2.3TL Internal Wiring Question

RCFGuitars

My 2.3tl’s are fully disassembled while I take care of a number of mods. As I was removing the drivers, and making notations of all the wiring, I noticed an inconsistency that has me concerned. Hopefully one of the 2.3tl experts can tell me if I have a problem or not.

I know that the white/green wires are neg. and the black/blue are pos. The wiring is the same in the left and right speakers with 2 differences. The middle 2 drivers in the column of the 4 stereo drivers in each speaker are wired opposite of each other. Here’s how the wiring looks for the stereo drivers in each speaker, top to bottom:

Left
black=pos., white=neg.
white/white=pos., black/black=neg.
white/white=pos., black/white=neg.
black=pos., white-neg.

Right
black=pos., white=neg.
black/black=pos., white/white=neg.
black/white=pos., white/white=neg.
black=pos., white=neg.

All the other drivers in both speakers are connected the same.

I’m thinking that the middle 2 in the left speaker are probably backwards since the white pairs are connected to the pos. terminal, but I want to make sure before I go changing things around.

As always, any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

leroyjr1

Hope this helps

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26696&d=1186346539

RCFGuitars

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Hope this helps

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26696&d=1186346539

You had me going with that first link Lee. I thought you were trying to tell me to ditch the 2.3tl's and get a pair of A9's.:D

The first thing I did before posting was look at that diagram, but I can't see where it's telling me the specific wire color for each driver. It does look to me like the left and right should be the same though, which is why I think something is wrong. But which one is correct? Left or Right?

Bubinga99

Really the schematic is the best thing to go by. Trace the wires back to the source and ignore the colors. It's possible the wires were swapped back at the source and the person doing final assembly on the speaker noticed and swapped the connection at the drivers to compensate.

RCFGuitars

Bubinga99 wrote: »

Really the schematic is the best thing to go by. Trace the wires back to the source and ignore the colors. It's possible the wires were swapped back at the source and the person doing final assembly on the speaker noticed and swapped the connection at the drivers to compensate.

Thank you, I'll check it out.

RCFGuitars

I traced all the wires in both cabinets. Looking at the schematic, and comparing to my speakers, the output from the XO to the stereo drivers is black=Pos., and white=Neg. The black and white wires in both speakers all trace back to same points, so the colors are consistent between the two cabinets.

In the left speaker the double white wires going to the middle 2 drivers in the column are connected to the pos. terminals on the drivers. In the right speaker, those wires are connected to the neg. terminals. In the Left cabinet, the white/neg wire from the XO goes first to a pos. terminal on one driver. In the Right cabinet, the white/neg wire from the XO goes first to a neg. terminal on the driver. One of these has to be wrong doesn't it?

nooshinjohn

RCFGuitars wrote: »

I traced all the wires in both cabinets. Looking at the schematic, and comparing to my speakers, the output from the XO to the stereo drivers is black=Pos., and white=Neg. The black and white wires in both speakers all trace back to same points, so the colors are consistent between the two cabinets.

In the left speaker the double white wires going to the middle 2 drivers in the column are connected to the pos. terminals on the drivers. In the right speaker, those wires are connected to the neg. terminals. In the Left cabinet, the white/neg wire from the XO goes first to a pos. terminal on one driver. In the Right cabinet, the white/neg wire from the XO goes first to a neg. terminal on the driver. One of these has to be wrong doesn't it?

They are wired correctly. The drivers are wired in series.

RCFGuitars

nooshinjohn wrote: »

They are wired correctly. The drivers are wired in series.

Please excuse my ignorance, but why would the left and right be different? Shouldn't the positive lead from the xo's in both cabinets be connected to a positive terminal on a driver, and then wired in series to the others? The wiring in the right cabinet makes sense to me, the left does not. That left channel has sounded a little weaker than the right, and I thought that may be a reason. Plus, I've had SDA's in the past that have had some backwards wiring. But, if you guys say it's correct, I'll leave it be.

RCFGuitars

Okay - I am now convinced that the Left channel is not wired properly.

Here's why: The 4 stereo drivers in the Right channel are wired in a configuration that is very familiar to me, as it is the same as a typical 4x12 guitar cabinet. The top pair and the bottom pair of drivers are wired in parallel, and then these 2 pairs are wired in series. In a guitar cabinet, this typically allows the use of four 8ohm speakers to obtain an 8ohm load, or two 4 ohm loads side by side.

In my left cabinet the positive input starts out connected to neg. speaker terminal. That is my first indication that something is wrong. Reversing the connections on the center 2 drivers in the Left channel makes the wiring exactly the same as the Right channel: the top and bottom pairs in parallel, and then the pairs connected in series.

Unless someone can confirm that there is a reason why the drivers in the L and R channels in a SDA system would be wired different from each other (and a + input connected to a - terminal), I think I have to switch those 2 in the L channel.

Bubinga99

Pictures are so much easier than words.

RCFGuitars

Bubinga99 wrote: »

Pictures are so much easier than words.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That is exactly what I have been trying to explain. This is precisely how the R channel is wired. The L channel has the leads to the middle 2 drivers reversed. My original assumption was correct : The R speaker is correct, the L speaker is wrong. I knew that L speaker didn't sound quite right. Well, at least I found this error pretty early on. My SDA 2A's were wired incorrectly for 15+ years :eek: Now I really can't wait to get these mods done, and put these babies back together right