GREMLINS? IN A SUBS EYE!!!

I was contacted to check a intermittant problem on a churches sound system. I was met by the worship director he briefed on what was happening, about 2 months after installing subs on the house PA the right sub would cutout then come back on & continue during services, he told me they put the donated old hiss & hum series CS 800s in the shop 3 times & they found nothing wrong with the amps. The Rane xover was new as well as all new cords. He also told me that one of their members was an electrician & checked out the system but couldn't find the problem. Armed with this info to work I go, 1st thing I did was clean all the jacks & cable ends on the sub side of the xover & amps with a connex tool, then I swaped sides A & B leaving the xover & the amps next I checked the speaker cord, it was new with binding post type end by the amps so I checked the subs input panel, it was on the floor with the cut 1/4 phone jack in it. This must be the craftmanship of the electrician, he wired the speaker cord to the PV BW18s terminals & simply put duct tape over the hole on the sub. Ok this will work for testing. With the PA powered on and my MP3 player patched into the board I ran the system at about 110 DB for 10 mins. or so. Other than the smiley face on the EQs the system sounded fine & the sub never missed a lick. Im thinking maybe they run it louder so for saftey I turn off the top end amp & push the subs till rite at clip level, still no gremlins. This was odd, my cell phone rings so I turn down volume to take the call about 15 seconds later the sub cuts OUT I finished the call walking to see my gremblin it comes back on making a sound like the VCs rubbing the gap. the systems at 70 DBs now,at first I thought I had blown the sub. I removed the grill and pushed on the cone trying to make it rub, but no it was well centered. As I moved it it cut in & out. Ok the speaker has a defect & is in warranty. PAY ATTENTION HERE I called the dealer who sold it to them & he asked what kind of cabnet was it in? I told him it was An old JBL Cabaret series sub cabnet. He then informed me that PEAVY DOSE NOT WARRANTY SPEAKERS IF THEY ARE NOT IN A PEAVY CABNET. Thinking thats baloney I called a friend who is a PV dealer, he said that was correct... THAT SUCKS!!!!!! Ok Im over it. I took the 18 to my shop using a proper solvent I removed the dust cap and the glue from the cones eyes, here was the problem a bad solder joint on the tinsel wire at the VC lead. With repairs made & a new dust cap installed the 18 lived happily ever after. Remember your speakers are watching you... 8O
Jeff
 
hmm they dont warranty speakers that arent in their cabinents...dont think im gonna by peavy anytime soon
 
That is like Shure not insuring their microphones unless they are hooked up to their XLR cabling. That would be like Intel saying they don't warranty their processors unless in an Intel motherboard. That would be like Gateway not warrantying one of their plasma TVs unless on a Gateway TV stand. A laptop not warrantyed unless you buy the manufacturers carrying case when there are buying the laptop. Some of these haven't been the best comparisons but they do make a good point. If they can't warranty their driver in another enclosure there is a problem I would say.
 
Not really guys. That isn't a wild affirmation by Peavey, it has to do with enclosure design.
Peavey doesn't sell components, they sell whole boxes. The enclosure can seriously affect the speaker's perfomance, so they're avoiding user error.
I should have to inspect the data for both enclosure and box, but its probably under-damped, meaning the cone has no air pressure holding it back, and may over-excurse and/or lower its impedance in a certain frequency thus putting the amp into protection mode.
These issues in enclosure/speaker matches are a big problem in subs, where there's a lot of movement and air being pushed.
Peavey is making sure the cones that belong in their tailored boxes are not being placed anywhere else and broken.
Comparison-wise, its like if you plug a mic to a voltage line and complain to Shure it broke.
 
Oh I know...I just want to clarify things. I personally don't like Peavey...at all. Still I hate to see a company getting bashed when its not a wild idea they had. Basically what they're saying is the equivalent of a console manufacturer not having warranty on a console unless you use their specific power supply. Makes sense.
Its just that with speakers there's so much stuff that goes by unnoticed by the average user that it may seem completely off whack, but its not.
I'm sorry if I seemed to hard, it wasn't my intention
:)
 

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