crooner
Tube Marantzed
I really like my B&Ws. I bought them at the local Amvets a year ago. At 40 bucks a pair, it was the bargain of the year. I fixed a tweeter on one of them (no biggie, just a small voice coil wire, which I resoldered carefully). The speakers have performed perfectly until tonight when I used them to power a Marantz 4400 monster receiver that pumps 125 watts per side.
At first I noticed distortion at lower levels in the left speaker. Tweeter was fine. This seemed to come from the woofer.
Then the left channel was dead. The fuse from the speaker (a 2 amp european type) was blown. I replaced the fuse, but the distortion remained.
I ruled out the crossover network since the distortion tended to clear out at high volumes. I would assume that a failure of a capacitor or inductor would cause distortion at all levels.
I took the woofer out of the cabinet and inspected it. Everything appeared fine, no signs of overheating. Perhaps the coil suffered slight damage, but with audible consequences.
I had nothing to lose, so I experimented a bit. I sprayed Caig ProGold on the woofer's voice coil and reinstalled it in the cabinet.
Voila, the distortion is gone!!! I wonder what happened! Call me impressed.
So, these B&Ws survived the monster Marantz. I think I have learned to appreaciate them even more now.
Regards,
crooner
At first I noticed distortion at lower levels in the left speaker. Tweeter was fine. This seemed to come from the woofer.
Then the left channel was dead. The fuse from the speaker (a 2 amp european type) was blown. I replaced the fuse, but the distortion remained.
I ruled out the crossover network since the distortion tended to clear out at high volumes. I would assume that a failure of a capacitor or inductor would cause distortion at all levels.
I took the woofer out of the cabinet and inspected it. Everything appeared fine, no signs of overheating. Perhaps the coil suffered slight damage, but with audible consequences.
I had nothing to lose, so I experimented a bit. I sprayed Caig ProGold on the woofer's voice coil and reinstalled it in the cabinet.
Voila, the distortion is gone!!! I wonder what happened! Call me impressed.
So, these B&Ws survived the monster Marantz. I think I have learned to appreaciate them even more now.
Regards,
crooner