Mid-drivers not working....what could be wrong?

Lightstar1
Lightstar1 Posts: 56
edited April 2008 in Troubleshooting
Hey Guys and Gals....
Well, I was just bragging about how great my SRS speakers were sounding on another thread but I also noticed that the right channel seemed to be somewhat louder. I adjusted the balance and continued to listen. While listening I decided to take the covers off and then noticed that all eight mids were working on the right speaker but only the inner four (right hand) mids were working on the left speaker. While they still sound fantastic, I am obviously not getting the full effect. Anybody out there have any ideas what I need to do or know what could be wrong? Is there a fuse or something to check? GHEEEZZZZ......Please just point me in the right direction......
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    The outer drivers are the dimensional drivers. Check the IC cable and connections. Also, check the connections on the crossover boards. Are you using a common ground amp?
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    There is a troubleshooting guide for SDA speakers available from Polk. You'll have to call to get a copy. You'll also need a VOM.

    Another thing you can try right now is to swap all 4 of the non-working drivers with the known good drivers in the right speaker. If the problem follows, you have bad drivers. If it doesn't, then there is probably something wrong in the left speaker.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    I forgot to mention, check that the non-working drivers are wired in phase. The black and blue wires are positive, the white and green are negative. There is a red dot next to the positive terminal on the driver basket.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    F1nut....sure appreciate you helping!! I am following your suggestions...so far I have checked out the IC cable and it is connected securely. I pulled the crossover and checked the connections as you suggested and for good measure, slipped off, cleaned and then slipped them back on. I pulled one driver to see if I could see anything wrong but nothing as far as I could see. I will go back and pull all of them and check the phase and report back to you........
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    F1nut and Lasareath....well, I did the swap and believe it or not, all of the so called "bad" drivers worked on the right side! I checked the IC connection inside of both speakers and all seemed well. I even disconnected the IC cable to both speakers and got the same results.....NOW WHAT?? Even with all of this, they still sound great but looks like I will have to go through that trouble shoot list F1nut spoke about in his post above....any other ideas of what it might be???
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  • hoosier21
    hoosier21 Posts: 4,411
    edited April 2008
    Lasareath wrote: »
    But if all four are not working that sounds like an Interconnect issue to me, maybe the cable is secure but maybe the internal wiring at the binding posts or where the IC jack is connected has lost connection.

    this would be a very good place to start looking for the problem to me too.
    Dodd - Battery Preamp
    Monarchy Audio SE100 Delux - mono power amps
    Sony DVP-NS999ES - SACD player
    ADS 1230 - Polk SDA 2B
    DIY Stereo Subwoofer towers w/(4) 12 drivers each
    Crown K1 - Subwoofer amp
    Outlaw ICBM - crossover
    Beringher BFD - sub eq

    Where is the remote? Where is the $%#$% remote!

    "I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us have...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    NOW WHAT??

    Time to buy that VOM we talked about. It's the only good way to check for bad connections.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    F1nut....you're probably right. Might as well buy a decent one...any suggestions? brand??
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    By the way....any chance that something could be wrong with the crossover in the left speaker??? See, I have lots of dumb questions!!! Still on the learning curve....
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited April 2008
    You might have a open in the crossover cable. Good luck and great guy and gals here.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    engtaz.....where would I look for to which you are referring??
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited April 2008
    An open means that a "break" is [or might be] within the cable. This will kill the signal. If you have a multimeter, you can ohm it out and see if in fact there is an open.
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    Thanks guys....that means I take out the crossover again and just start checking out all of the wires.....I went tonight and got a VOM as suggested so I will start my testing and get back to you....sorry to be such a pain!!
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited April 2008
    No worries, we're here to help.
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    Hey Lasareath....I know the IC cable is needed for the array effects but if I unplug it from both speakers, should I be getting sound from all eight mids in both cabinets. I ask because when I unplug it, the left array speakers still have no sound and the right array speakers still have sound......does this mean anything??
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    The inside row are the stereo drivers, they will still get a signal with the SDA cable disconnected.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    Sorry...after reading my previous post above, I didn't make myself clear....when the IC cable is unplugged, all eight of the mids still have sound in the right speaker and only the inside row of 4 work in the left speaker....when the IC cable is plugged in, the same occurs...all eight work in the right speaker and only the inside row in the left speaker. As F1nut has taught me, as one faces the pair of speakers, the inside rows refers to the drivers that are closest to the listening position. Looking at the left speaker, this would be the row of mids on your right and looking at the right speaker, this would be the row of mids on your left. The rows of mids on the outside rows are the dimensional arrays....See guys, I am learning!! Now, got to find out if and what is wrong with my arrays in the left speaker!!! Pray for me!!! LOL
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2008
    even with the IC cable unplugged.. all the drivers still work... just not as loud. the SDA drivers still put out sound without the SDA cable.. as F1nut said. it's very difficult to tell when they are and are not working.

    pull each one out one at a time... hook it up to some speaker wire.. and play your favorite song at very low levels.. and see if you get sound.. do that to all the ones you think aren't getting any sound.. keep the other speaker unplugged from the speaker wires when you do this.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2008
    agreed.. sounds like a X-over problem then. good luck. i'm out
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    Guys...thanks for still trying to help....please don't give up on me!!! If you can think of anything else or can find that document you speaker of, sure would appreciate it! What the heck, take your vacation now and come down to Arkansas, my wife and I would put you up and feed ya to get these things going correctly....I am getting worried that this may be something serious...GHEEEEZZZ, I was so happy earlier today!!! (Whoops, it is now tomorrow in our time zone!)
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2008
    well if it is a crossover problem.. that's not a major problem.. prob some small $5 part went dead. quite a few people have rebuilt their crossovers with new caps and resistors. and it's a worthy update to them
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2008
    so do you have the blade/blade or pin/blade connector on your IC cable? maybe one of those blades is not making contact in that speaker...... or is broken off.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    You either have a wiring problem or a crossover problem. Get the troubleshooting guide from Polk on Monday.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2008
    If you're really itching to do something, swap the complete crossover assembles from left to right. If the problem follows, you know it's on the crossover. We can narrow it down from there.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Lightstar1
    Lightstar1 Posts: 56
    edited April 2008
    Thanks for still chiming in with suggestions.....you guys are a wealth of knowledge for us more challenged folks! First, I forgot to answer one of F1nut's questions.....yes, the amp is common-ground. I will give Polk a call tomorrow and get that troubleshooting guide...probably good thing to have for now and in the future. As far as me being able to rebuild my crossover....uhmm....you sure have faith!! Remember, I am an idiot at this point and have no idea what to do! I would rather get one of you to fix it and pay your price if I can afford it instead of me botching it up. F1nut...I like your idea of swaping crossovers but after looking at it again this morning, looks like I would have to de-solder several groups of wires. Scary for me right now....I am hoping between now and tomorrow morning, someone on the forum will see this and had the same problem and know what it most likely is. But again, I may get "itchy" and get the ole' soldering iron out!! WHEW....
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