Sooo...one of my 107's decided to act up last night. I'm not sure what's going on with them yet, but here's what happened:
Speakers had been playing fine, but the right one was occasionally cutting out or not working at all. I assumed a loose speaker wire connection, because I could usually re-attach the wires and it would start working again. Last night, I couldn't get this to help. I tried different speaker wires and no luck. I moved the speaker wires from the left speaker to the right one, and the right one still wouldn't play. Moved it back to the left speaker, and it played. So obviously, it seems to be in the right speaker itself
I'm going to look at obvious things first...the speaker terminals. I'll need to get inside the cabinet...anyone know how to get to these? Through the top or through the bottom? I'm not sure I'm using the right terminology either...
Now a little background...one day several months ago I was working around the speakers and stepped on the speaker wire, while it was connected to the speaker. It broke the banana plugs off, inside the speaker terminals. I don't think part of the plugs are still stuck in the speaker, because a new banana plug slides right in?
Also, I found that the connections on my cheap-o speaker wires were not good...the screw that tightens the banana plug to the speaker wire was not there, so the connection from the wire to the banana plug was loose...could a poor connection actually damage a speaker? Or could a failing amp damage a speaker? The reason I ask about the amp is because I moved the Apogees upstairs...they sounded great downstairs, powered by a lowly Panasonic AVR, but sounded like crap upstairs with the Emotiva separates...they would sound okay but then there would be some major distortion and buzzing. And I had been hearing some distortion in both of the Kef 107's, especially when turning up the volume...what are the chances that the amp is failing and underpowering the speakers? How can you tell if the amp is putting out appropriate power or if it is failing?
Sorry, lots of questions here, and my speaker troubleshooting skills aren't the greatest yet!
The Kef's have been completely restored just a year or two ago, and the Emotiva amps are only a year old.