Woofer Going Bad on Revel Studio 2

[gsibble]

So one of the woofers on my 13 year old Revel Stuio 2s has a rattle that comes out in some songs. On a sine wave test, it's audible as distortion all the way up to around 150hz.

I opened it up and nothing was touching the cone. Nothing looked out place. And the rattle remained when I played the speaker outside the case. Reseating it and tightening the screws did nothing. Seems the driver is just going bad.

The problem is according to a place where I bought a replacement tweeter, Harman doesn't make this woofer anymore. So I can't get a replacement.

What should I do? Anyone have some spare Revel Ultimas they want to sell a woofer out of?

Thanks!

 

[DVDdoug]

Sometimes the voice coil comes loose (unbonded).

Search for a speaker reconing service. (Reconing usually includes replacing the cone, voice coil, and surround... basically re-building the speaker.)

 

[gsibble]

Sometimes the voice coil comes loose (unbonded).

Search for a speaker reconing service. (Reconing usually includes replacing the cone, voice coil, and surround... basically re-building the speaker.)

Interesting. There are some places near me that do good repairs. Thanks!

 

[middlemarch]

This may be a long shot but I've heard voice coils can sag over time. A possible cure could be to remove the woofer and turn it 180 degrees and re-install. Free fix if it works. You may also want to check the DC resistance of the voice coil and compare it to your good one. If it's significantly lower then you probably have an internal short in the windings, in which case the inversion won't work. Best of luck.

 

[gsibble]

This may be a long shot but I've heard voice coils can sag over time. A possible cure could be to remove the woofer and turn it 180 degrees and re-install. Free fix if it works. You may also want to check the DC resistance of the voice coil and compare it to your good one. If it's significantly lower then you probably have an internal short in the windings, in which case the inversion won't work. Best of luck.

Actually, turning it over 180 degrees was the first thing I did. No luck sadly.

 

[middlemarch]

I would still put in a support request to Harman Luxury Audio. [email protected]

I just went through a tweeter replacement with them and they were really good, very impressed. Of course the tweeter cost me 1400 with sales tax, so there's that...

 

[Sokel]

cost me 1400 with sales tax, so there's that...

???
Harman got jealous with Purifi and Scanspeak and thought to top them off by double?
What kind of tweeter is that?

 

[gsibble]

I would still put in a support request to Harman Luxury Audio. [email protected]

I just went through a tweeter replacement with them and they were really good, very impressed. Of course the tweeter cost me 1400 with sales tax, so there's that...

I did. Waiting to hear back. Also replaced a tweeter before. They made me order through a dealer though. That dealer said Harman told them this woofer is no longer made.

 

[middlemarch]

???
Harman got jealous with Purifi and Scanspeak and thought to top them off by double?
What kind of tweeter is that?

Well the 1400 includes the ridiculous sales tax here in WA, it's only 1280 otherwise. It's the beryllium, I guess. Kind of weird since they were "only" 900 a few years ago, and they haven't made these since then. They just appreciate on the shelf I guess. Here's a pic.

 

[Penelinfi]

I once had a woofer that was clicking due to one single strand of spider weave. Found that after cutting the whole assembly out and checking it.

Also can check lead wires for broken strands area - when they all break usually at the terminal or cone, you get distortion from the intermittent contact as the cone moves.

Other causes : surround detachment, ripped spider ring near cone from excursion abuse, unglued spider from voice coil former. Unglued cone from voice coil former.
Debris in motor system.

Also make sure to check the driver by itself without being attached to crossover. Sometimes you may have intermittent contact from crossover solder joint or component.

 

[middlemarch]

I once had a woofer that was clicking due to one single strand of spider weave. Found that after cutting the whole assembly out and checking it.

Also can check lead wires for broken strands area - when they all break usually at the terminal or cone, you get distortion from the intermittent contact as the cone moves.

Other causes : surround detachment, ripped spider ring near cone from excursion abuse, unglued spider from voice coil former. Unglued cone from voice coil former.
Debris in motor system.

Also make sure to check the driver by itself without being attached to crossover. Sometimes you may have intermittent contact from crossover solder joint or component.

So here's what's funny, the problem with my tweeter is that it clicks at a certain frequency, which turns into a pronounced CLACK at really high volume. But its frequency response is unaffected and for normal listening volumes it never does it at all. So I was almost tempted to ignore it (may still do so). That's because the tweeter I got from Harman was a dud, no output at all, in fact the voice coil reads open. So it's on its way back. Here's hoping the next one is good.

My side surrounds are Gem 2s, and the surrounds don't get the energy that the mains do, and the tweeters are identical, so I've thought about swapping with one of those.

 

[gsibble]

So I posted before about this. I have an old pair or Revel Studio 2s still going strong 13 years after purchase. They sound delightful.

Except there is this distortion on the right speaker below 100hz. It doesn't show up in many songs but is obvious in a since wave test and sounds awful. I have swapped out every piece of equipment and narrowed it down to the speaker drivers.

I thought it was one woofer (there are twO) and while it took some time, I found a replacement. I installed the replacement this morning.

And the rattle remained! I was shocked! Then after a half hour of wondering what was going on, I noticed the rattle is now coming from the other woofer. I'm not sure if I didn't notice both were making noise before or what, but I'm having a 2nd woofer overnighted since I'm so tired of this problem.

I think it actually make sense both were bad / were damaged if there was some over-excursion. And I'm not even confident replacing the 2nd woofer will fix it but it's worth trying.

Wish me luck.

 

[gsibble]

I found a new replacement (they got the part number wrong) and installed it this morning.

The rattle remained!

After doing some digging, I realized the rattle is now coming from the 2nd woofer on the speaker, even tough I was sure this one was damaged.

Kind of makes sense that if it was fed a signal that would damage a woofer it would damage both of them. Having a 2nd replacement one shipped.

 

[middlemarch]

Good luck! I'm in the middle of a tweeter replacement for one of my Studio 2s, first one arrived DOA. Just curious, it had been my understanding the woofers were no longer available. Is that not the case? Good news if so.

Also curious if you have any idea what may have damaged them? I'm powering mine with a Crown XLS1502, which I'm sure could blow them if I'm not careful.

 

[gsibble]

I actually replaced a tweeter a year ago. Went pretty well if soldering was a bit annoying.

The part number everyone uses for the woofer is wrong and comes up as out of stock. This part number I can confirm is correct and Harman has plenty:

New part# PSP00144001 - ASY WFR 8in Ti8H

It looked identical to my old woofer down to the other numbers on the back. I seem to remember a few transient events that were very loud and I've also played some very deep bass at very loud volumes on them. They are hooked up to an NAD M22 that could easily blow them if it wanted to.

That's why I said it makes sense both woofers were actually blown (or damaged) if there was some event.

2nd woofer should hopefully arrive tomorrow and will update. Gonna be really frustrated if it still has issues.

Oh, and the woofer comes with a new gasket/seal. They said it didn't.

 

[middlemarch]

Great news, thanks for that! Not that I ever hope to need them...

I gave up on trying to solder the replacement tweeter, just added about a foot of wire to the existing ones and terminated with crimped on spade lugs. The existing wiring was just too short to do anything with.

 

[gsibble]

Great news, thanks for that! Not that I ever hope to need them...

I gave up on trying to solder the replacement tweeter, just added about a foot of wire to the existing ones and terminated with crimped on spade lugs. The existing wiring was just too short to do anything with.

Good idea. The wiring on the woofers is much longer fortunately.

 

[gsibble]

Great news! I installed the 2nd replacement woofer this morning and the rattle is gone! Tested in several ways.

So both woofers were bad which leads me to think they were essentially "blown". Some transient event. Probably more than just wear and tear.

 

[Imakeller]

That’s great news @gsibble ! Those Revel Studio2’s are beautiful speakers. Glad you will be able to continue enjoying them.

 

[gsibble]

Thank you! I was really worried I'd have to get new speakers as the Revels sound fantastic. Crossing my fingers nothing else goes wrong.