[drphoto]

Last night I heard a little sputtering in the mids on my left channel from my Merlin TSM-MMe. And then nothing. I found if I pushed in on the driver cone, it would play for a bit, then die. Is the VC fried?

I'm hi-passing them @ 85 hz, so no low bass. Yeah, I was playing it loud, but about the same as I've done for months. I went ahead and ordered a new driver from PE thinking that was the case.

What gives?

 Can I prevent this? (yeah....turn it down, moron, right?)

Can it be repaired? Hate to just toss out a $115 driver. (in case I need a spare)

thanks,

j

[Kevin Haskins]

Last night I heard a little sputtering in the mids on my left channel from my Merlin TSM-MMe. And then nothing. I found if I pushed in on the driver cone, it would play for a bit, then die. Is the VC fried?

I'm hi-passing them @ 85 hz, so no low bass. Yeah, I was playing it loud, but about the same as I've done for months. I went ahead and ordered a new driver from PE thinking that was the case.

What gives?

 Can I prevent this? (yeah....turn it down, moron, right?)

Can it be repaired? Hate to just toss out a $115 driver. (in case I need a spare)

thanks,

j

Sounds like it pulled loose the tinsel from the coil.   That is hard to believe if you have them high-passed with an 85Hz filter so I suspect something else is amiss.   Generally... if you smoke a coil you can smell it.   Pull the driver and take a sniff.   

The pushing on it and it works again makes me suspect a mechanical issue though.

[toobluvr]

Kevin is right.  I recently burnt both woofer voice coils, and my listening room stunk for 8 weeks.  Pretty hard to miss it.

The other clue was that there was no "bounce" to the woofer when the cone was gently pressed in...just a rubbing sound and resistance.

[drphoto]

I can hear a scraping noise if I push on the cone with the sound off. No burnt smell though.

[toobluvr]

I can hear a scraping noise if I push on the cone with the sound off. No burnt smell though.

Is the driver "bouncing" properly?   If scraping, I'm guessing not.  Compare it to your good one to get a feel for how it should be.

I would say that if the woofer doesn't move freely the way it should, there is something wrong with the voice coil.  It should have a normal and free "bounce" when gently pushed in....like a trampoline.  No rubbing, no scraping sound.   If it doesn't, I would remove the woofer and have a look at the voice coil.  If burnt it will be obvious:   charred black instead of copper.   It fits into a narrow cutout on the magnet so you will probably need to remove the magnet to observe it.

If there is some other malady / damage that can make it rub, I don't know of it.  If coil were to break free, I suppose you would get those symptoms, but I don't know what would make that happen.

Be sure to use 4 fingers (index and thumb of each hand) and place them equidistant around the cone, then gently push in.

[toobluvr]

PS:   Bill LeGall at Millersound can work wonders with rebuilds.   Once you get a better handle on your problem, give him a call.  I have spoken to him.  He is a good guy.

http://www.millersound.net/about.htm