Tweeter repair/replacement

[socrates75]

https://imgur.com/a/7bqJnce
Got 4 tweeters out of my optimus 1b's and i think 2 of them have failed,theres still sound but there not as loud and there....wet looking and sticky :/ and if you push on the cones they move in and out way to easily as if there not connected inside,so is there a way for me to repair these? if not then i will have to replace them and my options would be finding originals or buying new,if i end up buying new does anyone know what tweeters would be the best to replace these with that will have the closest sound to the OG one's?

 

[Grenadeslio]

https://imgur.com/a/7bqJnce
Got 4 tweeters out of my optimus 1b's and i think 2 of them have failed,theres still sound but there not as loud and there....wet looking and sticky :/ and if you push on the cones they move in and out way to easily as if there not connected inside,so is there a way for me to repair these? if not then i will have to replace them and my options would be finding originals or buying new,if i end up buying new does anyone know what tweeters would be the best to replace these with that will have the closest sound to the OG one's?

If not able to repair or replace with OEM tweets I would just move on. Replacing the tweets with different drivers will throw off the balance of the SQ, learned this the hard way with my AR58s. One tweet was bad, purchased two new on eBay what was supposed to work, even after break-in they were just way too hot.

Luckily the seller was a member here and I was able to return them without issue, found an OEM pair NIB and everything is as it should be now. I replaced both and kept the one original as a backup.

 

[socrates75]

If not able to repair or replace with OEM tweets I would just move on. Replacing the tweets with different drivers will throw off the balance of the SQ, learned this the hard way with my AR58s. One tweet was bad, purchased on eBay what was supposed to work. Even after break-in that were just way too hot.

Luckily the seller was a member here and I was able to return them without issue, found a pair NIB and everything is as it should be now.

Move on as in get rid of the speakers? i cant do that....i think i love them lol what if i replaced all 4 with the same kinds but new ones?

 

[lab]

I can't remember for certain, but I think they might be 16 ohm tweeters wired in parallel to net out at 8 ohms. If this is the case, and you can't find 16 ohm tweeters, you could wire two 4 ohm tweeters in series.

 

[socrates75]

I can't remember for certain, but I think they might be 16 ohm tweeters wired in parallel to net out at 8 ohms. If this is the case, and you can't find 16 ohm tweeters, you could wire two 4 ohm tweeters in series.

So if i cant find 16 ohm then just replace with 4 ohm ones? also how many watts are these little guys? or any other info so if i do end up replacing with new i know what to buy,should i replace them with paper cone tweeters as well?

 

[lab]

Paper cones will have a similar sound, but in all honesty dome tweeters are usually better quality. One other possibility would be to put just one tweeter that is 8 ohms into your cabinet and just leave one of the original burnt tweeters in place to block the hole in the cabinet.

 

[socrates75]

Paper cones will have a similar sound, but in all honesty dome tweeters are usually better quality. One other possibility would be to put just one tweeter that is 8 ohms into your cabinet and just leave one of the original burnt tweeters in place to block the hole in the cabinet.

What would happen if i used only the 2 good tweeters,pull out the 2 bad tweeters and replace them with mids?

 

[Grenadeslio]

What would happen if i used only the 2 good tweeters,pull out the 2 bad tweeters and replace them with mids?

Now you're talking about creating completely different speakers, as I said before, might as well move along.

And just running one tweeter might work if the attenuators on the back allow enough juice to the single to output enough to balance the SQ. But don't expect to be able to crank it as much, one tweet won't handle as much power as two.

 

[socrates75]

Now you're talking about creating completely different speakers, as I said before, might as well move along.

And just running one tweeter might work if the attenuators on the back allow enough juice to the single to output enough to balance the SQ. But don't expect to be able to crank it as much, one tweet won't handle as much power as two.

Ok skip the mids lol, so if i just upgrade the 2 bad ones would 4ohm ones work ok with the good 16ohm ones? sorry for all the questions

 

[Grenadeslio]

Ok skip the mids lol, so if i just upgrade the 2 bad ones would 4ohm ones work ok with the good 16ohm ones? sorry for all the questions

No, they will be way louder and again the power handling will suffer with one tweet doing most of the work.

When replacing drivers in a pair of speaks I always replace "all" of the like units. Meaning if replacing the tweets then all of them, but only if I can source all "like" tweets, as in all NIB. This hopefully ensures all will actually sound identical. If sourced from different locations then some may have way more miles on them than others and have a different SQ. Ya I'm OCD, but would you run two different interconnects to the left channel as the right channel?

You're already bothered by an imbalance issue, why court another problem?

 

[lab]

I wouldn't mix 4 ohm with 16 ohm. Mids, traditionally don't have the extended treble of tweeters, but they would have even more power handling. I would try to be certain what impedance the original tweeters are (I could be wrong about the 16 ohm rating). Hopefully some Optimus 1b owners will chime in and we can confirm the impedance of your tweeters. I don't want to send you in the wrong direction.

 

[socrates75]

No, they will be way louder.

When replacing drivers in a pair of speaks I always replace "all" of the like units. Meaning if replacing the tweets then all of them, but only if I can source all "like" tweets, as in all NIB. This hopefully ensures all will actually sound identical. If sourced from different locations then some may have way more miles on them than others and have a different SQ. Ya I'm OCD, but would you run two different interconnects to the left channel as the right channel?

You're already bothered by an imbalance issue, why court another problem.

So best to just replace all the tweeters with 16ohm ones?

That should work. Mids, traditionally don't have the extended treble of tweeters, but they would have even more power handling. I would try to be certain what impedance the original tweeters are (I could be wrong about the 16 ohm rating). Hopefully some Optimus 1b owners will chime in and we can confirm the impedance of your tweeters. I don't want to send you in the wrong direction.

I posted pics of them at the top of my thread,they all are 16 ohm,i have looked for original replacments but most of the people selling them show pics and they look like there leaking fluid as well

 

[Grenadeslio]

So best to just replace all the tweeters with 16ohm ones?


I posted pics of them at the top of my thread,they all are 16 ohm,i have looked for original replacments but most of the people selling them show pics and they look like there leaking fluid as well

Yes, any other change and the speakers SQ will be different, whether for the better or worse is a crap shoot. If only able to source two 16ohm identical replacements I would install one in each cabinet and one original in the same location in each cabinet.

Might want to connect a different set of speaks while trying to source replacement components if these are that important to you, that would be my approach.

 

[lab]

You know, I didn't even notice the photos you posted. Definitely 16 ohm tweeters. The problem with changing impedances is you end up altering the crossover frequency. If the crossover is set too low you could burn out certain tweeters.

 

[socrates75]

Yes, any other change and the speakers SQ will be different, whether for the better or worse is a crap shoot. If only able to source two 16ohm identical replacements I would install one in each cabinet and one original in the same location in each cabinet.

Might want to connect a different set of speaks while trying to source replacement components if these are that important to you, that would be my approach.

You know, I didn't even notice the photos you posted. Definitely 16 ohm tweeters. The problem with changing impedances is you end up altering the crossover frequency. If the crossover is set too low you could burn out certain tweeters.

Ok so were all in agreement on replacing with the same 16ohms lol does it matter the wattage? and both you guys recommend dome over cone tweeters?

 

[lab]

It's not easy finding 16 ohm tweeters for home audio. Replacement tweeters would have to have a resonance down near that of your cone tweeters.

 

[Ramseybella]

Have you checked them with a meter?
If their producing sound sounds like maybe caps getting old?
What could be leaking out of a paper tweeter?

 

[socrates75]

It's not easy finding 16 ohm tweeters for home audio. Replacement tweeters would have to have a resonance down near that of your cone tweeters.

How do i go about finding out what the original tweeters resonance is?

Have you checked them with a meter?
If their producing sound sounds like maybe caps getting old?
What could be leaking out of a paper tweeter?

I just replaced the caps in both speakers like a month ago and it was doing this before as well :/
I looked up about the strange fluid and found its called ferrofluid,its supposed to help cool the coils? also when googling this tweeter for replacements of the original ones i have found many either dry looking or with the exact same liquid around the out side of the cone, its a sticky substance
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...ed-tweeters-necessary-but-undesirable.740870/

 

[swechsler]

I posted pics of them at the top of my thread,they all are 16 ohm,i have looked for original replacments but most of the people selling them show pics and they look like there leaking fluid as well

I don't think that fluid is Ferrofluid, First of all Ferrofluid is found at the voice coil, not the surround. Second, I don't believe these tweeters have Ferrofluid at all. I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is the decomposing surround being absorbed by the paper.

This thread says the capacitor is 15 µF, which gives it a crossover frequency of 1325 Hz.

So I think you have a few options:

1. Wait until these tweeters show up on eBay, or join bartertown and see if anyone here has them
2. Disconnect one tweeter and replace the crossover capacitor with a 7.5 µF capacitor. That will allow you to use one 16Ω tweeter with the same crossover frequency. Tweeter level will be reduced slightly.
3. Try to find two 8Ω or four 4Ω tweeters (connected in series) that are flat down to 1325Hz. This may be difficult. This one might work. but the frequency response graph shows that the rise in impedance caused by the resonant frequency might start higher than the crossover frequency, which isn't ideal. But I don't think there is an ideal solution if you can't find the originals.

 

[socrates75]

I don't think that fluid is Ferrofluid, First of all Ferrofluid is found at the voice coil, not the surround. Second, I don't believe these tweeters have Ferrofluid at all. I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is the decomposing surround being absorbed by the paper.

This thread says the capacitor is 15 µF, which gives it a crossover frequency of 1325 Hz.

So I think you have a few options:

1. Wait until these tweeters show up on eBay, or join bartertown and see if anyone here has them
2. Disconnect one tweeter and replace the crossover capacitor with a 7.5 µF capacitor. That will allow you to use one 16Ω tweeter with the same crossover frequency. Tweeter level will be reduced slightly.
3. Try to find two 8Ω or four 4Ω tweeters (connected in series) that are flat down to 1325Hz. This may be difficult. This one might work. but the frequency response graph shows that the rise in impedance caused by the resonant frequency might start higher than the crossover frequency, which isn't ideal. But I don't think there is an ideal solution if you can't find the originals.

....**** lol, well from what you and everyone else is saying,the best solution is to just find original replacements,in the mean time i will just set the balance on the receiver to the right a little lol so when the speaker decomposes like that does it lower the voice volume of the tweeter and does it also make it sticky like that? if yes on both then that will help when searching for the replacements as i have found some but they too have this wet look around them