I got a call from Doc Randy last week. The kind that will make any dealer's eyes go big. "There's something wrong with one of my speakers, the bass module is dead". It had never happened before, so ha! Time for me to apply all the stuff Damon taught me when he was here. No sending techs. Besides, perfect opportunity to have some merienda prepared by Riza
To cut to the chase, the right cabinet was indeed dead as door nails. It would take a catastrophic accident to burn the voice coils and according to Dr. Hook there were no such accidents. Anyway sometimes cones lock with burnt coils and sometimes they don't. The cones had normal play but we had to make sure. I disassembled the bass cabinet and tested the drivers individually. To our common relief (burnt voice coils are not covered by the warranty) the woofers were fine. Diving deeper into the speaker I went to check the inductors. Not an easy thing to do since they are potted and mounted in an unfriendly part of the cross braced interior. I said to myself, skip muna. We then tested if it was the binding post connection. AHA! That was it. Apparently there's been dirt and corrosion INSIDE the binding post. Again something I've never seen before. Anyway, I rewired the LP XO to the datalink taps until I can get replacement posts. With the cab now working, I finally had a chance to listen to what my old friend has been up to.
Randy is the type of customer you want to have. I say this not just because he always pays on time
What I mean is it makes me really happy when I see people in this hobby pay their dues and enjoy the inevitable rewards. Like the disciplined Doctor that he is, he's proved once again that addressing basic fundamentals is THE real secret to good sound. Since my last visit, he's transformed his room acoustically, knowingly or unknowingly zeroed in great overall system gain structure, used out of the box placement methods that made the speakers disappear better than where I had placed them when he was using the Rockets. While I had the opportunity to listen to only two cuts, I could see why Doc has not been in any hurry to go and grab Papa 4s. Parang si Dante rin, they've managed to massage more and more performance out of the Jrs. With time running out, merienda time!
Scrumptious steak sandwiches c/o Riza counterpointed with good ol' potato chips. I wanted to make baon pero nahiya ako.
Anyhow, I've ordered the replacement posts but have been wondering what circumstances could have caused this. It just hit me this afternoon!
Doc, that kind of accumulation of particulates and level of oxidation requires continuous air flow. Humidity alone won't do it. The placement of your speakers puts it in the path of your AC. I remember feeling the draft. No problem there, you don't have to reposition. May confluence of events lang nga! The Isolda's have piggy back receptacles for another set of bananas. By accident air may have been given a straight shot at the solder joint! Just plug the holes my friend.
Congrats with how you've developed your room and system!