My Right ATL speaker plays at slightly higher frequency

[Virus]

Hello, I'm new to this site, but I've been into audio for a long time, and am even making my own album! I've created an account to post about a peculiar problem.

I have these very cool speakers "ATL CELEBRATION" and they have this problem where both the bass and the tweeter play at a slightly higher frequency than they're supposed to, leading to a saturated tweeter sound and higher bass sound.

ATL CELEBRATION

• Virus
• Oct 15, 2022
• german

ATL CELEBRATION.
Audax tweeter and a Vifa bass.

I've heard somewhere that an old capacitor can lead to the problem, and after successfully replacing the capacitor, the problem remained.

They still sound really good, meaning that the drivers are probably fine, but I really have no idea what the problem is, any sort of help would be appreciated.

 

[thesteve]

Sure it's not your ears? I damaged my right eardrum with a firecracker as a kid. Trebble is reduced in that ear.
Or else maybe swap left and right on your receiver? Doesn't make sense.
Good luck.

 

[Virus]

Sure it's not your ears? I damaged my right eardrum with a firecracker as a kid. Trebble is reduced in that ear.
Or else maybe swap left and right on your receiver? Doesn't make sense.
Good luck.

I tried switching, but the problem persists.
Multiple people gave it a listen and noticed as well, though as light as it may be.

 

[Mr.Heatsink]

Possibly your amp/receiver has an issue. Or maybe just undo your connections and reconnect everything back up. Sometimes dust and or corrosion can affect output. Had a receiver with molex connectors to each channel and found tarnish on the pins in my problem channel. Polished them with some Brasso and cured my problem. Good luck!

 

[Virus]

Possibly your amp/receiver has an issue. Or maybe just undo your connections and reconnect everything back up. Sometimes dust and or corrosion can affect output. Had a receiver with molex connectors to each channel and found tarnish on the pins in my problem channel. Polished them with some Brasso and cured my problem. Good luck!

Unfortunately, I tried that and replaced the cables, and the same speaker has the same problems.

Is there something in the crossover that can cause this?

 

[katana1100]

Unfortunately, I tried that and replaced the cables, and the same speaker has the same problems.

Is there something in the crossover that can cause this?

Take the plate off the tweeter , remove the dome and look for gummed up ferrofluid.
I had similar problem with my Boston a400.
One tweet was fine, other was tarred up.
Of course, this assumes you have tweeters with ferrofluid.
Bad cap can cause it, try swapping the tweets from speaker to speaker.
You can get a cap meter/tester off Amazon for around $15.

 

[Lavane]

And you swapped speakers also? Placing the one on the right to the left and left to right? Room acoustics, volume control imbalance, etc can cause this.
I've had a few integrated amps where the dual volume pot didn't track equally until about 10:00, or 11:00. Replacing them with a better quality part solved the problem. I have a second pair of speakers setup in my main system and one side does sound a little louder than the other, swapping the speakers and amps doesn't cure it. It's because of one being closer to a side wall and corner than the other. I just adjust the balance control when listening to those speakers and the amp connected to them. Have you tried headphones? I don't know anything about those speakers, but it's possible they use a poly switch in the crossovers to protect the tweeter. These are like a thermistor. They will go open if you crank the volume too high and shut off the tweeter. The problem is they tend to drift in value over time. This added resistance could effect the volume of the tweeter. Are you sure both tweeters are working? Use a paper towel tube to listen to each tweeter and see if both are working, or if one is louder than the other.
I replaced a pair of poly switches that had drifted quite a bit. Maybe one or more caps have drifted in value in the crossovers?, or at some point these speakers were ran hard and a resistor got cooked? Lots of things it can be.

 

[Virus]

Take the plate off the tweeter , remove the dome and look for gummed up ferrofluid.
I had similar problem with my Boston a400.
One tweet was fine, other was tarred up.
Of course, this assumes you have tweeters with ferrofluid.
Bad cap can cause it, try swapping the tweets from speaker to speaker.
You can get a cap meter/tester off Amazon for around $15.

I mean, do Ferro fluid issues affect volume? Because they have nearly the exact volume, but the sound is just screechy.

 

[Virus]

And you swapped speakers also? Placing the one on the right to the left and left to right? Room acoustics, volume control imbalance, etc can cause this.
I've had a few integrated amps where the dual volume pot didn't track equally until about 10:00, or 11:00. Replacing them with a better quality part solved the problem. I have a second pair of speakers setup in my main system and one side does sound a little louder than the other, swapping the speakers and amps doesn't cure it. It's because of one being closer to a side wall and corner than the other. I just adjust the balance control when listening to those speakers and the amp connected to them. Have you tried headphones? I don't know anything about those speakers, but it's possible they use a poly switch in the crossovers to protect the tweeter. These are like a thermistor. They will go open if you crank the volume too high and shut off the tweeter. The problem is they tend to drift in value over time. This added resistance could effect the volume of the tweeter. Are you sure both tweeters are working? Use a paper towel tube to listen to each tweeter and see if both are working, or if one is louder than the other.
I replaced a pair of poly switches that had drifted quite a bit. Maybe one or more caps have drifted in value in the crossovers?, or at some point these speakers were ran hard and a resistor got cooked? Lots of things it can be.

Damn... This is going to take some serious troubleshooting. I'll have to look into things frfr.

 

[Mr.Heatsink]

Not familiar with ATLs, but if they have any sort of level adjustments or even a protection fuse at the binding plate check them for corrosion, dust, looseness. Otherwise, my only other guess would be funky resistor in your crossover since woofer & tweeter output changed together.

 

[Virus]

Not familiar with ATLs, but if they have any sort of level adjustments or even a protection fuse at the binding plate check them for corrosion, dust, looseness. Otherwise, my only other guess would be funky resistor in your crossover since woofer & tweeter output changed together.

Thanks. Will check it.

 

[BillyTheKid]

Welcome to AK.

It sounds like you have a bad tweeter or crossover issue.

Keep troubleshooting until you find the component that has the problem.
Test each driver individually, swap tweets from cab to cab, swap crossovers, different amp, different wires, check all connections...whatever you have to do to diagnose which part is the actual culprit.

 

[RVT1K]

I would be curious what a quick resistance check across the terminals of each speaker showed. I would expect one to be different from the other based on the symptoms.

 

[Virus]

I would be curious what a quick resistance check across the terminals of each speaker showed. I would expect one to be different from the other based on the symptoms.

Hey. I don't have the measurer, but I have replaced the tweeters and came up with the result that the tweeter itself has a problem.

I have some photos (the closer tweeter is the one that's fine, and the further one has a problem).

I've opened the tweeter, out of curiosity, and have noticed some things.

There are crumbs of the yellow sponge on the dome (idk if that affects anything).

I'm guessing the crossovers work fine since the fine tweeter works well in both boxes, so now I'm stuck thinking, what's wrong with this seemingly fine tweeter?

I don't want to replace them, these are killers, I really hope there's something I can do.