first.. hehe     I'll let you know if we're going up with them.

I talked to Bill today, what a nice guy. He found nothing wrong with the xovers, they checked out perfectly. The left ribbon was destroyed from distortion due to Cary amp clipping while (trying to) play at high volume  It never sounded that bad to me, but he said it happens while trying to amp the bass signals that the clipping starts and the square wave is made. The ribbon is deft enough to try to play them and that is its undoing. Gotta be careful with ribbons on low powered amps. It all makes sense to me. I wish I understood that previously.    Oh well, live and learn...

The right ribbon still sounds pretty good, but on closer inspection it has a few ripples in it too, so I will get that replaced also. The new amps should have no problem with bass and thus protect the tweets.
Rich

[WEEZ]

Rich,

A blown ribbon? Hmmm. That's what I first thought before I mentioned the crossover. (if the crossover was malfunctioning..the sound would have been the same, i.e., no sound from the tweeter, thus the 'shout')

Just never thought you would have clipped a 80 wpc tubed amp. Damn, you must listen LOUD

Anyway, at least you're on your road to 'recovery' from a b-a-d nervosa.

Be careful...don't damage your hearing now...

WEEZ

[Rocket]

Hi Richidoo,

The speakers will now sound much more balanced and you should be able to determine the problem in your system.  I use raven ribbon tweeters and they occasionally blow.

Regards

Rod

ps try not to listen to your system faults too much otherwise it will cost you a lot of money.  I should know i've got 3 amps at home.