Blown Monitor 70?

barjebus

Hi guys, I'm very sad at the moment...I just set up my new Monitor 70's this weekend. I'm from Canada, and I had them shipped from newegg.com to a freight forwarder who then sent them on to me.

I've noticed that the second driver from the top gives out quite a bit of crackling, especially during heavy bass. The other drivers and the tweeter perform fine, and during some music and especially during tv shows with no bass, its almost impossible to notice, but during most movies there tends to be a constant crackle coming out.

Because I'm from Canada, I'm not sure of the exact warranty details...I noticed this problem very early on, (I only got them last weekend and started noticing it almost immediately) so I don't know if I blew them or they were damaged during transit? Is there anything I can do to test this or alleviate it? Instead of paying out the nose to ship it back to the U.S., do you think a local repair option would be better (or order a new driver?).

Any info or advice you have would be awesome!

barjebus

Some more info:

I'm driving two monitor 70's on an Onkyo SR-TX707 set in 4 ohm mode with a CS2 center and two Monitor 60's in the rears. 12 gauge wiring, 50 foot distance, shouldn't be close to any power cable of any kind, no coils or loops of wiring anywhere. I did pound them a bit to test them out and brought the receiver up around 0 dB.

cnh

Why do you have the Onkyo set at 4 ohms? They are an 8 ohm speaker and setting the Onkyo to 4 ohms simply reduces the amount of effective power they can receive. Not a good idea there. It is possible you clipped your amp because of this...But I'm not cetain because I think Onkyo has a protection circuit at 4 ohms? Perhaps someone else knows a bit more about that?

I'd give Polk customer service a call. The M70s have a cascade crossover which means that the upper mid-bass cones and the lower ones meet at a certain point but that the upper cones slope off the tweeter crossover frequency more gradually and overlap more....etc. Some Polk tech could give a more precise definition here.

In any case it sounds like you either took out one of those woofers or did something to the crossover.....Don't know which? It is best to call Polk Customer Service....or maybe one of the moderators can pick this thread up for you?

Give Polk CS a call and they will definitely help you out!

Good Luck!

cnh

comfortablycurt

+1 to the above. There's no need for the receiver to be set for 4 ohms. The Monitor series is quite efficient, and 8 ohms nominal. They're pretty easy to drive.

barjebus

I wasn't entirely sure what to do with that setting since the only options on the Onkyo are 6 and 4 ohms. I will put it back to 6 ohms. My big concern with all of this is that I'm in Canada, so I'm preeeetty sure my warranty is void because I brought them up here? I'll contact Polk sometime today to ask them what my options are.

The driver _is_ close to the tweeter, so maybe I am mistaking a blown driver for a blown tweeter, but because it occurs heavily during really heavy bass, so I'm pretty sure its that driver.

TECHNOKID

barjebus wrote: »

I wasn't entirely sure what to do with that setting since the only options on the Onkyo are 6 and 4 ohms. I will put it back to 6 ohms. My big concern with all of this is that I'm in Canada, so I'm preeeetty sure my warranty is void because I brought them up here? I'll contact Polk sometime today to ask them what my options are.

The driver _is_ close to the tweeter, so maybe I am mistaking a blown driver for a blown tweeter, but because it occurs heavily during really heavy bass, so I'm pretty sure its that driver.

There shouldn't any reason for your warranty to be void as long as your provider is approved by Polk (I think newegg is in fact approved) and you may confirm that by searching the Polk site for the approved online stores. Calling Polk CS is your best bet as they provide you with the technical help and hopefully send you the replacement parts as they do for our US cousins.

Cheers!
TK

barjebus

I spoke with Polk and they directed me to my local authorized service center! I am so happy I bought Polk...most other electronics companies void their warranty if the product is brought up to Canada. Honestly, every other companies warranty agreement excludes my scenario here.

Thanks for your advice guys!

barjebus

Just an update to this long ago thread; speaker blew again, but this was not the result of poor decisions on my part. Polk wouldn't cover it (obviously) so I took it into a local repair shop. They showed me the shoddy repair done by the local warranty guys on the original repair. Contacted Polk and they are covering this repair. I know Polk isn't the absolute best for sound quality out there, but I'll be damned if they aren't one of the best companies for customer service that I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

Dabutcher

Thank you for sharing your great experience with Polk customer service. It might steer someone who is on the fence to Trying their great line of speakers. Good luck. D

tonyb

Dude. set that receiver back to 6 ohms and don't go blasting at the 0 mark on the volume dial. Thats a sure way of sending them in for more repairs. Just sayin'. Once you start getting around -10, thats a danger zone so be carefull and listen for when the music starts to collapse or sound congested then it's time to turn the volume down.

custopper30

Great to hear the polk service in full action! hopefully those speakers last for you!

cfrizz

You also need to start thinking about getting an amp if you are going to be playing it so loud. Your receiver doesn't have what it takes to power them properly