Muffled Woofer Output problem

[Ave Bona Cornwall]

Anyone know what might be the problem with woofers that sound muffled? They do output sound, but not like they should and therefore any music with bass sounds horrible.

The problem is happening in all four woofers (2 per speaker) in my CF2s. The horns sound fine. They have rested for a couple years and I didn't know of any problems before I put them away, but hooked them up and sound like crap. Inside, everything looks fine, and no, it isn't because they are wired out of phase; I tried them in phase and out of phase, and they sound the same.

I figure someone here must have come across this before. Do I have a damaged voice coil (or would that be NO sound output)? Is it something that can be fixed?

Thanks.

[McMiRA]

Are both cones freely moving? If you lightly push on them at the center of the speaker( fingers around the dust cap) can you feel any resistance( trash). Does it do the same off another amp or source? Next step then would be to check the woofers with a meter and see if they all match. After that my next guess would be caps in the crossovers failing due to age. Heck could something have made a home inside the box? I once had a customer who kept telling me their subs were rattling in their hatch back. It wasn't until after I pulled a woofer out I found the issue. Someone stuffed their Popeyes trash down in the port and it made its way into the box.

[Ave Bona Cornwall]

Thanks. The cones do move freely with gentle pressure, and I am fairly sure nothing made its way into the speakers. They were unhooked and stored in my finished basement right next to my hooked up cornwalls, and I opened them up to look and they are clean inside.

I guess I need to check all the contacts. Would the caps in the crossovers affect the woofers and not the tweeters?

[CECAA850]

Have you tapped the cabinets to make sure the panels aren't loose and resonating ?

[mark1101]

The fact that suddenly both are doing the same thing suggests maybe something other than the speakers. What else changed? have you checked upstream connections and or settings on the equipment?

[Ave Bona Cornwall]

Have you tapped the cabinets to make sure the panels aren't loose and resonating ?

Yes, Cabs are definitely in good shape. They aren't the cause.

The fact that suddenly both are doing the same thing suggests maybe something other than the speakers. What else changed? have you checked upstream connections and or settings on the equipment?

Same receiver with no settings changed. I moved the receiver and the speakers together out of my home theater into the living room (replaced the receiver with a marantz pre/pro in the home theater).

Thank you both for your suggestions. I need all the help I can get figuring this out!

Edited January 10, 2014 by Ave Bona Cornwall

[CECAA850]

You're certain you haven't accidentally switched polarity on one speaker? It'll kill the bass.

[JBryan]

Definitely check the connections and if all is well with the wires and xovers, I'd suggest that you play music through them (and the rest of the gear - you didn't say if anything else has 'sat' around unused for a while). I've had speaks that took hours, even days to fully break in after sitting idle for a few years. Just put some music on and walk away for a few hours and see if there's any improvement. I use Gainclone amps with bass bins and usually leave them on 24/7 but whenever I do turn them off for vacations, storms and such, it takes about 2-3 hours until the bass bins lose that 'wooly', thick sound.

Also, you say you moved into another room and you may be dealing with null points so feel free to back the Epics up against the wall and re-position them. If the room is a part of the problem, then it might help to listen to a single speak to hear if there's any improvement as the woofers may be canceling each other out.

[mark1101]

So you unhooked cornwalls and hooked up the CF-2s...........and moved everything from the basement to the livingroom? Then you replaced a receiver with a Marantz Pre/pro?

I'm a little confused but it sounds like you changed a whole bunch of things.

How muffled are the woofers? Is this a major problem where something sounds like it is definitely mechanically wrong? Or, is it just lousy sound from what you had before? I am trying to decide if something is broken or if due to the changes it just doesn't sound as good.

[Ave Bona Cornwall]

Thanks to everyone, especially sethwade who was the first to pm me with the suggestion to clean connections.

The problem turned out to be that they sat too long without use, and, like batteries inside unused things, the connections were slightly tarnished.

After scrubbing the internal contacts where the wires connect to the woofers, they sound MUCH better. Perhaps if I had just let them play for several hours, that may have fixed it as well.

They are as good as new now... I never would have guessed letting them sit would make them sound so bad.

Again, THANK YOU to everyone who chimed in. I really appreciate the help.

[wuzzzer]

With the last few pairs of speakers I've purchased the first thing I did was remove the woofer(s) and disconnected and reconnected the speaker input wires to each driver to make sure there was a good connection to each one.

[mark1101]

^{Any time I have to touch a woofer I solder the connections on it. Never need to touch again.}