Hi, I know there are a few HiFi buffs out there, and I need your help!
Got a pair of (now discontinued) TDL RTL2 floorstander speakers from around 1994/5.
The tweeter in one seems broken as it gives out a loud crackling noise when playing the turntable, CD, radio or tv,
I've contacted Lockwood Audio and Wilmslow Audio, who at first search seem to be the main options, but neither can offer direct replacements for my particular speaker bits.
Any other specialists that I could contact? Any info or thoughts gratefully received!
Thanks in advance,
Donald
Quote from: mr magnolia on August 12, 2015, 12:03:07 AMor thoughts gratefully received!
Hi Donald,
I guess you have tried TDL themselves ?
http://www.tdl-loudspeakers.co.uk/rtl2.htm (http://www.tdl-loudspeakers.co.uk/rtl2.htm)
quote
Contact Us
TDL Electronics
Gallery Court,
Hankey Place,
London SE1 4BB,
England
Email:
info@tdl-loudspeakers.co.ukTDL Electronics is a brand of Audio Partnership Plc
Registered Office:
Gallery Court, Hankey Place, London SE1 4BB, United Kingdom
Registered in England No. 2953313
If a 'restoration'/ 'reconstitute' project I have no help, sorry !
but at a listening level I'd be thinking of a wire cutter job and substitute an active system around a current sp/driver,
sharp intake of breath - 'gainclone' tech has come on leaps and bounds in recent years - with an active filter/equaliser to suit ?? (or even use the existing xover net ? )
PS Not sure if I qualifiy as a buff ?? !
Don't take this the wrong way, but have you tried swapping the feed to the speakers to confirm that the fault is in the speaker for sure and not in the amp? I'm not going to say why I know this is a possible thing! :-[
Malcolm
I think TDL doesn't function any more - that link doesn't go anywhere allowing direct contact info, which matches what someone else advised me. I'm afraid I don't understand the rest of your words though! :$ :-)
Zog - I've not actually tried that although I maybe will now, although I've assumed it's not an amp thing. I have the speakers wired so the tweeters and the bass are driven as 2 sets of speakers from the one amp (Arcam 6) so I'm assuming that the bass and treble cones would both be affected if the amp was giving any trouble - but I guess there may be an issue in the one of the 2 speaker drive lines?
Quote from: mr magnolia on August 12, 2015, 08:13:00 AM
I have the speakers wired so the tweeters and the bass are driven as 2 sets of speakers from the one amp
Are you saying you're driving both speakers off the same output ? Surely you have a left & a right output (maybe more granular) ? If so, I think he's meaning "swap these" - see (hear :P) if the fault moves ... If so,
may be the wires,
may be the specific output, but at least you'll know it's not the speakers :no:
Mike
I have the speakers wired from an amp that will drive 2 sets of speakers.
Speakers 1 are the woofers. Speakers 2 are the tweeters. I can switch speakers 2 on and off while speakers 1 carry on as default speakers.
This may or may not be what I vaguely remember as a form of bi-wiring!
It's all a bit vague - I've had the kit so long that when it gets moved about, the wires sort of naturally are shaped to show what goes where.
I've just now swapped the speaker 1 and 2 cables around at the terminations on each speaker cabinet (each double pair cable to each speaker remains unchanged, and ive not changed anything on the amp connectors...) to see if the fault then shows in the woofers.
It doesn't.
Head scratchingly though, the fault doesn't now show on the tweeter in question either...
It's beginning to feel a bit like wiring a reverse loop with interconnecting sidings!
I shall subject the children to loud dad music around tea time, when they will likely be getting up, and see if anything changes with time and different sources.
So ... you swapped the cables around and the fault has gone ?
Have you swapped them back again ? If so - still gone ? That would imply the tweeter connection was not making proper contact before ?
Hmm, guess I'll have to do that, although I had previously checked that connection were secure.
I was considering maybe going for the 'leave well alone' approach!
More hmm.
Now the fault exhibits when both woofers and tweeters are being driven.
Either on their own seem fine, and no matter which way around the cables attach.
It's just the one speaker, and its a stastic type sound that comes with increased volumes, and sounds a bit like the noise you get when the needle is on the run out groove at the end of a record.
Does that make me think speaker problem or amp problem? :confused2:
Have you swapped the speakers left and right?
Normally when biwiring speakers, both connections for one speaker at the amp end come from one speaker output (mainly because most amps only have one set of speaker outputs). I wonder if there is anything going on because you are using both sets at the same time to the same speakers. A second thought - have the crossovers been disabled, so that the tweeter and bass speakers are electrically separate?
Swapping speakers: not done but maybe up next! They are marked right and left though, so not sure if that's permissable?
'crossovers'? If that's the external bits that join up the connector pairs at the back office speaker then, yes, they are off. And have been for over 20 yrs. The problem will come when you ask me to put them back on!
The left and right marked on the speakers have no meaning in the audio world. As long as they are paired when bought, they aren't handed.
Thanks for that. Disappointed that the high flying hi-fi world allows left to be right. Even more like trains...
Anyway, I've swapped them and shown the fault moves with the speaker.
Woofer and tweeter sound fine alone but tweeter sounds borked when they play together. That seems to be the confirmed issue - so what's best to do now?
Find new tweeter? Refurb speakers? Don't want to buy new, really. Imagine getting that past the house finance committee!
Donald
Must be misunderstanding something ... the fault moves with the speaker ? So the other speaker has it now ??? Or it stays with the speaker ???
If it moves - not the speaker ... If it stays - you sound happy with them otherwise; I'd go for a refurb ...
Sounds possibly a problem with the output stage of the amplifier.
I had a similar problem on a power amp made by Quad. Replaced the output stage post amplifier and was broken down speaker matching components -age related
Um, the fault stays with the speaker and moves with it!
OK (I think ???) ... the fault stays with the unit regardless ... ? Refurb ...
Did you say that you had 2 sets of terminals on the rear of the speakers? If so, that would indicate no crossover unti. Do you have an external one or are you feeding all frequencies to the tweeter? They don't like it up'em, you know.
Hello again hi-fi buffs!
I've learnt what a crossover unit is and I've moved my speakers around so I can use my jack plugged shorter speaker cables. (previously bare wire connection)
Much easier to swap stuff about now!
Result: definitely the one speaker with a fuzzy problem; problem shows up only when bass and treble are driven together, and problem is only in the treble driver/tweeter.
So, how the heck to I tell if it's the driver or the crossover that's at fault?
Do I really just get my soldering iron out and swap the treble drivers between speakers?(gulp)
Thanks in advance!
Donald
PS - meant to say, the cross over unit is bi wired, and looks brand new - no burnt bits!
Sounds like you'll need to swap either the tweeters or the crossovers errr... over, whichever is easier...
Yes, I think I will need to get the soldering iron out to know what is what.
New tweeters available at £25 each.
No idea about new crossovers - its a whole new world to me!!
I've seen that I can get a whole pair of speakers locally for £70 off gumtree, although sadly they are rosewood, rather than black...
Hey
I've wielded the iron and swapped stuff about, and just as I had decided to take the crossover out to go wave it around at someone who knows about electronics, I noticed that a couple of bits of the pcb looked as though they had bridged slightly so I got my scalpel out and scraped away a bit and cleaned the thing up, which will have helped with any stray stuff leaking between the driver sections.
And hey, it's not quite perfect, but it's 90% better than it was!
The teenagers are heavy duty testing it at the minute so we will see if that continues...
Donald
Sounds like progress may be being made!
There have been no issues during a full afternoon of teenage speaker action...
Tonight we will test them through a family viewing of Ocean's 11 fed through the speakers.
The biggest life issue meantime has been transformed into a 'how do we tell mum that you (youngest daughter) have had your phone lifted while you were in that place you shouldn't really have been in?'
I'm currently encouraging mum to have a few drinks before returning from her Embra festival day out ...
:-/