What's wrong with this speaker...

[Accipiter22]

I have Polk EX 693s...it's a 3-way 6x9. So I noticed something was wrong with one of my 6x9s in my car...it sounded like it was at the opposite end of a tunnel or something, it distorted a lot as well. So I pull it out, examine it, try hooking it up to my home audio system, and it doesn't sound too bad (I have a ****** receiver so I can't really tell, but there was no distortion or anything). I figure 'ok, maybe I had it cross wired in my car (I hadn't bothered checking before I pulled it out). The replacement speaker I was using in my car the last few days sounded fine, so I know it's not anything in the car or system, had to be the speaker, or it was crosswired.

So I put the speaker back in the car, and it sounds fine now! No distortion...except one thing, I realized what sounded so weird before. The sub isn't working on it! There's absolutely no bass or really anything low coming from this one speaker. The other 6x9 works fine. Even with a high pass on there's still some mids and even some lows coming from the other speakers, but this one 6x9 is only putting out highs. What gives? How can I fix it?

 

[jamesbond007]

Sounds like you may have blown the voice coil of the woofer in the speaker with either dirty power or not enough juice. If that's the case, there's not much you can do except buy a new pair of speakers. You may also want to see if there's any loose connections on the terminals or if the spiders on the speakers are cracked or broken.

 

[Accipiter22]

spiders didn't look cracked or busted, so I wonder if the voice coil is just blown

 

[jamesbond007]

It sounds like it...do you have an amplifier hooked up to these speakers or are they running off of the head unit?

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
It sounds like it...do you have an amplifier hooked up to these speakers or are they running off of the head unit?

head unit right now

 

[spidey07]

If the woofer isn't moving at all and you fell no movement from it...

blown woofer or damaged component in the crossover.

 

[jamesbond007]

Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

hmmm maybe I could bring my old 2 channel amp out of storage. It wouldn't even be that hard to hook up...The infinity amp I have actually can put power through to another amp.



Also, why would one of the 6x9s work fine but the other not, if it was just a power issue?

 

[JDMnAR1]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

hmmm maybe I could bring my old 2 channel amp out of storage. It wouldn't even be that hard to hook up...The infinity amp I have actually can put power through to another amp.



Also, why would one of the 6x9s work fine but the other not, if it was just a power issue?

They are on seperate channels, corect? Could be an inconsistency with your head unit and what it is outputting.

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

hmmm maybe I could bring my old 2 channel amp out of storage. It wouldn't even be that hard to hook up...The infinity amp I have actually can put power through to another amp.



Also, why would one of the 6x9s work fine but the other not, if it was just a power issue?

They are on seperate channels, corect? Could be an inconsistency with your head unit and what it is outputting.

I thought so, but the replacement speaker i used to test worked fine in place of my wounded 6x9

 

[JDMnAR1]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

hmmm maybe I could bring my old 2 channel amp out of storage. It wouldn't even be that hard to hook up...The infinity amp I have actually can put power through to another amp.



Also, why would one of the 6x9s work fine but the other not, if it was just a power issue?

They are on seperate channels, corect? Could be an inconsistency with your head unit and what it is outputting.

I thought so, but the replacement speaker i used to test worked fine in place of my wounded 6x9

If the replacement speaker was a different make/model, it could have different power requirements. To eliminate the wiring/head unit as the culprit, hook up the other Polk to the connections normally used for the flaky speaker and see how it sounds. If it sounds normal, it's the speaker.

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Spidey, totally forgot about the possibility of a damaged crossover! Good call. These speakers seem like a little much to be hooked up to the head unit amplifier. At least briefly looking at the specs, they would like more power.

hmmm maybe I could bring my old 2 channel amp out of storage. It wouldn't even be that hard to hook up...The infinity amp I have actually can put power through to another amp.



Also, why would one of the 6x9s work fine but the other not, if it was just a power issue?

They are on seperate channels, corect? Could be an inconsistency with your head unit and what it is outputting.

I thought so, but the replacement speaker i used to test worked fine in place of my wounded 6x9

If the replacement speaker was a different make/model, it could have different power requirements. To eliminate the wiring/head unit as the culprit, hook up the other Polk to the connections normally used for the flaky speaker and see how it sounds. If it sounds normal, it's the speaker.

good idea, i'll try that this afternoon!