First Build....C-Notes

[rmog2133]

So jumping in the speaker building hobby, and thought I'd start with something simple. Assembled the cabinets, crossovers and before prepping and finishing the cabinets decided to test everything.... No tweeter. First a connection fell off, using clips for now until final with solder, reconnect better and hook up to the amp and no tweeter. Woofer works. Might be the crossover? I am embarrassed by the negative connection, worst joint I've ever done! Could this be it? Why would the woofer work and not tweeter if this were the point of failure? On another note, what is the frequency cutoff for the woofers? Any ideas are welcome, thanks in advance! Sean Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Dewmiester]

Welcome to the hobby.

Post a pic of the crossover.

[Brian B]

It's certainly possible for a crossover wiring mistake to render the tweeter silent. That's the basis for requesting a picture of the crossover you've built. Assuming you've built two, does the other speaker behave the same way?

The crossover is designed to roll off the woofer response a little below 3kHz. But it will still audible (though softer) up to 8kHz or so.

[rmog2133]

It's certainly possible for a crossover wiring mistake to render the tweeter silent. That's the basis for requesting a picture of the crossover you've built. Assuming you've built two, does the other speaker behave the same way? The crossover is designed to roll off the woofer response a little below 3kHz. But it will still audible (though softer) up to 8kHz or so.

Thank you both for the response! Have had to work a lot and not been able to check in on this. Will try the other crossover tonight, but the trouble one had woofer response way above 8000...
Attached is a pic, including embarrassing solder joints. Since the pic, heated up the joint to let it flow better into and not onto the wires.
Thanks! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[rmog2133]

Thank you both for the response! Have had to work a lot and not been able to check in on this. Will try the other crossover tonight, but the trouble one had woofer response way above 8000... Attached is a pic, including embarrassing solder joints. Since the pic, heated up the joint to let it flow better into and not onto the wires. Thanks! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Here's an updated pic, hooked back up and seem to get a signal, albeit extremely, I mean extremely weak. With my ear right next to it barely audible. Even less with woofer connected. Ran a 20-20k sweep and woofer goes all the way up to 13ish before fading down and then out when I lose frequency around 14.5ish.
Will do a test with the other crossover tonight or Sunday and post update (hopefully tonight).
Thanks again! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Brian B]

The crossover appears to be correctly assembled. Make sure the Input and driver connections are correct. In your latest pic that would be + input on left, woofer + at top middle, tweeter + in middle, and all three - at the far right.

[rmog2133]

The crossover appears to be correctly assembled. Make sure the Input and driver connections are correct. In your latest pic that would be + input on left, woofer + at top middle, tweeter + in middle, and all three - at the far right.

So, I rather sheepishly report I had the woofer + receiving the input....after correcting this, still nothing in the tweeter! Noticed the woofer fading out around 8k, but no pickup on the tweeter.....going to test the other crossover and report back. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[rmog2133]

Tested 2nd crossover and it works.....here's photos of them both....
At least I did one right! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[rmog2133]

Jumped woofer + to tweeter and responds all the way through the frequency band, but nothing on tweeter side. I'm not sure where I went wrong here since one works and the other doesn't...perhaps a faulty component? Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Brian B]

Jumped woofer + to tweeter and responds all the way through the frequency band, but nothing on tweeter side. I'm not sure where I went wrong here since one works and the other doesn't...perhaps a faulty component? Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

What you did above isn't clear to me.

I would take the "suspect " tweeter and connect it to the crossover that works. That will show whether the tweeter is good or bad.

If the tweeter is good, I'd reconnect it to the "bad" crossover. Connect the tweeter - to the normal junction point. Then connect the tweeter + to the resistor-capacitor junction. You should hear sound from the tweeter. Then move the tweeter + connection to the junction of the two caps and inductor. You should get sound from the tweeter there as well.

[Chris Roemer]

Did you swap tweeter (between boxes/XOs)?

[rmog2133]

What you did above isn't clear to me. I would take the "suspect " tweeter and connect it to the crossover that works. That will show whether the tweeter is good or bad. If the tweeter is good, I'd reconnect it to the "bad" crossover. Connect the tweeter - to the normal junction point. Then connect the tweeter + to the resistor-capacitor junction. You should hear sound from the tweeter. Then move the tweeter + connection to the junction of the two caps and inductor. You should get sound from the tweeter there as well.

Tweeter is good, tested it straight off the amp and setup untested tweeter to "bad" crossover. Same results on "bad" crossover with new tweeter, verified it works by hooking to "good" crossover.
What I meant by jumping it was took the woofer + lead to the tweeter and got high end response.
Working today with meeting after work, so hopefully late tonight I can give the test you suggest a go.
I greatly appreciate the input and patience demonstrated dealing with my issue and relative ignorance. Thank you all! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[jonbourg]

On your failing crossover it looks like the bottom solder joint is a really bad cold solder joint. Did you use flux? Clean it with alcohol, put some flux on it. Let your solder iron heat up real good. It should immediately melt the solder. Also crappy quality solder looks dull and grayish after soldering good solder looks shiny.

Ok, place the iron with a little bit of solder on one side of the joint and when it heats up put solder on the joint from the other side. The solder should basically automatically flow into the wiring and viola!!! When your done clean it with alcohol let it dry and try it out!!

It doesn't have to be pretty but as long as its hooked up correctly and the solder joints are good it should work. On your bottom working crossover the joint all the way on the right where you can still see the wires and the solder is fully enclosing them is what it should look like.

[rmog2133]

Used some flux core solder on the joints, ended up doing what bnb you had said shortly after posting these pics, letting it flow into the wires better and still nothing from the tweeter connection. Using jump wires, the only place the tweeter gets sound from is the + input....any other joint it receives nothing. So I'm thinking bad component? Used new jump wire to bypass poor solder joint and still nothing, and the woofer gets all the sound! I'm about to just order new components and start over..... Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[wogg]

Do you have a multimeter to check for continuity / resistance?

Make sure that 6 ohm resistor measures about 6 ohms anywhere on the leads, closer to the cap / coil the better. 
Make sure there is good continuity from the - input to the - on the tweeter.
Make sure the resistance across the tweeter is about 3 ohms (not shorted out).
Make sure the leads are intact on the capacitors and there are no sneaky breaks in the wires from bending.
The capacitors should all measure open with a DMM, with a low resistance at first that quickly rises and goes out of range.