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Girl diagnoses & solves mechanical problem

This may not be news for most of you, but it is a major news flash for me and I just had to brag at my "prowess." I EVEN USED A TORX SCREWDRIVER! I just received my Coincident Triumph Signatures yesterday and was setting them up in my small HT system. I was playing FM radio through them and they sounded OK. I went to work. Last night, I put on a couple of CDs and there was no sparkle or splash, no snap of the electric guitar notes, etc. I put my ear right up next to the tweeters and could swear there was no sound coming out of them. But this was the case w/both speakers! So I couldn't believe I was hearing right, because how could both tweeters have been blown before delivery (I bought from a reputable dealer whom I have dealt with before) or damaged during shipping? I decided to sleep on it (the problem, not the speakers). This morning, before work, I brought my ProAc Response 1SC's up from downstairs, and the guitar notes etc. all sounded right. Something was definitely wrong! I noticed some foam in the port holes in the back of the Coincidents. I tried to pull it out but it was more than just a plug and wouldn't come free. So I went downstairs to my toolbox, got out the torx wrench set my handyman brother had bought me years ago, and got the tweeter fittings unscrewed. I removed them gently (the magnets fell out into my hand) and saw immediately that the tweeters weren't even plugged in!! I reattached the lead wires to the tweeters, in both speakers, and rescrewed in the tweeter housings, and the speakers came to life (DUH!) I am sure this is not newsworthy for most of you, but if there are any other females reading this, you know how impressed I am w/myself. I can well imagine my very nonaudiophile friends and relatives, male and female, happily using these speakers for years w/no tweeters and not even noticing. Or me, several years ago, returning the speakers as damaged. i am so puffed up w/pride in myself that I am even thinking of attempting one of the DIY SET amp kits that are available. I have been eager to try out an SET and maybe I am up to soldering? Of course, I don't want to go overboard. . .
sc53
macdonj's avatar
macdonj
118 posts
 
Sc,

I think you should try that SET amp kit. My wife had a similar experience when we built a fence a couple of years ago. She was apprehensive about using my circular saw. After I showed her how to use it properly, she set to work. Ten minutes later she came over to my end of the fence and whispered in my ear, "Your saw is fun!" I had to fight her for it for the next two weekends.

Happy soldering.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
You go girl! And I would second Sean's suggestion to follow up with a call to the manufacturer. He should be mortified. So much for marketing hype.
tsouthworth
59 posts
 
Despite the title, you don't sound like a girl, but a full fledged woman! Good job!

Please understand I've never even seen Coincident speakers, let alone looked inside them, but is there only one way to connect the tweets? You're in luck if there are different sized spades and push on connectors, or, on the other hand, they may possibly be out of phase. Even if this is bad news, you're now experienced in tearing into the speakers!

Best of luck,
Todd
audiophool378ec
1 posts
 
Way to go Sarah!!

I'm of the male species, but the stereotypical mechanical competance was never bestowed on me. I first realized that soldering was out of my league in college electronics class. The third day or so, we were supposed to solder some doo-dad to some other doo-hickey. Well, my soldering tool simply would not work. So I promptly took it to the teacher, and informed him that my solder gun was out of solder. He laughed so damn loud, that he could barely get the words out to "drop this class immediately". Which is precisely what I did.

Needless to say, I am dependant on my dealer to set up or "fix" any problems. Maybe I'll just call you from now on ;)
sc53 OP
725 posts
 
Thank you, guys, I'm taking my bows for my "skill." I talked to my dealer, and the story is this: the guy who ships gear for him decided the Coincidents, which are grill-less, could suffer tweeter damage in shipping, so he got halfway through his idea of removing the tweeters and wrapping them separately in bubble-wrap, when he was interrupted. Unfortunately, he forgot all about his project when he later returned to it. So he screwed the tweeters back in, forgetting that he had previously unplugged them. Then he just wrapped the speakers and shipped them and never said a word to anybody! Dealer was mortified, but Israel needn't be. No doubt he heard what he was supposed to hear! Anyway, they sure do sound a LOT better w/the tweeters. I remember reading a thread about one-driver speakers recently. I trust they have more highs than my modified model?
And thank you, thank you, for your applause. Plus your soldering stories are hilarious! I personally never went to a school that offered it for credit (I attended an all-women's college in Virginia; we didn't solder.)
Sugarbrie--despite my newfound confidence, I don't think I'm ready to take on auto mechanics yet. We didn't have that at my college either.
--Sarah
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