Diagnosis/repair for Heresy III crackling?

[gkryhewy]

Hi- having a new issue with a speaker and seeking advice on whether to attempt repair myself or find a local servicer. I have a pair of Heresy IIIs that we have enjoyed for maybe 6 years now. Just today, one of the two speakers started crackling/popping sounds sporadically. I checked and reset all exterior connections and swapped the speaker wire with the one connecting to the opposite speaker, and the issue continues, so I think it’s something internal to the speaker. I removed the grill and noticed that I can trigger some crackling when I press around the edge of the woofer. I don’t currently have the right size hex driver to remove the woofer and not sure whether I should find a driver first and try to open it up myself, or find a local repair shop (never messed with a speaker before, but definitely want to repair this one). Appreciate any advice.

[parlophone1]

For starters, try to tighten the woofer if that part got loose connection with the speaker cabinet.

[Peter P.]

Sounds like (no pun intended!) it's out of warranty so you might as well poke around.

 

First I'd swap woofers between your speakers and see if it follows the woofer. While you've got the

cabinet open, check the spade connections o the back of the woofer and the end of the wire.

 

If you swap woofers and the crackling remains, then it's the crossover. You can remove it and

look for bad solder joints on the components.

 

Tip: label your cabinets and woofers with tape so you don't get confused when swapping things.

And label your + and - connections on the wires and the speaker, too.

 

Report back with your findings.

 

 

[Frzninvt]

Before you start blaming the speakers I would make sure your amplifier isn't the culprit.  If it is happening on both speakers my bet is the amplifier is having issues.  Try a different pair of speakers and see if the crackling issue remains first before hacking into the Heresy's.

 

[KT88]

2 hours ago, Frzninvt said:

Before you start blaming the speakers I would make sure your amplifier isn't the culprit.  If it is happening on both speakers my bet is the amplifier is having issues.  Try a different pair of speakers and see if the crackling issue remains first before hacking into the Heresy's.

 

 

 

@gkryhewy

already explained that he is a step further. I assume that nothing unforeseeable has happened that could damage the speaker? So no bangs or DC voltage from your amp (it is still running well well as you write). Normally a voice coil doesn't just break overnight, so I would think of a bad solder joint. But who knows. The tip to just replace (and mark) the woofer seems to be the best next step. And you should be able to do that yourself. I just don't know if the woofer connection is soldered or plugged in.

[gkryhewy]

I appreciate everyone’s responses! It turns out that it is the amplifier. One thing I realized I forgot to test was just swapping the L/R channels (should have been step number 1). When I did that, the issue went to the other speaker.

 

This is good news for me because the speaker is more valuable and less replaceable than the amp, so now I’m working on figuring out the issue with the amp.

[billybob]

7 minutes ago, gkryhewy said:

I appreciate everyone’s responses! It turns out that it is the amplifier. One thing I realized I forgot to test was just swapping the L/R channels (should have been step number 1). When I did that, the issue went to the other speaker.

 

This is good news for me because the speaker is more valuable and less replaceable than the amp, so now I’m working on figuring out the issue with the amp.

If you haven't used Deoxit or other contact cleaner on the controls, you likely should. Especially balance.

Welcome !

[gkryhewy]

1 minute ago, billybob said:

If you haven't used Deoxit or other contact cleaner on the controls, you likely should.

Have a friend who already recommended that, and a can on order. Cheers.

[KT88]

When you wrote in the first post I changed the speaker wire I thought you meant the amp channel as well. Good thing it's not the Heresey that's damaged.