Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 I've got a gig where I am using my PA tonight - and this is the first chance I've gotten to do this. The last gig we did I had a comment that the horns in the mains didn't appear to be working. I asked the question here whether I can use a (1.5v) battery to check the horn is working (1" compression driver). This morning I have opened up the speaker to do just this. I unplugged the woofer and connected the wires from it to the battery - and I get the tiniest minute pop from the horn. However, when I connect the battery directly to the horn there is plenty of scratching - in other words the horn is working. Now, there are two other options here. I don't know which.1) the crossover is dead2) the horn attenuator (volume control) is dead (it was turned up - I'm not stupid). Can I hook up the horn directly without using the crossover / attenuator? If so, how do I wire it (parallel / serial?) I have to leave in about 4 hours. If I don't get any responses I'll just live without the horns for this gig. No huge problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by Audiopile sounds like a s.t.a.t. sort of a thing.... there's a lot of ground to cover here and I type real slow (two fingers at best). You can call me if you like: 1-509-287-2020... I'm not going to get the encyclopaedia it takes to explain this written (in all it's permitations) before you gotta go. Sorry, I can't manage the (very) long distance call Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 PS, what's s.t.a.t? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by Audiopile This morning I have opened up the speaker to do just this. I unplugged the woofer and connected the wires from it to the battery - and I get the tiniest minute pop from the horn. However, when I connect the battery directly to the horn there is plenty of scratching Ok, miscommunication - sorry. I took the woofer out of the cabinet completely - disconnecting it. I then connected the battery to the wires that the woofer had been attatched to (through the crossover to the horn). Looking at it, it probably wasn't the best thing to do. Then from the horn I got the minutest pop - I wouldn't have heard it if it hadn't been quiet - the woofer wasn't attatched at all. When I connected the battery directly to the horn there was plenty of noise. (these are near dead AA batteries - not very powerful). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 PS, no lightglobe, The woofer works fine. And about the losing 4 octaves - I say no huge problem because I don't have much choice. We are running a 5 piece band - only vocals through the PA (where the high end is most needed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 25, 2003 Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by moody PS, no lightglobe, The woofer works fine.And about the losing 4 octaves - I say no huge problem because I don't have much choice. We are running a 5 piece band - only vocals through the PA (where the high end is most needed). Your horn won't make nearly as much "scratchy noise" with the battery method if you have the crossover in the chain vs going direct. Are you sure it isn't ok? Can't you just plug the cab in and stick your ear up close to it to find out if the horn is producing anything? That's how I always do it. Or perhaps the diaphragm is cutting out intermittently.(Works for a while and then suddenly it is dead.) But with the battery method,it will be louder when bypassing the crossover because nothing gets bled off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by tlbonehead Your horn won't make nearly as much "scratchy noise" with the battery method if you have the crossover in the chain vs going direct. Are you sure it isn't ok? Can't you just plug the cab in and stick your ear up close to it to find out if the horn is producing anything? That's how I always do it. Or perhaps the diaphragm is cutting out intermittently.(Works for a while and then suddenly it is dead.) But with the battery method,it will be louder when bypassing the crossover because nothing gets bled off. The difference was extreme. at least 30-40 times the volume when the crossover was bipassed. I'll have another listen when I get the chance. I'll put everything back together today and use it as best I can tonight. I just won't have time to do anything more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by Audiopile Ok, Ok.... try plugging the HF part of the crossover into the woofer thingie... that will tell you if the compression driver is messed up or if the crossover is on the Fritz.If the crossover is boink... you are SOL... if the crossover seems to be fine... then run the woofer thingie direct (by passing the crossover)... at least you are feeding the woofer (which is fine, right?) the full range of sound and it doesn't harm a woofer thing to try and reproduce frequencies higher than it's suspose to. I'll do that in the next few days - I've been saved for tonight (borrowing an active crossover and two horns from D aussie). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 25, 2003 Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by Audiopile Ok, Ok.... try plugging the HF part of the crossover into the woofer thingie... that will tell you if the compression driver is messed up or if the crossover is on the Fritz.If the crossover is boink... you are SOL... if the crossover seems to be fine... then run the woofer thingie direct (by passing the crossover)... at least you are feeding the woofer (which is fine, right?) the full range of sound and it doesn't harm a woofer thing to try and reproduce frequencies higher than it's suspose to. Yep. Might as well have the woofer let itself roll off on the top end as opposed to have the crossover cut it off sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Aussie Posted July 25, 2003 Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 I hope my stuff works ok... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by D Aussie I hope my stuff works ok... It will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashivraj Posted July 25, 2003 Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Originally posted by moody PS, what's s.t.a.t? comes from the latin word 'statum', i believe. mebbe phil will have a translation for us. also stands for 'shake that ass, tootsie' AS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 25, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2003 Ok, I did the gig (just got back - the time is 3.30 am). There is nothing whatever wrong with the horns, the guy that thought there was a problem must have lead ears and convinced those around him that he was right. If anything there was to much high end (and hiss). I didn't end up using D aussies gear except for show However, the gig itself was stuffed big time. I had amps dieing on me all night (probably to loud a gig for them). Started out with 3 amps running 6 speakers (2 mains, 2 foldback, drum fill and bass). Ended up with one amp running 2 foldback speakers turned over and used as front of house running all vocals + bass. Basically the PA sucked (but the music itself rocked). I've got to have a long check tommorow of all the equipment and figure out how serious the problems are - There was no magic smoke or burning smells so I might be lucky (one of these amps has blown fuses before and they are both the same sort of amp). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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