Possible problem with RT1000i?

HTguru1982

I don't believe anything's blown but I could be wrong. The tweeter and midrange driver both seem to working. But when I had the speakers up front(using them as surrounds now), I noticed the left speaker always played a little more loudly than the right. I played around with everything last night(receiver settings, etc) and put my RT7s up front and the sound was balanced. When the RT1000i's are used as surrounds, they sound normal and the surround effect is perfectly enveloping. The serial numbers are consecutive so that's not the issue. Could I possibly have a blown driver and not realized it?

unc2701

Turn the subs all the way down on both and see if they're still unbalanced. If not- it's a problem with the sub driver/amp.

If they are still unbalanced with the subs off, gently push on the mid drivers (not the tweeters!). They should move freely and smoothly. If one sticks or is "crunchy", you've got a blown driver.

HTguru1982

The subs aren't being used at all. I did push in both midrange drivers and while I felt resistance on both(guessing cuz they aren't high excursion drivers), the left driver had more of it. Is it possible that it's damaged and not completely blown? The driver seems to move just fine and it is producing sound.

Since I'm not using the powered subs, is it possible to swap the damaged midrange with the unused subwoofer driver?

unc2701

Huh. That's weird. There should be resistance- they've got some inherent springiness, plus there's air resistance, but it's weird that the left one would feel different without clearly feeling blown. Every driver I've had that happen on has felt scratchy, crunchy, wouldn't move at all, etc. Never just slightly different resistance. Shoot Ken Swauger a message and see what he thinks.

RE, swapping: I think those drivers are the same, but it's been a really long time since I sold my RT1000i's. Check with Ken on that, too. Or they should have a sticker with a part number on 'em. If they're the same, go for it.

HTguru1982

By resistance, I mean they both feel somewhat "scratchy" if I push in the right spot. I think they both feel the same really. Maybe it was just in my head that one felt different than the other.

I'm thinking that there might be another possibility. It could be that I'm beginning to lose hearing in my left ear. After 10 years in this hobby, it wouldn't be hard to imagine.

unc2701

Ok- if you don't push on them uniformly, they will scratch and this is not good for the driver, so be careful.

Try swapping the left and right speakers. If the left one stays quiet, it's the room/your hearing/ something off with the AVR.

bsoko2

One thing that has been brought up before about this hobby is, cleaning our ears for ear wax. Don't use a Q tip, do the rinse method. Pay a vist to your Doc and get it done. This is one of the cheapest upgrades that you can do for your system.