[Eugene2]

I have a pair of RM30Ms.  I have been having a problem with distortion and shorting with my left speaker (woofer facing to the outside).  I have replaced mid panels and returned the speaker after assuming it had a bad pot.  Brian who has been very helpful during this process, basically upgraded the speakers to the OXO.  Since I have had them back I keep getting the distortion and sometimes the entire speakers clicks and shorts out.  I thought it was the preamp and returned it for repair, the preamp returned fine.  I then took the speaker off of the xover and exchanged it with the other speaker leaving the xover in place.  The same speaker now hooked up to the other xover continues to intermittently distort and shortout (entire speaker cuts off).  Yesterday the distortion seems to come from one of the bottom 6.5" midwoofers.  I removed the woofer on the side and played with the wires, which all seem to be solid.  When the speaker plays it sounds great, it seems that certain frequencies cause it to distort.  I was playing the new Michael Brecker cd and the tenor sax seemed to drive the speakers into distorting at low volumes.  The most disconcerting part is when I hear a pop and the speaker cuts off into a very low muffled sound.  I was hoping someone could give me some ideas to troubleshooting this problem, I have never read a blog where anyone was having trouble with their RM30s.

[ctviggen]

I wonder if it's the midwoofer itself?  Try swapping this midwoofer with the midwoofer in the other speaker (leaving everything else the same).  Play the song you had trouble with and see what happens.  If the distortion now moves to the previously good speaker, it's the midwoofer.  If the distortion stays in the previously bad speaker, it's another problem.

In my RM40s, one of the midwoofers went bad, but I simply replaced it with the (at the time) updated midwoofers and haven't had that problem. 

[BobRex]

Pull out the midwoofers and make sure that the leads aren't shorting.  It's pretty tight in there and it is possible that the wirirng has shorted.  I had that problem with one of my midwoofers.  Once I pulled the woofer out and wrapped some tape around the bare lead, everything was fine.

[James Romeyn]

Bob's advice is good.  The terminals of the 6.5s can be sandwiched/shorted between the baskets (conductive) & the baffles.  Beyond that, as above, remove each 6.5, direct-couple them to your amp, & drive at less than loud levels, checking for noises or whatever.  Did the 6.5s ever get replaced?  Your idea was good to swap the drivers, but better would have been to do it driver by driver.

You seem to have eliminated your amp as a problem source.

Keep going, you are on the right track.  Sorry to hear of the misery.  I'm suspecting more the 6.5s than the planars.  Here's an interesting idea: try mixing together, via a long jumper cable, the planars of the good side w/ only the 6.5s of the bad side & report back to class (easy to do via the seperate input binding posts).

[Eugene2]

Thanks for the info. I have been away quite a bit on business travel and have not had the opportunity to trouble shoot.  I will work on it over the weekend and hopefully this will resolve my problem.  I wish I had posted earlier, I would probably have a few more strands of hair.

[James Romeyn]

Mike
use us
abuse us
that's why we're here!

Update: before mixing the planar from one speaker w/ the bass from the other, just try, on the bad speaker, listening to each of the input sections alone & see what happens.  See if one section has the problem while the other doesn't.  But, keep in mind the impedance is lower when the two sections are mixed together, which affects performance.

If each section sounds good seperately, then try my mix/match idea between the two speakers.  If you have any doubts what I mean post again or pm me.

[Eugene2]

Well I know it has been a long time since I received the advice, I have been traveling extensively and have not had time to play.  I finally connected with my friend that has RM30s and took his midwoofer and placed it into the bad speaker.  Eureka problem seems to be solved, I will continue to test it.  Everything right know sounds great!  Again, a belated thanks for the advice.