Tweeter is hot.

[mateematy]

I think the emerging consensus is pretty clear.

• There is something wrong with the unit.
• It would be fascinating to at least some of us to figure out the root cause, or at least the "proximate cause" of the heating, but...
• It needs to be repaired or replaced (the former if there's a warranty, almost certainly the latter if not).

This being said, the one - arguably - loose end, from my perspective*, is whether or not the tweeter would get hot if no signal is fed to it.
I am not sure it's worth testing this and exposing the unit to an opportunity to suffer even more damage, but it might (???) be a good idea to determine that the problem does indeed isolate to the active speaker unit itself, and not to something "upstream" of it.

__________
* and per this question from the @mateematy

I unplugged the XLR cable and it's still hot.

 

[fpitas]

I unplugged the XLR cable and it's still hot.

Now if you unplug the AC cord and it's still hot, we have a genuine mystery!

 

[solderdude]

I unplugged the XLR cable and it's still hot.

Return it to the factory.
Something is broken in the plate amp (the electronics on the back)

 

[mateematy]

Return it to the factory.
Something is broken in the plate amp (the electronics on the back)

Yep, tomorrow I'll contact the shop I bought it from.

Now if you unplug the AC cord and it's still hot, we have a genuine mystery!

It cooled down. We're good.

Thanks for the support !

 

[JayGilb]

Yep, tomorrow I'll contact the shop I bought it from.

It cooled down. We're good.

Thanks for the support !

Just curious on how you noticed the excess heat in the first place ? Maybe I missed something earlier in the thread, like visible heat shimmer coming from the speaker.

 

[mhardy6647]

Now if you unplug the AC cord and it's still hot, we have a genuine mystery!

... but also a solution to the world's energy needs!

 

[fpitas]

... but also a solution to the world's energy needs!

Every house heated by mystery tweeter?

 

[mhardy6647]

Every house heated by mystery tweeter?

Sounds like a campaign slogan!

 

[mateematy]

Just curious on how you noticed the excess heat in the first place ? Maybe I missed something earlier in the thread, like visible heat shimmer coming from the speaker.

Not mentioned but It was by mistake. I just unplugged them for some cleaning and the top was hot.

 

[admweer]

have the same problem. my twitter basically became black because of overheating. adam support just said that it could be because of some unstable electricity and bla bla. just go your distributor. so seems that it happens. second monitor is fine and no problems with electronics. i noticed overheating because i had a gamepad on a speaker and when i took it it was hot(gamepad itself) because of monitor body heat

 

[voodooless]

adam support just said that it could be because of some unstable electricity and bla bla

That’s just pure nonsense. Don’t accept those kinds of answers!

It seems you guys are not the only ones with these issues. A quick search shows these things failing on multiple models. Given this I would actually suspect a failure of the tweeter, not the electronics. Maybe dust buildup over time makes it short circuit, leading to high current flow. In that case I would suspect that the tweeter doesn’t work normally anymore. Performance should clearly be degraded. The trouble is that this would also fry your electronics over longer periods. An amp surely does not like to be shorted. A series cap could have been wise here to mitigate this.

 

[restorer-john]

have the same problem. my twitter basically became black because of overheating. adam support just said that it could be because of some unstable electricity and bla bla. just go your distributor. so seems that it happens. second monitor is fine and no problems with electronics. i noticed overheating because i had a gamepad on a speaker and when i took it it was hot(gamepad itself) because of monitor body heat

The amplifier is likely supersonically oscillating and cooking the tweeter/s over a period of time. What is causing it, would be interesting to investigate. I don't know if there's two channels (tweeter/woofer) or a single channel running via a passive XO.

The internal SMPS may be radiating a fair bit of heat (upwards), but the discolouring of the pleated tweeter diaphragm is most interesting.

 

[kemmler3D]

if it was high frequencies

the discolouring of the pleated tweeter diaphragm is most interesting.

I think this is probably it.

The AMT on my dad's goldensound tritons burned up due to a malfunctioning preamp. The look of a blown AMT involves charring.

 

[Verig]

have the same problem. my twitter basically became black because of overheating. adam support just said that it could be because of some unstable electricity and bla bla. just go your distributor.

You know, I kinda would like to see the face of your distributor agent when you call and tell them one of your speakers is getting hot. I train tech support nowadays and these kind of things sometimes really make the day.
But in all seriousness, Adam Audio, what the heck...

 

[antcollinet]

have the same problem. my twitter basically became black because of overheating. adam support just said that it could be because of some unstable electricity and bla bla. just go your distributor. so seems that it happens. second monitor is fine and no problems with electronics. i noticed overheating because i had a gamepad on a speaker and when i took it it was hot(gamepad itself) because of monitor body heat

Is it still basically working. (other than getting hot)

If so does it still get hot with the source disconnected? If so definitely a fault with the unit (not your power). Insist on replacement/refund.

 

[Hayabusa]

Somehow you have to measure the signal going to the tweeter. Can it be removed from the front?

 

[Wolf]

I assume that behind the "waveguide" the tweeter itself looks more or less like this cheap AMT tweeter from PartsExpress (?)

View attachment 259318

That is about 1/4 the size of the AMT in the Adam speaker pictured.
It reminds me more of these in terms of size:

RT-4001

Airborne RT-4001, 9cm2 Air Motion Ribbon Tweeter, 4ohm.

solen.ca

However, the Adam is still different with only 3 magnetic crossbars pictured in front of the diaphragm.

Additionally, there are probably only 5 or so companies that make AMTs for rebadging by other companies anyway. Mundorf, Tianle, ESS/Heil, and Hygaeia come to mind immediately.

 

[Hayabusa]

That is about 1/4 the size of the AMT in the Adam speaker pictured.
It reminds me more of these in terms of size:

RT-4001

Airborne RT-4001, 9cm2 Air Motion Ribbon Tweeter, 4ohm.

solen.ca

However, the Adam is still different with only 3 magnetic crossbars pictured in front of the diaphragm.

Additionally, there are probably only 5 or so companies that make AMTs for rebadging by other companies anyway. Mundorf, Tianle, ESS/Heil, and Hygaeia come to mind immediately.

Adam was always proud of their own AMT.. I think they still make them themself.

 

[Hayabusa]

https://www.adam-audio.com/en/technology/x-art-tweeter/

 

[Wolf]

Cool, I was thinking they made their own, but didn't remember. I know their reputation is fairly good more often than not.