2. tech-talk
  3. 1238872123

My Woofer Sounds Like a Tweeter

I just pulled out a pair of mid-80's vintage Polk Audio bookshelf speakers from the spare bedroom and I wired them into a second system.

One of the speakers only produces the high frequencies from it. I opened the inside of the speaker enclosure and checked if any wires were loose or broken, but everything looked OK.

The tweeter seems to be operating normally, but the woofer is only radiating high frequencies.

These are not very costly speakers.
What is the problem and is it a worthwhile fix?

.
Ag insider logo xs@2x3zub
theo's avatar
theo
2,690 posts
 
See if the woofer cone can be moved easily when you push on it. It may be possible that the voice coil has frozen.
danmyers
135 posts
 
I would assume the woofer is toast before the xover is fried. Theo's advise is good, but not sufficient. If you can, remove (or just disconnect the woofer from the xover and connect it up directly to the amp (at low volume). If if sounds like a woofer, it's the xover. If it sounds like a tweeter, or nothing at all, it's the woofer.

Looking forward to continuing the diagnosis...
theo's avatar
theo
2,690 posts
 
Actually Dan is right but you can actually bypass the xover for a quick test. Just clip some jumpers on the input of the xover and jump directly to the woofer connections. As Dan states though, low volume.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
3zub OP
26 posts
 
I will give these tests a try and report back with the results.
Thanks.
danmyers
135 posts
 
Theo is right - disconnect the speaker terminals from the speaker wire. Then just touch the speaker cable directly to the woofer (at low volume and don't let the speaker wire tips touch each other). Can't get any simpler than that: no jumpers required.

Theo - your turn :)
More to discover