Have a set of GMI pro GMI 1891 model speakers causing ear fatigue

jpchi79il

New Member
I have a 3 way speaker system made by GMI that bought brand new a few months ago. I bought two of them. They have an 18" woofer a 19" horn and 6 tweeters. They used to be 500 dollars each 4 or 5 years ago they now are 200 bucks each on ebay. So I purchased them and I upgraded them. I bought two audio pipe high power cross over circuit board's that are rated 1000 watts rms. 625 hertz to 5000 hertz. The speakers themselves originally had no crossovers just resistors and capacitors. They also had noticeable distortion because of that. I used 16 gauge monster xp double braided dielectric superflux wire for best power transfer and minimal distortion. They also have upgraded JBL selenium drivers I installed for the horns along with the Audiopipe crossover's/ They seem to be too much and make my ears really hurt. IS it because they are in a basement and not a larger room. I am aware that speaker's imitate the rooms acoustics. Even at low volume they cause fatigue so it isn't the volume but perhaps the actual spl. I am not sure I have never seen this happen before. I have other speakers that I can blast loudly and they do not do it but these even at low volume cause actual pain in my ears and head. My next thought was to upgrade the tweeters to something other than a peizo type. I have a lot of money in these things like 700 dollars now I probably can and never will get it back out of them so now they are my challenge that I want and must conqueror. They could be awesome if I could only solve single problem. I have 15 years experience and still feel confused of what is truly causing the ear fatigue. These are however my first dj type speaker I usually have worked with home speakers 15" woofer 3 way systems or smaller. It only takes about 20 seconds at low volume like 75 db to 85 nothing crazy. My other vintage utah speakers I have, I have put to 116 db no problems to my ears like this I am sure they did do damage but not like these do where it is right away noticeable and literally hurts. IF I were to ever use them for parties like I intended originally I don't think they would be safe I fear for myself and everyone else who listen's that they may cause permanent hearing loss. Please what are my options or possibilities to fix this. I would like to make these amazing and succeed at improving their sound quality
Thanks in advance
Jeremy
 
If they give you a headache get speakers you like better.
$500 is peanuts when it comes to new 3 ways with horns and large woofers ...
 
There are so many things wrong here, it's hard to know where to begin. Of all the offerings in both new and used markets, it would be difficult to make a poorer speaker choice.

You are starting with a very low quality, poorly engineered if engineered at all, speaker system. Then you installed a crossover network that plays the mid horn a full octave or more below where it should be cut off, and this is only the beginning of why they hurt your ears.

A fella could spend 200-300 in the used market for a 30 year old pair of EV, Yamaha, or Peavey that would absolutely wipe the floor with anything the GMI brand has ever been slapped on.

Somebody will need to convince the OP that you "can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear", "polish a turd" etc etc..
 
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That horn should never go below 1000 Hz, period.

To go further, we need pictures- of the woofer, the horn driver, the horn itself, the tweeters, and the cabinet, with dimensions.

Depending on what's there, it may be able to be made OK- probably never really "super hi-fi", but at least free from obnoxious defects.

If I had to make a shot in the dark- the E-wave crossover design would probably work much better than what's in there now. Just take the tweeters, and use them as supertweeters (small cap on them), added onto the E-wave 2-way crossover between the woofer and horn.

gmi_1891_re-crossover.jpg

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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