Blown speaker..but how?

[AJ_Newkirk]

I've had 2x12" Celestion Alnico Gold's in my LSS for a while now. LOVE the sound of them especially in this amp. Went to play the amp and noticed that only 1 speaker was working Also the 1 or more of the power amp tubes was VERY noisy in the 30watt setting and I had to replace the whole set. Possibly related? I put the original speakers back in and replaced the tubes and the amp works as new.

The amp was subjected to some cold temperatures (~34F) the other night whike it was not being played. Could that possibly cause the speaker to fail? It wasn't cold when it was powered on.

I know defective speakers happen from time to time, but if this wasn't just a defective speaker then I would like to know what the possible causes for this are.

The other speaker is fine and I have already gotten an RMA to have the bad speaker replaced. However I do not want to get it replaced under the warranty if cold temps caused the failure...i'd rather just buy another and chalk it up to experience. Perhaps Celestion will be able to tell why the speaker failed once they look at it?

 

[Restless Rocks]

I've seen PA speakers come out of an ice cold truck and dissentigrate when powered right up cold and many others have voice coil rub untill they stabilized to room temp. Speakers have several very different materials (metals) combined which all have different thermal shrinkage characteristics. As for myself I never ever leave my guitar rig outside in either temp extremes especially cold weather. Circuit boards can shrink and actually break solder joints in certain amps. You also get condensation on your trannys that shows up later as rust.

 

[AJ_Newkirk]

I'd never leave an amp outside. The amp had been left in the club overnight and the next day I found out the heater "may not have been on for the whole night". It got to 34f that night outside which made me have concerns over the temperature. It's possible that the bad speaker wasn't working before this happened..since I don't stand right by the amp it would not have been obvious to me. I only noticed the speaker not working because of the noise coming from the amp due to a power amp tube going south. We have a *huge* stage and I just don't go by the amp very often while playing.

I explained all this to the guy at Celestion who provided me with an RMA number. I just wanted to make sure when I send it in they don't look at the speaker and say "oh hey this was damaged due to cold temps" and I am out shipping fees AND a new speaker.

I just called the guy back at Celestion and he says he highly doubts it was damaged due to temperature since it was in a club that was only without heat for a few hours at most.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I'd never leave an amp outside. The amp had been left in the club overnight and the next day I found out the heater "may not have been on for the whole night". It got to 34f that night outside which made me have concerns over the temperature. It's possible that the bad speaker wasn't working before this happened..since I don't stand right by the amp it would not have been obvious to me. I only noticed the speaker not working because of the noise coming from the amp due to a power amp tube going south. We have a *huge* stage and I just don't go by the amp very often while playing.

I explained all this to the guy at Celestion who provided me with an RMA number. I just wanted to make sure when I send it in they don't look at the speaker and say "oh hey this was damaged due to cold temps" and I am out shipping fees AND a new speaker.

I just called the guy back at Celestion and he says he highly doubts it was damaged due to temperature since it was in a club that was only without heat for a few hours at most.

If it only got to a +34F OUTSIDE then it was probably around 55F inside. Not cold enough to create any problems.

 

[cellardweller]

Hmm...interesting.

My **** resides in the basement, which of late usually is around 55-60F.
Could this negatively affect speaker response?

Should I allow the room temp to come up before powering things up?

 

[Buddy]

It really should'nt make that much of a difference .
Car audio speaker's are in extremely cold/hot environments , and even super cheapies last for years .
I have personally installed ev's in car's and had the same results .
The celestion's , should'nt have a problem either .
The only time there would be a problem is if the voice coil gap is very tight and if the speaker was dropped and/or the basket is misaligned .
That being said , I try to keep my amp from temp. extremes and give it some time to warm before cranking it up .

 

[JW123]

Ive left speaker cabs in horrible temp situations for years. I dont think one night in a club without heat would damage a speaker. Something else is going on.

 

[AJ_Newkirk]

Thanks to all who chimed in on this.

I'll get a replacement speaker sent to me in a couple of weeks which is good. The bad thing is..I am quickly finding out that I LOVE the sound of the Alnico Gold speakers, but i'm not that big a fan of the LSS itself with the stock speakers. Maybe I just got too used to the Golds to go back. I can't help but wonder what they would sound like in other amps.

Maybe it's time to look into getting a different type of amp.

 

[BertG]

Could be plain worn out.
I have replaced/ recoiled p.a. subs on a yearly basis.
But those babes get a premium work out.

 

[JimAnsell]

Ive left speaker cabs in horrible temp situations for years. I dont think one night in a club without heat would damage a speaker. Something else is going on.

+1.

i know after a gig, and a long night of drinking at the club after word, i've left everything (except the guitars of course) in the gig-mobile overnight in the coldest temps, and never had a problem.

 

[phyrexia]

I blew a 200w speaker with 150w worth of amp. Tell me how that happened. :shock:

Sometimes bunk speakers happen. I didn't realize it at first, but once I had my EV reconed (under warranty) I noticed that the speaker sounded different. I attributed this to a 'bunk speaker'.

If they covered it under warranty that probably means there was some rubbing or some flaw on the coil but no burn marks (which are the sign of a speaker blown due to too much power).