Dayton BR-1 build: problem with tweeters

[carrotslat]

Hi, I'm new here and an all-around wimp when it comes to this, so excuse my ignorance. I recently built the Dayton BR-1s from the kit, and tested them on one amp (unfortunately not exactly sure what this was, I think some Sony receiver but I'm unsure) and they worked completely fine. I then had to transport them a little bit, which I made sure to do with adequate packing (or at least I thought so). When I got them home only the woofers put out reasonable signal. The tweeters were still operating but were basically negligible at maximum volume. I've tried running them through two amps and I have the same problem, one of which is a Sony STR-AV770 and the other some JVC multi-CD garbage machine.

I opened up the speakers to see if anything had noticeably been unsettled in transit, but everything seemed to be just as intact as ever. Also, I should clarify that both tweeters were behaving this way, which seems too coincidental to be a shifting of contents. I tried running the woofer signal from the board to the tweeters (being very careful, starting at no volume and moving up very slowly). The tweeter put out reasonable signal this way, and didn't sound like it had blown or anything. I then tried running the tweeter signal to the woofer and obviously because of the attenuator network and the crossover, I knew it would be generally weaker, but it was significantly so. It was barely audible at maximum volume running alone.

Any ideas you might have about something I neglected to check? Or that I am just being a general idiot about? 'Twould be greatly appreciated! Unfortunately I don't have access to a multi-meter right now so I'm not able to do a continuity check but it doesn't seem like that would be the issue.

[isaeagle4031]

Re: Dayton BR-1 build: problem with tweeters

It sounds like you may have a couple of cold solder joints that aren't making adequate connection. Check each leg on the tweeter circuits to insure you have a solid mechanical connection.

[mattp]

Re: Dayton BR-1 build: problem with tweeters

+1

A common problem we hear about with these are cold solder joints, especially on the coils. Some people will pull the coil lead so far though the board that they will try to solder directly to the coating on the copper without removing it first. I can't imagine a loose coil connection would cause your specific problem, but I would double check and possibly re-heat all the solder joints just to be on the safe side.

[[email protected]]

Re: Dayton BR-1 build: problem with tweeters

At low volume, bypass each component with a wire until it gets louder. This will show you which component/solder joint is the culprit.