Got a set of Cambridge soundworks speakers

Mr. Sharpe

My uncle had a full set of Cambridge soundworks speakers from his home theater that he gave me for doing some things for him yesterday, said he was tired of having all of the clutter at his place so he dumped all his electronics on me lol

I hooked them up when I got them and all I get is high highs and all bass. no midrange. I hooked the satellites up by themselves and I was thinking these should at least have some bass or at least full sound with midrange but there isn't either to speak of. I thought it could've been a bad driver but I used continuity on my amp meter and it beeps so the driver is fine. wouldn't a burned up crossover have resulted in blown drivers if that's the problems but then the tweeters would've been blown too! both sound like this:(

the sub works fine, tweeters work fine but I"m not getting anything in the mid range.

I was really hoping these speakers could've been used but they are useless like this:( I have no clue as to why they sound like they do.

PLEASE HELP!

leftwinger57

are they wired for a 4 wire application? If so maybe it's just a jumper missing. W/O model #s it's tough to tell what's going on.

drumminman

Henry Kloss (KLH, Advent, Acoustic Research) founded Cambridge Soundworks in 1988, and stayed for about 8 years. Some of their speakers were pretty good and were modeled after some of the KLH & Advent speakers. Which models do you have?

Mr. Sharpe

nbrowser wrote: »

I don't know which set you have as in model number, but there is a difference between Cambridge Soundworks (At one point was a subsidiary of Creative Labs) and Cambridge Audio (Mid-high end audio manufacturer). Just a heads up is all...

I'm aware, these are cambridge soundworks, not audio.

leftwinger57 wrote: »

are they wired for a 4 wire application? If so maybe it's just a jumper missing. W/O model #s it's tough to tell what's going on.

The subwoofer only has a duplex set of binding posts, not four like any other slave subwoofer. you hook the sub and satellites in parallel to the amplifier and what you get is a 12 ohm load. why they didn't just use 4 ohms on each speaker and sub is beyond me and just come to an 8 ohm load I"ll never know.

drumminman wrote: »

Henry Kloss (KLH, Advent, Acoustic Research) founded Cambridge Soundworks in 1988, and stayed for about 8 years. Some of their speakers were pretty good and were modeled after some of the KLH & Advent speakers. Which models do you have?

the sub is 56837, satellites are 224782. When he got the speakers I'm sure they didn't sound like crap with no mids. I can't even listen to the speakers bc of lack of mid range.

he gave me the "center channel" speaker and "surround II" speakers but all I care about is the front speakers, which was known as the Ensemble ii.

Mr. Bubbles

after googleing it I found it to be a two way design so it should be pretty simple. Use an ohm meter to check the driver with it removed from the cabinet and disconnected from the circuit. not just for continuity as it could be a shorted driver but be sure it is whatever it should be like close to 4 or 8 ohms maybe. Just checking for the beep could indicate a shorted or frozen driver with continuity through the voice coil. only and open circuit would not beep. If drivers are good it has to be the crossover. Keep in mind it could be both.

cnh

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the Ensemble II a self powered 2.1 system that did not need any "external" amp powering it? If so, that may be a problem?

As for CSW. You want to buy a nice cheap pair of bookies, get Kloss's last design, the CSW Model Six. A very nice sounding two way 8" acoustic suspension design whose crossovers can be upgraded so that it can easily compete with speakers in the 1000 dollar a pair range? Hint, the cost is nowhere near that much and they were often on sale for $99 a pair!

cnh

Mr. Sharpe

Mr. Bubbles wrote: »

after googleing it I found it to be a two way design so it should be pretty simple. Use an ohm meter to check the driver with it removed from the cabinet and disconnected from the circuit. not just for continuity as it could be a shorted driver but be sure it is whatever it should be like close to 4 or 8 ohms maybe. Just checking for the beep could indicate a shorted or frozen driver with continuity through the voice coil. only and open circuit would not beep. If drivers are good it has to be the crossover. Keep in mind it could be both.

It read 5 point something ohms. So did the tweeter. I can't even turn them up enough to listen without it hurting my ears.

cnh wrote: »

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the Ensemble II a self powered 2.1 system that did not need any "external" amp powering it? If so, that may be a problem?

As for CSW. You want to buy a nice cheap pair of bookies, get Kloss's last design, the CSW Model Six. A very nice sounding two way 8" acoustic suspension design whose crossovers can be upgraded so that it can easily compete with speakers in the 1000 dollar a pair range? Hint, the cost is nowhere near that much and they were often on sale for $99 a pair!

cnh

It is not a self powered system. That is one of the computer sub satellite systems.

Mr. Bubbles

I would suspect the crossover if the driver measures that DCR out of circuit. Should be pretty simple. i bet the crossover is not too complicated. Kloss usually wasn't to in depth with his crossover designs. He seemed to be more of a driver and cabinet guy.

Mr. Sharpe

Yes the cabinets are like rocks, made of MDF. the crossover looks like it could be complicated but who knows, I haven't taken them out yet. just a small board and a few things on them from the front side. will look at the back side today some time.

Mr. Sharpe

Should all the capacitors have continuity in them? if so the largest capacitor does not have any. it looks like the outter plastic may have gotten hot at one point. will post pictures later on. if this is true then is it as easy as replacing with the same capacitor? If that's the case I haven't found a 50v capacitor, only 100v with the same mfd rating and tolerance.

Mr. Bubbles

Capacitors can check erratically depending on their charge. I find it best to do a final test on suspect capacitors by placing them in line with a known good speaker (becaue i do not have an LCR meter). Though this will only tell you if it is passing electrical current, it will not tell you if it has the proper value. In the end I always replace suspect capacitors anyway whether they pass current or not. I just use the above check to determine if that is the point of signal loss in a circuit I may be troubleshooting. It is fine to go up in voltage as long as you are using the same capacitance.

Mr. Sharpe

I fixed these. Replaced the two caps I thought were bad and they work fine.