Speaker repair technical question


I don't have much knowledge into how speakers physically work. Recently one of my Monitor Audio gold 10 drivers went out, I found a replacement mid-woofer, while I was installing the new driver I noticed the tweeter wouldn't make any noise so I thought I had a broken crossover until I put the new driver in the speaker started working. My question is if the speaker doesn't have a woofer will the tweeter stop working and/can a broken crossover be benign and slowly blow woofers?
yayayyausher88831
Depending on the speaker and crossover, when you remove a driver it breaks the circuit and that's why there's no sound. You can test this. With the driver removed and a signal (music, white noise) playing take the wires that went to the removed driver and touch them together.  

Its extremely unlikely you "broke" your crossover. Speaker damage almost always is caused when the voice coil is overheated by over-driving the speaker, either with too much power or (more likely) not enough. Not enough damages faster because the amp puts out square waves that have a lot more high frequency energy, and this is why tweeters tend to burn out more than midranges and woofers.
Its a safe bet that's what happened here. You're using small bookshelf speakers. They are only 88dB sensitivity. This means it takes a lot of power to make them play loud. The combination of a small speaker and low sensitivity means you need a couple hundred good clean watts to play them loud safely. But look at the specs: https://www.monitoraudio.com/en/support/past-products/gold-gs/gs10/ Their max output is 108dB, max power handling 100W.
Now technical stuff like this usually bores me to tears but in this case you can really learn something from it. Decibels are logarithmic. This means to play only 3dB louder requires TWICE the power. To play 10 dB louder requires TEN TIMES the power. 

Okay so look at your specs. Do the math. From 88 dB to the speakers max 108dB is exactly 20 dB. From 1 watt at 88dB you need 100 watts to get 108dB. 

Are you following me? Because what this is telling you is your speaker with 100 watts is being run right at the ragged edge. You cannot afford to run that amp into clipping at all, as it will blow a tweeter for sure. You cannot go higher in power to avoid clipping because the speaker max is 100 watts. 

Usually take these specs with a big grain of salt. In your case though it shows how far even just a little knowledge will go. Tiny bit of info given here is enough to teach you to NEVER buy a speaker with less than 90, and preferably 95 dB sensitivity. Because then regardless of what speaker it is and how much power it can handle you will need MONSTER POWER to drive it safely. But if its 95 dB or greater you won't need that power, and the speaker will put out plenty of volume with just any old ordinary 20 to 50 watt amp. 


I blew the driver with my acurus a250 (I think this was related to having a fuse issue), I recently switched to a music fidelity a100 after the acurus kinda got burnt up after a few years
200 @ 8 ohms 350 @ 4 ohms. It shouldn't be running hot. 

Something is physically wrong or I have a hunch, you're just blasting the heck out of them. 

Are you one of those guys, louder is better? 

"Kinda got burnt up after a few years". 

I think you know what's up.. LOL Just because I'm not there to tell you to "TURN IT DOWN" don't mean you shouldn't turn it down...

DB doesn't stand for "Da Boom" or "Dang Bro" or "Dumb Bunny"...

(With my ear plugs in) Regards...


I think the poor chap needs some CERWIN VEGA'S in his life!!!! when LOUD IS GOOD AND CLEAN, BABY!!!!!
I over powered a pair of Monitor Audio GR 10’s and blew the woofer and gold dome tweeter in one of the speakers. I ordered both from Canada, installed them and they were the same as new. So I’m not so sure why it is you’re having a problem but I wouldn’t rule anything out. Instead, I’d call Monitor Audio and see what they have to say.
goofyfoot (or others with MA-Gold Reference knowledge)

How did you manage to pull the drivers in your GR10? I've got a pair of GR60s that need some cabinet restoration, and I'm having an awful time trying to pull ANY of the driver assemblies. Thanks in advance for any tips.