Speakers suddenly quit playing

[kevinberry1]

I was driving to work and my left components suddently went out, then my right ones a few seconds later. They just make a ticking sound. Not sure what is wrong but I will have to check this afternoon when I get home from work. Anyone have ideas?? I sure hope they didn't blow or anything, I would be pi$$ed.

FYI I'm running Rainbow 6.5' components off of a precision power sedona amp at 100x2 through a 3xs crossover.

[Ryan from Ohio]

Me no likey this post...

Scary...

:(

Tear into it and let us know what you find. The 3Xs is a crossover/linedriver if I recall right. Maybe the input voltage is to much for the sedona...

Dunnooo

Maybe the speakers are toast... :( :( :( :(

[kevinberry1]

Yeah, I am pretty worried that they are toast. It is weird that they would go out seconds from one another. You would think that if it were a problem with the amp or crossover they would both go out simultaneously. I wasn't playing them loud or anything. Well, I'll just check tonight and get it figured out. Then I'll have to pursue my options :sad017:

[daykareboards]

maybe the neg and pos. wired goin to the speakers or wherever rubbed or something? that happened to me once and it turned out somehow the wires touched.

[kevinberry1]

Could crossed speaker wires cause the speakers or component crossovers to blow?

[William from NOLA]

What do you mean by crossed?

[kevinberry1]

if the positive and negative wires from either channel were to touch.

[William from NOLA]

That is a problem if it does, I would check each connection side. Anyplace that seems for it to be possible, eliminate it with electrical tape if you can.

[GlassWolf]

sounds like the amplifier/headunit internal pre-amp got zapped. not the speakers themselves. try using a different source, and/or different amp.
also check protection lights on amp etc.. trace it down to the problem source.

[kevinberry1]

Well, I checked and the plug for my crossover came out, but that doesn't appear to be the real problem. The thump noise that is coming from my components is due to the amp power flashing. The light flashes on and off. Not sure if this means the amp is blown or what.
The speaker wires are definitely not the problem because they are all soldered in the one place I spliced them.

Do you have any clue Kiki?
How does a preamp get zapped? How could i check to see if that is it? Would it be at the deck or the amp?

I don't have another amp to check them with, so I will just keep playing around to see what is up.

[Justin from Detroit]

It ma ysound dumb, but did you check the ground? if it isn't a good ground, it may the cause of the amp turning on and off.

[nist7]

try to use your friend's HU and amp, and see if the speakers are still fine.

[kevinberry1]

Well, I checked the ground and when I replaced the fuse in the block and turned on the head unit I blew a fuse on the amp. I will have to check it out again tomorrow after I get another fuse for the amp.

I'm still baffled with one side going out seconds before the other. I don't think I'll feel any sense of relief until I figure out exactly what is wrong.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions everyone.

[William from NOLA]

Something in the amp may have shorted out. How old is the amp?

I tried earlier to look up info on your amp and had very little luck.

[GlassWolf]

I was going to say ground as well Justin, but if the amp is blowing fuses, yeah that's looking to be the problem.
Perhaps when the crossover came unplugged, it shorted and the amplifier was damaged. It's pretty surely the amplifier though, which can be repaired more cheaply than replaced.

[kevinberry1]

The amp is an old one. Can't even find specs anywhere on it. A friend gave it to me and he hadn't used it in years. I took the back plate off, but didn't see anything wrong. I'm going to double-check everything tonight and try to hook it up again.

If it is the amp I don't know if it is worth repairing or not. At least it's not my components, they are worth more than a typical 75 x 2 amp.

[Fishy]

The pdf should still be available, at least from Directed if not the web. Here's an interesting thread concerning looking for old PPI manuals and stuff:

http://www.audiobanter.com/q-t_3674-Anyone-have-a-list-of-the-hidden-PPI-downloads.html

... a simple e-mail to audiotechs@<hidden> will get you a pdf of anything we have
in the archives. There's a lot more material in the archives than was
ever web-linked, too.

...we have a tendency to put stuff like that in our dealer
section, and not the public. With audio being as DIY as it is. that
should probably evolve.

A lot of their stuff can only be accessed through the dealer section. I don't know how much help it'd be, but I'd just email the guys if you want a manual, etc.

The only Sedona stuff I was able to find on the web was the dip settings for my old XO-2. I guess you need "permission" to look at many of their pdf's.

-Fishy

[Jszar]

a couple options:

just to isolate the amp as the problem, get a multimeter and check the speakers for resistance, make sure they are/arent blown.

disconnect the speakers and see if the amp turns on. definetly check that ground too.

[kevinberry1]

Well the amp is definitely toast because it keeps blowing fuses and my other amp for my subs runs fine when I use that power source.

I checked my components by hooking up my home stereo and one side plays fine, the other is in question. The tweeter works ok but the 6 1/2 seems to be much quieter. Can a blown speaker still produce music? It smells like an electical fire, so I'm pretty sure it is toast. I guess I'll email Rainbow to see how much a new woofer is. This sucks!!

Anyone have an amp that they're not using?

:( :( :(