Is my RC-7 center channel blown?

[plissken99]

I guess it is, question is, whats blown in it? Lately in action scenes I've noticed a tweeting sound with bass. I assumed it was something in the room rattling, but when I investigated with a scene repeating, it's coming from the center channel. I can't tell which woofer it's coming from, sounds like both. Or could it be the tweeter(would explain the tweeting sound, har har)? When I push on the woofers they feel fine, and thats the only way I know to tell a blown speaker.

Something in it needs replacing, I just need to know what before I call the parts dept.

[CECAA850]

Are both drivers secure in the housing? Is the rubber foot still there? Can you lightly touch one of the drivers during the whistle and change the noise? Have you tried a different speaker in it's place to eliminate the receiver center channel signal as a cause? Have you tried holding the ports to be sure one of them isn't loose?

[Southern]

Hook it up in place of one of your main speakers and play music through it. If it sounds normal then it isn't your RC-7, it may be your A/V receiver. If you still have the "tweeting" sound then you can remove the crossover from the back and disconnect each speaker one at a time to help determine the source of the problem.

[plissken99]

I wasn't gonna mess with it tonight, but I figured would yeild better sleep. I tried a speaker from the living room in the center channels place, it didn't make the sound. So I hooked the RC7 back up, and in pushing on the woofers while the sound was happening I determined it was the right side woofer making the noise! Good news since a woofer is the cheapest thing to replace.

Thanks for the tips guys!

[CECAA850]

When you're looking for a replacement, you can use a driver from an RF-5 also. I believe they're the same part # (K-1083-SB).

[plissken99]

Well, it wasn't the woofer. Put it in, and the noise persists. I switched the other woofer with the old unblown one, the noise persists. Thats when I got mad, so I switched the tweeter from an RF-7 into the RC-7, the noise persists!!!???

I know for sure it's the center channel, just to be 100% sure, I hooked up an RF-7 in the center position, the noise went away. So does that mean the crossover is damaged? Is it even possible to remove that and replace it?

[CECAA850]

Can you switch wiring from one woofer to the other and see if the issue follows the wiring?

[Ironsave]

Are you sure there is not something loose in your cabinet?

[plissken99]

Not really confident enough to try and switch wiring from the crossover to the woofers. It could be something loose in the cabinet, but I don't think it is, as I had the speaker on it's side and upside down, and the sound didn't change.

Is there a way to access the crossover?

[CECAA850]

The crossover is on the back of the input wiring cup. All drivers and crossovers can be removed with a torx screwdriver.

[plissken99]

Ok, 1st off, when I push on one woofer, the sound diminishes. When I push on both woofers, the sound goes away. So it's both woofers being affected. Why it seemed to be only one woofer before is beyond me, maybe wishful thinking that I could just replace a woofer and be done with it.

I opened the back and looked at the crossover. Where the wires come from the woofers and tweeters, it's soldered. There are 4 wires not soldered, that can be reversed. But I can't see what wires they are, as they aren't connected to the others in any way. Besides since the sound comes from both woofers, it would be pointless.

So it's gotta be the crossover. I'll call Klipsch tomorrow and see if I can order one... hopefully all the wires come soldered on it already.

[CECAA850]

There should be spade connectors at each driver that can be disconnected without soldering.

[kelA]

Are you running the RC7 full range or large setting in your receiver? What is your receiver crossover set at for the center channel?

[plissken99]

The crossover is set at 80z, and I run the center as a large speaker(reciever recommended that).

[Ironsave]

I wonder if what you are hearing is just distortion.

I would try running as small; Low frequencies (that cause distortion) will be filtered out and goto the sub.

[plissken99]

Well I'll be dipped in dogshit! lol

Set the center speaker to small in the recievers settings, and no more distortion. This is a new reciever, so I guess it was indeed overdriving the channel. You could think the RC7 would be large enough to be considered large, but I'm just happy to be done with this.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I should have thought of something like that, but with my old reciever that drove the speaker for years I had it set to large, so I didn't think anything of it.

[Ironsave]

I have my center (A KV-4; 2 8" woofers) set to small. When set to larger, it gets everything down to 20hz.

Since it is rated only down to 60 hz, the extral lower frequencies (that it can not handle) just cause distortion.....

I believe your center channel has a similar rating on the low frequencies . (~50-60 HZ).

Sorry you had to buy new woofers...... []

But.... You are welcome.... That's what we are here for!

Good Luck.....

[plissken99]

Well I only bought one woofer, trying to get Klipsch to email me the return info, so I'll only be out the return shipping. Actually I'm considering keeping it, one of the my RS-7 woofers got dented somewhere along the line, and they accidentally sent me an RS-7 woofer. I don't think it effects the sound, it would just be to satiate my OCD.

[Ironsave]

Nothing wrong with a bit of OCD when it comes to gear. []

(I would probably keep it as well).

[CECAA850]

You may have cut off the frequencies that caused the issue, but typically a driver will bottom out if it's getting too low a signal. You described the issue as "tweeting" as I recall. I wouldn't think that a driver would tweet if it was being overdriven. More like THUNK THUNK THUNK.