DCM TF400 Rattle

KingBubba

KingBubba

"Too Much Stuff"
In all these years of discussing and rating DCM speakers, I have my first issue with a DCM speaker. I have a pair of TF400s in the bedroom system, that have served me stellarly for unknown #s of years. Now for the first time ever, I have a buzz/rattle in the righthand speaker. The odd thing is that it only engages with one song; James Taylor's "Walkin' My Baby Back Home". It is a specific range, in the strong bass line of the song, that sets off the rattle. No other song that I have listened to sets off the buzz.

I am hoping that it is a loosely mounted bass driver and not a bad bass driver. For the first time, I have to take my own advise about knocking off the bottom and rolling the material up from the bottom, as opposed to doing the reverse. I do have a second pair of 400s that I can steal from; so all is not lost if the driver is bad.
 
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KingBubba said:
In all these years of discussing and rating DCM speakers, I have my first issue with a DCM speaker. I have a pair of TF400s in the bedroom system, that have served me stellarly for unknown #s of years. Now for the first time ever, I have a buzz/rattle in the righthand speaker. The odd thing is that it only engages with one song; James Taylor's "Walkin' My Baby Back Home". It is a specific range, in the strong bass line of the song, that sets off the rattle. No other song that I have listened to sets off the buzz.

I am hoping that it is a loosely mounted bass driver and not a bad bass driver. For the first time, I have to take my own advise about knocking off the bottom and rolling the material up from the bottom, as opposed to doing the reverse. I do have a second pair of 400s that I can steal from; so all is not lost if the driver is bad.
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Did you pull the sock down yet??
 
I remember having a similar problem, albeit with a different speaker, but which also involved James Taylor. In this case, in his duet with Mark Knopfler "Sailing to Philadelphia," which also involves a very powerful bass line. The reason I'm relating this is, suffice it to say, in my case it wasn't the speaker.

So, if you haven't already done so, do swap the speakers left for right to see if the issue follows or stays on the right. It might save you some trouble.
 
I have this same issue with one of my Rosedale speakers. They sound perfectly fine on most everything except when I play The streets of Philadelphia by Springsteen. His voice generates an odd harmonic distortion that I have been unable to locate. I'm thinking it's possibly a lose wire on the VC as all parts of the cone seem securely glued (surround, tinsel wires, spider, etc..). When I have time, I will pull the magnet and coat the VC with superglue or thin layer of epoxy to see if this fixes the problem.
 
The reason I thought you were being a funny man was because I am always reminding people with TimeFrames to pull up not down. I have probably posted that over 50 times over the years.
 
So did you do a visual inspection of the woofer yet? I bought my pair with a rattle, and it turned out to be a separated butyl surround. Used a rubberized CA glue by Bob Smith Industries to glue it back on, and that was 10 years ago. Sounds great still.
 
It might be a while before I can get around to it. I am in midst of selling my first house and it is taking a good bit of my time, especially because the old house is about 100 miles away from where I live now. I may just swap it out with the right side of my spare pair.
 
KingBubba said:
It might be a while before I can get around to it. I am in midst of selling my first house and it is taking a good bit of my time, especially because the old house is about 100 miles away from where I live now. I may just swap it out with the right side of my spare pair.
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I think you owed me a beer from a cpl of years ago?? If so now were even. Which means we just swap;)
 
My last foray into a pair of TF's snowballed into a complete rebuild - underlying material was disintegrating into dust. You just never know till you pull the socks down,... errrr Up.... check-that: OFF.

Hopefully you will be in and out quickly and back to the DCM magic.

Good luck with them..... and the house! :thumbsup:
 
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