barcade Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Im new here, but this looks like a great community, thanks in advance for helping me out. The first time I heard the buzz was about two weeks after I bought them in 1994. I returned them for repair to the store at that time. I didnt hear the buzz again until 2016, it was only in the lower woofer of one speaker. I was able to find replacement OEM speakers and I bought two at that time. I replaced the buzzing woofer and I was up and rocking again. However... tonight I heard it again and my heart sank.. same speaker, same buzz (Especially during Hammond B3 parts for some reason). Im wondering if it could be the crossover? I recently upgraded from my Yamaha receiver circa 1994 to a Denon just about four months ago, so I don't think it is amp related. Should I try to repair or replace the crossover? Im leery of using my only other good spare because I think it may happen again. If I replace the crossover, are there any recommendations? Thanks again, Barcade 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 I've owned my 5.5's since new as well. In fact, listening to them right now. Haven't ever had driver issues though. The woofer is the K-1023-K. Some of the 5.5 cabinets had rear panels that came loose. Are you sure it's the driver or could it be the cabinet? A loose cabinet panel can cause buzzing as well. You can test the driver by removing and it ohm testing it as well as physically, e.g. gently, moving the driver up and down to see if you feel any scratchy or limited movement. If the physical test and ohm check passes I would check the cabinet. As to the crossover, maybe. Others here can help you with that. Do you push them hard? I have over the years with no issues. Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barcade Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 I can check again, but replacing the driver fixed it last time this happened, and it is definitely only coming from one of the four drivers. Ill remove the speaker as you suggested and throw it on the ohm meter. I do push them hard at times, one of the reasons I love these speakers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Odd that it is the same driver though. As I said before, hopefully someone with more experience in crossover diagnosis can help you determine if that's what's causing the failure. Good luck! I'm the same way with them. I'm so accustomed to their sound after 20+ years I don't know that I could ever sell them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 you have plastic cones and a plastic dust caps! all plastics incorporate plasticizers to make them flexible and all plastics will over time sweat some of that out of the solids and that is why adhesives and plastics have such a hard time with each other. your speakers are not new and have sweated out some plasticizer by now. So check the adhesive bond between your dust cap and the cone as that may well be where your noise is coming from. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 10 minutes ago, moray james said: you have plastic cones and a plastic dust caps! all plastics incorporate plasticizers to make them flexible and all plastics will over time sweat some of that out of the solids and that is why adhesives and plastics have such a hard time with each other. your speakers are not new and have sweated out some plasticizer by now. So check the adhesive bond between your dust cap and the cone as that may well be where your noise is coming from. Good info. Well, now I know what to watch out for if I develop the same problem. Or, sport for some RF-7 III's to replace that bad driver.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtr20 Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 I've had something similar happen to my klf30 woofer. It ended up being the screen on the vent on the magnet (behind the woofer). For the back of it, remove the woofer, hold the woofer facing to the floor (magnet up), and shake it up and down. If the screen fell off, it will make noise bouncing off of the plastic dust cap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maz4bz Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Thankfully my KG woofers are still going strong. KG 5.5's are huge boxes with zero bracing built down to a price with known baffle glue problems that results in rattles. My KG 5.5's definitely benefited from some bracing. Perhaps yours might have a rattle eminating from the box that some treatment might help? Having said that I've also had some nice high end celestion subwoofers develop a nasty rattle from the dust caps gradually letting go. Carefully removing these and then reseating with hot glue fixed the rattle and they are still going strong 20 years later. More recently I repaired a terminally rattling Alpine SWR-1540. $10 in glue and some time cleaning and setting up and she plays flat down to 13hz pushed to the limiters on a crown xls-2500 without a murmur. Worst case scenario you might try a fix yourself or professionally before they go in the trash? Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barcade Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 So I pulled the offending woofer and it is defiantly the woofer that is buzzing. When i gently push the cone in I can hear scraping sounds. Putting it on the ohm meter reveals 7.1 ohms. Also I was incorrect, looking at my notes, it appears last time I replaced the upper woofer for buzzing, this time its the lower (on the same cabinet) While I had it open, I checked the cabinet for any loose / buzzing along the back and it seems solid. I also checked that the metal screen was still attached inside the center magnet hole of the woofer and it was. I dont know why OEM woofers went bad in the same way within a year or so, and like I said I have a different amp now, so Im kinda thinking the crossover may be causing it? Although when I talked to Bob Crites on the phone he didnt think it was likely, but I ordered a crossover rebuild kit anyway and a pair of replacement / upgraded tweeter diaphragms... has anyone else had experience with these? Seemed like a reasonable price so why not. Anyway once I rebuild the crossovers, ill replace the buzzing woofer with my spare one and report back. Any chance I could repairing two buzzing woofers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maz4bz Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Hi Barcade. I have reported on my experience of the Crites Ti in my KG 5.5 thread linked in my last post here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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