Blown tweeters ... beyond repair?

If someone could tell me whether it's worth my while trying to fix this I'd be most grateful ...

A while ago I bought a couple of old-ish Magnat speakers in a charity shop. They're very similar to these ones:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=150102814181&rd=1&rd=1

so nothing all that special, I don't think, but they did their job well enough (providing music in the kitchen) until recently when I noticed they seemed to be sounding a bit muffled. On closer inspection it would appear that there is no sound coming out of the tweeter on either box.

I suspect this may be as a result of some of my dear housemates blasting out some dub loud enough to make all the walls in the house shake ....

Anyway, is there any way to check that the tweeters defintely have gone, and it's not something in the crossover or something like that which might be easier to replace?

In actual fact these speakers have fuses in the back (which I think are for the tweeters) but I've checked these and they seem to be fine. One would expect these to blow before the tweeters themselves, of course, but it's possible that they may be of the wrong value.

Any advice appreciated! They're not particularly special speakers but I'm kind of attached to them!

 

Remove the tweeters from the cabinet and unplug the cables from the HF output of the crossover. Then connect the speaker cable from your amp directly to the terminals of each tweeter(one at a time).
If you don't hear any sound from the tweeter, that means it's blown.
Make sure the volume is low on your amp so you don't damage it(in case it is ok).

 

ok, cheers, might try that.

If they are blown, is it worth trying to replace them? How exactly would I have to match them if I were to stick in some replacements? If I were just to find some any-old tweeters that would fit in the cabinet, would they be OK (bearing in mind this isn't my main system and isn't used for very critical listening)?

 

It shouldn't be much of a problem although they vary in frequency response and efficiency so they may sound different. At least you'll have treble though. I have a spare set of tweeters in an old pair of wharfedales you can have if you like.

 

thanks. Might just get back to you after I've had a chance to test whether they're dead or not.

 

PM me if you need them.

 

Put a meter on the terminals to see if you have an open circuit (continuity test). If there is an open circuit there will be a break in the voice coil and you may be able to fix it or replace it.

 

connecting them straight to the amp is not the best way ...get a multimeter and check for continuity....

if you can get into the tweeters you may be able to resolder the voice coil ....but its not easy and a real pain [thats an understatment]

 

connected them to the amp at low volume .... nothing

checked with a multimeter, there's no continuity.

So looks like it's time for new tweeters.

I might try the ones Andy has kindly offered, if they fit.