Polk LSI15 Problem

Hi,
I just acquired a pair of LSI15 speakers. There are some issues with them though. First off both the midrange speakers on the left speaker have zero sound coming from them. The tweeter and woofer seem to be working fine. I removed the midrange speakers and hooked them up to a multi-meter and the are giving me a reading of around 5 ohms (i have a really cheap multi-meter) so I'm pretty sure that the speakers are good. I also took a look at the crossover and couldn't see anything burnt or anything obviously wrong. The other problem is that both midrange speakers on the right speaker have very low audio output but sound kinda "gargled." And again the tweeter and woofer seem to function properly and nothing obvious on crossover.

Any advice or recommendation will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Anthony

Comments

  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,031
    Remove the jumpers and connect each set of binding posts to an amp and play music separately. See if you get any sound out of the mid range woofers. I know you said the tweeter is working.
    Then also test the bottom binding post and make sure the woofer sounds right. I also know you said they work.
    The only way the mid range speakers wouldn't play is if there is damage to the crossover. There is absolutely something wrong with both sets of crossovers in both speakers. I think someone drove them into distortion and damaged them. Probably using under powered amps or a receiver.
    I'd contact polk and see if they have replacement crossovers for both speakers, swap them about and your problem will most likely go away. Hopefully the 4 mid range drivers are still good. If not they will also need to be replaced. The LSI 15 is a nice speaker and I think is worth repairing as needed.
    Good luck and report back your findings.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 27,964
    So the LSi15 crossover, the top post are just for the tweeter (I know, weird)

    The bottom post is for the woofer and midrange.

    The midrange drivers are wired in series, so chances are your "low output" speaker has a disconnected driver, blown driver, blown resistor, etc

    There is also a good chance you have a blown resistor/component in your other crossover if the woofer is getting sound but not your midrange drivers.

    If all of the drivers check out, I definitely think the culprit would be your crossovers/wiring. Speakers are fairly simple.
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,033
    Something I haven't seen asked is do you have jumpers even connecting the upper and lower binding posts together?
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

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  • Anth619
    Anth619 Posts: 10
    Hi,
    Thank you guys for the replies. Yes there were jumpers connected. I took the jumpers off and connected them separately. The tweeters sound good as well as the woofers. As before both the midranges on the right speaker still sound "gargled." The one this I did notice is that the midranges on the left speaker seemed to attempt to put out sound and if i kinda tapped the top of the speaker it seems to want to output sound but super "gargled" as well something like I would expect from a loose connection.