Emerald Metaphor
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- Dec 22, 2023
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Hi,
I have a complex active and mixed vintage and modern system, you can be sure it acts very organically, things break more often and without pattern, and it is both easier and harder to solve problems.
So, I just had this weird thing happen twice within a few months in the same room, where I was sure the bass output from my right speaker (Snell Type Ai's) was suddenly too low. At first I thought it might be a placement issue, good sized room but the ideal Golden Ratio setup put one speaker near a barrier (now it is reversed and works better) and then I started hearing issues. I also have some brain damage from MTBing that messes with my right ear, I have a spatial hole, actually hi res stuff helps, and even my broken brain helps sometimes because I can bank on the missing part of the soundstage too. The great thing about active with a DSP is you can control each driver separately and boy can you tune well by ear this way, so many options!
Now when this happened the first time I broke down all the cables and cleaned and reconnected everything, as well as opening the bass cabinet to check the woofer. Well, it was fine, all I learned is the person who sold me these lied. My "original condition" Snells had been modified to use a different poly woofer and someone put a port in them, so these are not IDEAL. I intend to restore them when I can afford it, but they sound very good still, and the other drivers are original and sound amazing!
So, just a few days ago I had the same issue. Now I am worried there is really a problem with this driver or my bass amp, so I start by switching out my spare bass driving amp, and that is when I find that the forks to my right speaker are very loose at the binding posts. Clearly there was angular torsion on the speaker wires, and even though I always tighten them well at installation, like any thread with torsion on it, they will unwind sooner or later. So, I now suspect this was causing capacitance on the right woofer signal path (sometimes I forget to power my guitar pedal that doesn't have a real by-pass and get a similar problem) because the contact was very loose. Now, I'd have to put the original amp back to be sure, but I am lazy.
This is a classic be careful of the box you are in problem, a low tech one (as they mostly are!). But, the mind always goes to the more complex or fatal problems, but this was a problem of unintended complexity easily missed by theory. Don't get me started about how my heating pad cord seems to wind up all the time too. I have many past injuries to keep me in my chair listening to music now!
So, if you use threaded forks or threaded banana plugs (damn NAD's too small binding posts!), and ever lose part of the signal to one or more drivers asymetrically and have ruled everything else out, check those threaded connectors if you have them.
One day at the Whistler MTB Park I tightened both of my 5 mil crank bolts on my 50 lb DH bike, as I always did before a day of 7000+ feet of vertical. At lunch one of these bolts had fallen out.
If I save one person from insanity from this post, I have done all I can!
I have a complex active and mixed vintage and modern system, you can be sure it acts very organically, things break more often and without pattern, and it is both easier and harder to solve problems.
So, I just had this weird thing happen twice within a few months in the same room, where I was sure the bass output from my right speaker (Snell Type Ai's) was suddenly too low. At first I thought it might be a placement issue, good sized room but the ideal Golden Ratio setup put one speaker near a barrier (now it is reversed and works better) and then I started hearing issues. I also have some brain damage from MTBing that messes with my right ear, I have a spatial hole, actually hi res stuff helps, and even my broken brain helps sometimes because I can bank on the missing part of the soundstage too. The great thing about active with a DSP is you can control each driver separately and boy can you tune well by ear this way, so many options!
Now when this happened the first time I broke down all the cables and cleaned and reconnected everything, as well as opening the bass cabinet to check the woofer. Well, it was fine, all I learned is the person who sold me these lied. My "original condition" Snells had been modified to use a different poly woofer and someone put a port in them, so these are not IDEAL. I intend to restore them when I can afford it, but they sound very good still, and the other drivers are original and sound amazing!
So, just a few days ago I had the same issue. Now I am worried there is really a problem with this driver or my bass amp, so I start by switching out my spare bass driving amp, and that is when I find that the forks to my right speaker are very loose at the binding posts. Clearly there was angular torsion on the speaker wires, and even though I always tighten them well at installation, like any thread with torsion on it, they will unwind sooner or later. So, I now suspect this was causing capacitance on the right woofer signal path (sometimes I forget to power my guitar pedal that doesn't have a real by-pass and get a similar problem) because the contact was very loose. Now, I'd have to put the original amp back to be sure, but I am lazy.
This is a classic be careful of the box you are in problem, a low tech one (as they mostly are!). But, the mind always goes to the more complex or fatal problems, but this was a problem of unintended complexity easily missed by theory. Don't get me started about how my heating pad cord seems to wind up all the time too. I have many past injuries to keep me in my chair listening to music now!
So, if you use threaded forks or threaded banana plugs (damn NAD's too small binding posts!), and ever lose part of the signal to one or more drivers asymetrically and have ruled everything else out, check those threaded connectors if you have them.
One day at the Whistler MTB Park I tightened both of my 5 mil crank bolts on my 50 lb DH bike, as I always did before a day of 7000+ feet of vertical. At lunch one of these bolts had fallen out.
If I save one person from insanity from this post, I have done all I can!
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