Blown Tweeter - why?

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Ok so one of my memphis PR's blew its tweeter and I dont know why... I got these on ebay so screw trying to go at the seller when I only paid $50 and this was back in janurary...

I got some Pioneer Premier TS-D602P Coaxials on ebay and am waiting for them to arrive. But before I install them I want to figure out why the heck this tweeter blew before I go and wreck this new set. My last experience with blowing tweeters was with my Alpine Type R 6x9's (always blew the rear left tweeter) and I couldn't figure it out. Wen't through 3 sets before I bought my memphis M-Class 6x9's and they are still going hard 3 years later.

I was running the Memphis PR's on deck power for about a month but now I have my Alpine PDX4.150 on them with the gains almost to the lowest setting. So I dont see how it could be clipping. Also run these bridged off my PG Octane R 5.0:4 for 2 months (150wrms x 2) though I dont know exactly how much power they were seeing as I never got the DMM out on that.

Anyway last night I turned my deck up to 28 (Alpine 9887) and I can't hear any distortion from any speaker and I normally listen to it with 25 as my max but typically around 18-22. Could it just be a bad tweeter?

Oh and sorry for the long post I just realized I got carried away...one thing to note though is the coaxial connection on my amp came out on that channle. Like the gold peice of the female end came right out of the amp when I disconnected it after testing. However I just pushed it back in and it still sounds fine so I have ignored it.

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[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

no one? Should I sum up?

Cliff notes: What can cause a tweeter to blow?

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

What can cause a tweeter to blow?

well usually it would be from overpowering which can be done with to much clean power or clipped power. the other cause would be trying to play them to low to loudly and mechanically damaging them.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Ok so one of my memphis PR's blew its tweeter and I dont know why... I got these on ebay so screw trying to go at the seller when I only paid $50 and this was back in janurary.

Ahh pretty clearly not the seller's fault either way... so Im glad ur not going to try 'going at him'

Tweeters are generally more sensitive to overpowering and especially clipping because of the harmonics it creates...

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

and having your EQ for treble or upper freqs on +12 will do that also...

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

and having your EQ for treble or upper freqs on +12 will do that also...

yup, also known as overpowering them.

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

well usually it would be from overpowering which can be done with to much clean power or clipped power. the other cause would be trying to play them to low to loudly and mechanically damaging them.

Is it possible to overpower without distortion present? I dont see how they could be clipped being my PDX4.150 is almost to the lowest gain setting. hopefully this weekend I can get out there with my DMM and check the output voltage on some higher frequencies.

Ahh pretty clearly not the seller's fault either way... so Im glad ur not going to try 'going at him'




Tweeters are generally more sensitive to overpowering and especially clipping because of the harmonics it creates...

Well I would go after him if I thought it would have been defective which I was wondering if the tweeter or the cap going to it could have been defective leading to this failure. But its only $50 so not really worth it. Just want to make sure that I am not doing something drastically wrong that would cause this...

Could I possibly be clipping with my gains set to almost the lowest setting? I have my rears gains set higher as the 6x9's can take more power. Neither of these sets can take the full power of this amp so I was being conservative on the gains without actually getting a DMM out to measure.

and having your EQ for treble or upper freqs on +12 will do that also...

EQ on the upper end is almost flat. Have 1 frequency set +2 db. Also as I said before my max is 25 where I set my gains and hear no distortion at 28.

Could it be my loose coax connector? It came out but I push it in and it feels tight and it didn't appear to affect the sound at all. This is before I put it into the car and I was testing it on my 6x9's in the house.

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

could still be clipping, or you could just be overpowering them. whats the rms rating on them?

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

could still be clipping, or you could just be overpowering them. whats the rms rating on them?

50wrms I beleive... and my M-Class 6x9's are 75wrms I beleive. I have given the 6x9's over 100 each before in my old car and they have been great...

I wonder if it could just be the cheap way they are crossovered? Just a yellow cap inline with the positive line to the tweeter. wonder if it crapped out as my 6x9's have external crossovers. I guess the only way to know if I really am overpowering them is to get the DMM out and check. What frequency shoudl I use to check? I was thinking 250Hz for mids and 4k for highs though being its passive it shouldn't matter where I check them i guess.

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

50wrms I beleive... and my M-Class 6x9's are 75wrms I beleive. I have given the 6x9's over 100 each before in my old car and they have been great...
I wonder if it could just be the cheap way they are crossovered? Just a yellow cap inline with the positive line to the tweeter. wonder if it crapped out as my 6x9's have external crossovers. I guess the only way to know if I really am overpowering them is to get the DMM out and check. What frequency shoudl I use to check? I was thinking 250Hz for mids and 4k for highs though being its passive it shouldn't matter where I check them i guess.

Not sure, but i use to use those cheap lil caps to crossover 6x9s, def do not last long. I think your tweeter was just worn from the distortion it was getting by not being propertly crossed over. Not a big deal on HU power, but once you got a real amp, boom. It just finished the job.

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Yeah they are rated 50wrms/100wpeak.

Do you guys think I will be ok with the pioneer's as is and that there is not something drastically wrong with my setup? The pioneer's are 60wrms/260wpeak. Not sure what the crossovers look like yet on those.

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

I think you will be fine off the Alpine, just keep the gains low, and crossed over well should be good.

And off topic nice build man, makes me want to clean my car up and take some pics, cant wait until its finished //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

I think you will be fine off the Alpine, just keep the gains low, and crossed over well should be good.
And off topic nice build man, makes me want to clean my car up and take some pics, cant wait until its finished //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Hehe thanks... wait till I get the rest of it uploaded //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

I have the deck crossovers set to 80hz @ 12db/oct for front/rear and sub (Alpine-9887). And My PDX's gains on the front are like barely above the minimum setting.

Again these pioneer's are still temp... waiting till I can get some Macrom or Hertz components and install them nice.

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

Hehe thanks... wait till I get the rest of it uploaded //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
I have the deck crossovers set to 80hz @ 12db/oct for front/rear and sub (Alpine-9887). And My PDX's gains on the front are like barely above the minimum setting.

Again these pioneer's are still temp... waiting till I can get some Macrom or Hertz components and install them nice.

I hear ya, I cant wait to get my kicks glassed in two weeks with my ID oems and Blaupunkt VC 100s running active. A decent front stage has been well missed in my car for quite some time.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

I hear ya, I cant wait to get my kicks glassed in two weeks with my ID oems and Blaupunkt VC 100s running active. A decent front stage has been well missed in my car for quite some time.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

I've never had a descent front stage //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

This is the first car thats been worth the install //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif