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help with speaker problem

I have a problem...i notice it only on piano music, it sounds like the tweater of both my speakers is distorting, simmilar in sound to when a speaker clips, only not nearly as loud, but audible from my listening location...it also seems to be frequency dependent..ie. only occures, or occures to a much great level within a certain frequency range judging by the piece of music i was listening to when i really noticed it around the C above middle C on a piano give or take a bit.

when i first noticed the problem in my left speaker returned the speaker and they replaced the tweeter with a new one, but the problem persists and is noticable in both speakers...

my system is

totem arros
nad c350
kimber 8pr cable
eichmann express 4 interconnect
dennon dcd 3520 cd player

any idea what it could be...I wouldn't think three tweeters could all exhibit the same problem unless its a design flaw with that model of speaker (unlikely)... i thought mabey the piano notes happened to fall right around the crossover point of the speakers and that somehow caused the distortion...
im biwiring with kimber 8pr, could low frequency sound somehow leak into the tweater...
you guys are really smart...help me out!!, i dont want to just get the tweater replaced again cause i dont think it'll fix the problem, and i dont think that totem makes such poor quality part that three tweaters would all exhibit the same problem, and i doubt id be able to get my money back from where i bought them, as they're about 8 months old
it definately the tweeters though, ive tried everything, including hooking them up to an entirely different system, so i know its nothing in my system causeing it
mbacinello
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,137 posts
 
Get hold of a test CD with a slow frequency sweep that covers the crossover point and see if you can hear the problem. If you can set you CD player to just repeat the offending frequency band you might be able to isolate exactly where the distortion is coming from.
honest1
586 posts
 
It may be the tweeter screaming its head off at the low end of its range. As with a woofer, the lower the frequency, the farther the dome must travel. The point just above crossover is where the tweeter is working hardest. I have heard the sound you describe, usually on piano or female vocals, especially on notes that are held for a long time. I usually backed the volume off a bit for these recordings until I bought more abuse tolerant speakers. The funny thing is that it didn't usually occur at what sounded to me like loud volumes. The music that caused was not generally head banger stuff, but seemed to have a lot of content at crossover frequency. I loike the suggestions of going to listen to other pairs, even just the in store demos, using a disc that you know causes it. Maybe the crossovers are defective, or maybe this is a limitation of this particular speaker.
prpixel
876 posts
 
Maybe the problem is the recording. Have you tried playing this recording on other systems? Have your tried playing this recording on the demo system at the dealer? The tweeters in the Arro's have a lot of detail and they could be highlighting a flaw in the recording.

I owned a pair of B&W N805sig's for a while. They were wonderful speakers but play a bad recording on them....

You know the old saying "Shit is - shit out...."

Hope this helps,
mbacinello OP
54 posts
 
This is an update...after talking to a fellow arro owner with the same problem, and to Vince at Totem, the problem was diagnosed as a resonance resulting from vibration induced by the metal to plastic contact of the woofer and tweeter plates...in the arro the drivers are so close together that the plates overlap slightly....thus the problem is only on the arro model it doesn't affect any other totem speakers...it also seems to be exacerbated with certain amp combinations...the NAD being one of them...it has to do with the discharge frequency of the amp...dont know what that means...the distortion occures between 425 and 650hz...the solution is very simple, a very thin "gasket" is placed behind the woofer plate to physically separate the contact...mine will be getting this 'fix' very soon..ill report on the success...the fellow owner i was talking to had complete success with it so my hopes are high...
so fellow arro owners or prospective arro owners be aware of this potential problem...however dont let it stop you from listening to the arros...the arros are first rate speakers in every regard, and i must say the customer support is excellent, Vince personally attended to me.
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