BK Monolith dead!

watermanpc

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Hi guys, I think I need some help here...

Last night, while watching a movie, my LOVED Monolith started making a REALLY loud and scary popping sound, like if a couple of metal pieces were loose and crashing together everytime there were a bass content :(

It worked perfect first 10 minutes, as always, and suddenly in a bass scene, this thing started. No mater how much I turn down the volume, it seems to happen even then.

I inmediately stoppped the movie and turned off all the system to inspect the Monolith, and after testing the movement of the driver this is what I found:



:facepalm:...As you can see, even at very subtle movement of the driver, there is an extremely unpleasant attrition sound which obviously should not be happening...anyway, Im not sure what exactly the problem might be but Im sure you guys can tell me what is it...

I have had my monolith for 7 years now and it has always worked amazing...the thing is I only use it for watching 1 movie per day (or even less) ONLY 3-4 month a year because I have my set up in a vacations house so in all this time, my Mono as been used very little, like 1-2 years equivalent.


Also, I remember that my unit was already equipped with the subsonic filter and has the cardboard reflex port...so I cant understand WHY has this happened????, how is possible???...I remember people having the "popping" sound with old and unfiltered Monoliths but having mine filtered I cant understand how can this problem happen?¿?¿?...I have never driven my mono out of limits (rather the opposite), I have it filtered with my DSP1124 only to remove the peaks, at -7db in my Denon, at 12 o'clock aprox in its power dial and use to watch movies at -20 to -15db max calibrated at 75db so not going crazy here :(

Everything else seems to work perfectly fine, damn!!, yesterday it worked amazing as always and now this:(...

btw, the amp is perfect and I use to turn it off after using it, so I'm pretty sure that the problem is in the driver.

Well, that's all I guess...hope you guys can help me to understand what is happening and what to do now...

Many thanks all!!
 
It's broke, probably needs a new driver. As Jase says Tom at BK will advise.

Your video sounds like listening to your parents having sex, when they are trying to be quiet. :eek:
 
Ok, I will...any idea what the problem is technically speaking??...I'm pretty sure the driver is dead but would like to know what is broken...


Many thanks for your replies!!
 
Ok, I will...any idea what the problem is technically speaking??...I'm pretty sure the driver is dead but would like to know what is broken...


Many thanks for your replies!!

Could be the driver or surround starting to perish or the voice coil on the rear of the driver that's buggered. We'd be guessing whereas Tom would likely know what it is.
 
similar happened to mine - bought a new driver from BK for approx £100
getting the old driver out was the hardest part (glue was hard set)
 
similar happened to mine - bought a new driver from BK for approx £100
getting the old driver out was the hardest part (glue was hard set)

Wave a hairdrier or heat gun around the perimeter to loosen the bond. That was the advice Tom at BK gave me when removing the amp.
 
Thanks guys!!

Damn!!, I didn't expected this from this sub :(...I have always take A LOT of care of it...I have already contacted with BK, let's see what the problem is. I would like to know why this happened and if its been an "instant" dead or I have been having some kind of degradation since long ago...

Btw, @Dolus and @HSC

exactly what happened to yours??, have you had the problem since the first time?? and what was the proccess to fix it...thanks a lot!
 
Also, @HSC

What glue are you talking about?? there shouldnt be any glue in the driver right??:eek:

I think there is a rubber around to seal the cabinet but "glue"???:confused:
 
Thanks guys!!

Btw, @Dolus and @HSC

exactly what happened to yours??, have you had the problem since the first time?? and what was the proccess to fix it...thanks a lot!

Mine was the on/off switch, it was permanently on. It did not stop me using it just use the wall switch instead, but I decided to get it fixed.

What glue are you talking about?? there shouldnt be any glue in the driver right??:eek:

I think there is a rubber around to seal the cabinet but "glue"???:confused:
There is a gasket under the driver and amp and gets gnarly with pressure and age. Toms remedy as already mentioned was use a heat gun or hairdrier to loosen the bond.
 
Ok, I understand, many thanks!!

Btw...I contacted Tom, and he asked my message very soon couple of days ago telling me that the driver was damaged for sure...I inmediately answered again, but I haven't had a reply since then, which I find weird...even sended another contact form with my message just in case something went wrong with the mail ...is there any vacation days in UK right now or something??
 
We get so used of dealing with online retailers that tend to reply same day or instantly we expect it from everyone. I have found that with manufacturers it is slightly more casual. I found I have to ask again or send a reminder. The likes of Amazon for example seem to employ an army of people to deal with the thousands of customers requests.

The next public holiday is the last Monday in August. We are coming up to the holiday season but that is usually centered around August when traditionally firms would close for two weeks but then shops used to close at 5:30 - 6:00PM and not open on Sundays but look how that has all changed.
 
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Ok, many thanks mate...I guess I will have to wait and see if he can give me an answer...by the way, he offered me a re-coning (didnt talked about prices and such) but not sure if this is a good idea and how reliable it is...what do you think??

thanks again!!
 
I'd wait and check on the repair/reconing cost and repair warranty status...
 
Ok, many thanks mate...I guess I will have to wait and see if he can give me an answer...by the way, he offered me a re-coning (didnt talked about prices and such) but not sure if this is a good idea and how reliable it is...what do you think??

thanks again!!
I assume that from your video Tom knows what the problem is and re-coning will fix it. Likely to be cheaper than a new driver. Re-coning is not a repair to the existing cone but the old cone being removed and a new one being fitted.
 
thanks for your reply mate!!

Tom contacted me again, and asked me to send them my driver (so they can assess what happened) and they will send me a new one...also gave me instructions on how to disassemble the whole thing.

Sadly, looks like I have to dismount also the amp plate (I though I could only dismount the driver but seems like its not possible with the amp fitted??) with an air dryer or something like that...I guess its safe to hot the amp/driver like that right?.

What I dont know is how much will shipping cost from Spain to U.K :p.

I will keep you informed when I have the thing done :)
 
From experience taking something to the post office and finding out how much it will cost to send is the easy part. The hard part is finding something suitable to put it in and packaging it all up. You will need something sturdy as the driver weighs a ton.

Out of curiosity how much is a new driver going to cost?
 
Hi again!!

Sorry for the delay in my response but believe it or not, I still not having solved all this issue...

After a couple of days, I dissassemble the driver from the cabinet as well as the amp plate...everything went well although I had to use an air dryer to remove both things...I shipped the driver to BK, but had a serious issue with the shipping due to a mistake in the way several companies transfer data so basically, due to a problem oblivious to me, the shipping took about 16 days!!!!!:mad: to be done...thanks to Tom, who had to call to the company DPD, everything could be solved. The driver, although I tried to protect it as well as possible, arrived broken according to Tom :facepalm: but he could manage to see that it wasnt burned and that the coil was in good shape (he didnt told me the reason for the damage).

After a few more days he send me a new speaker which arrived a few days ago...the problem I have now is that seems like Tom forgot to include some gasket tape with the driver for the amp and speaker and now I cant assemble the speaker without it. I have tried to contact Tom for 4 days now, but he doesnt answer my mails?¿?¿?¿?:(...

I have searched a gasket tape for the speaker but I cant find anything like the one they use and I know its a very important thing...dont want to use anything inadequate and the tape I could find doesnt seems to be the same kind nor thickness so basically Im stuck now with the driver in the box and without being able to use the monolith for more than 1,5 months now :mad:...

Im really satisfied with the BK support, and particularly with Tom, but I want to end all this after so many time, Im really desperate so I wonder if you could tell me what is the tape they use and where to buy some if possible.

Many thanks for your help guys!!
 
BK are shut down for their annual 2 week break - reopening Monday 7th August...

Jim
 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :facepalm:
 
I cant believe it :censored: ...please, any info on what kind of tape are they using and where can I find it???please!!!
 
When I sent my amp in for repair I never received a gasket back. I never even considered it and just put the amp back in and screwed it down. Mind you I never tried to remove the gasket material from either the amp or cabinet. It seems that no one sells actual speaker gaskets in the UK but there is an abundance of sellers in the US.

There are no special properties with the gasket tape it is used to make an airtight seal so there is no chuffing noise anything will do. Gasket tape is easy to buy, though not much choice.
Monacor 12.2240 Speaker Foam Sealing Tape (Pack of 5): Amazon.co.uk: Musical Instruments
Monacor MDM-20 Speaker foam sealing gasket tape
Speaker Foam Sealing Tape, 5x 150cm - UNBRANDED | CPC
Gaskets, Dedshete, Wadding and Acoustic Foam for loudspeaker cabinets.
Gasket Sealing Strip

I was looking to replace a knackered gasket on a tweeter and realised I had some foam draught excluder that might work but ended up cutting one from some packing foam I had.
 
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Thanks a lot for your help buddy!! really appreciated!!

I guess I will buy anything suitable for this then...anyway, was Tom who told me he would make sure to include some tape in the speaker box but I guess he just forgot about it...I want to make sure everything is well sealed so I will have to investigate a bit to find the better tape for this.

Thanks for the links also, look interesting, I will probably make an order of one of those.

Thanks a lot mate!!
 
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Thinking about it are you sure you need a separate gasket for the driver. If it had a separate gasket then when you removed the driver you should still have it.

Looking at various images of subwoofer drivers none come with a separate gasket but they all have a ring of soft rubber material on the front. (See image - On the far left is the part I am talking about). Also looking at subwoofer kits where they show all the components contained in the kit there are no separate gaskets.

x136CSBW3V3-T_Exploded.jpeg


As for the amp if you did not clean of whatever was on there just put it back in as I mentioned earlier. If you replace the driver and amp and there are no problems then job done.
 

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