2. cables
  3. 1061189876

Found Monster cables inside my Watt Puppy 5.1's

I finally got around to repairing all four blown woofers in my Wilson 5.1's (I still can't figure out how I could have blown them. Could using them with a 40 Watt integrated Proton amp and having the power accidentally turned on with the volume way up cause that?). As I took out the original woofers, I was shocked to see that one of the wires connected to the speaker was yellow and had "Monster Cable" written on it. I couldn't believe it. First, I thought Monster Cable was considered only for mid-fi products and Second, I thought Wilson only used Transparent cabling (it does for the Puppy Tail anyway). Weird.

H
henrus
rwwear
2,882 posts
 
I'm sure they can be repaired. Do they have any fuses or other internal protection. It just doesn't sound as though the signal is getting to the drivers. Be sure also to check the resistors on the crossover going to the drivers if there are any. They may be bad. I have seen resistors blown completely out to where they will not pass a signal. Also make sure these are not Wilson clones. There are some out there.
johnmcelfresh
97 posts
 
You probably blew them because you UNDERpowered them - the chief cause of clipping - and blown speakers. Most speaker can handle megawatts of clean power, but 50 watss of clipping will kill almost anything.

As for the bass - sounds like you may have wired the two drivers in each speaker out of phase. That would kill the bass almost completely.

I concur with the masses - have Wilson (or your local dealer) fix these before anything else happens.
henrus OP
12 posts
 
you were right, johnmcelfresh! they _were_ out of phase. btw, the folks at Wilson were also very helpful, and deduced that they may be out of phase. i was able to get the speaker out (i just left it on its face for a while and tapped the back. it eventually popped out. i then switched the wires on one of the woofers, and voila! they work beautifully now. the bass seems a tad weak, but i think that is because of break in.

thanks, everyone, for your help!

h
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Glad you confirmed John's sensible diagnosis and that your crossover isn't damaged. I thought you were kidding about the 40wpc Proton...get yourself something that can handle the current demands if you intend to play these loud (and why wouldn't you if you got Wilsons?). If money's tight, something like a used Parasound 2200 or 3500 should do the trick for the time being.

As far as the wiring goes, the internal hookup wire in most speakers is just solid core copper in a plain dielectric sheathing, pulled off a spool, nothing fancy. I'll leave the pejorative suppositions about retail Monster products for others to dispute, but I'm sure they can supply such an OEM wire as good as any other.
mikesinger
572 posts
 
did you check the polarity of both woofers?
More to discover