No highs from my B&W 602

AVThreepwood

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Hi guys ive got a problem with 1 of my 602 s2 speakers....the lows work but not the highs...or they are very muted....ive tried different cables /switching sides/ different amps etc....something wrong with the tweeter maybe? (sorry i dont know much about this stuff..)
Dont really know what to do, if i should find a repair shop or contact B&W or try fix it myself?
if anyone has nay advice id appreciate it greatly.
dont know anyone in london who could have a look at them either
 
Start with the simple reason.

Are you single wiring the speakers?that is ,is there a brass bar(or a short piece of cable) in place between the lower pair of binding posts and the pair above?

like this

BindingPosts003.jpg




Is that connection tight and in good condition?


K.
 
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In the Photo provided by KUBBY, on each side of the speaker terminals you can see a bass/gold colored strip. Those are the Jumper Bars.

I've found that they can appear to be in place, but not making contact if the terminal nuts aren't screwed down. I also have Wharfedale, and one day notice that the highs were gone on one of my speakers, upon investigating, it turned out the Jumper was not making contact. Eventually I replaced the Jumpers with speaker wire terminated in Ring Terminals. I found this more reliable.

Typically if you blow a tweeter, it doesn't just stop, rather it starts to buzz or sound bad. So, definitely check the Jumper Bars and make sure they are making contact.

Steve/bluewizard
 
yea well i use little jumper cables (short speaker cable) and ive tried new ones...or switching with the other speakers jumpers but yea it does sound pretty much the same as if my tweeter has no contact...maybe its not a blown tweeter...my friend told me it might be a capacitor or internal wiring problem...i just dont know what i would be doing if i opened it up...or even how to open it up lol
 
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If its gone dull, you may have overheated it and the voice coil is now a burned up mess. A bit more common than you might think if you tend to like it loud!

Simple test for the tweeter: Unscrew it and with nothing else plugged in, touch a 9V battery across the terminals of the tweeter. It should crackle loudly. If not, the tweeter is blown. you could also swap the tweeter from your good speaker to test if it is the tweeter or the crossover. As the crossover is very simple, my money would be on the tweeter though. Proabably not that expensive to replace though, give B&W a call.
 
il try that tomorrow then thanks. can i use a 25% charge 9v? i think its all i have in the house.
also is this test safe?

and just to make sure...i completely take out the tweeter and touch the 9v across the terminals?
 
il try that tomorrow then thanks. can i use a 25% charge 9v? i think its all i have in the house.
also is this test safe?

and just to make sure...i completely take out the tweeter and touch the 9v across the terminals?

Yes, you can use a partially charged battery and yes its safe to do. Don't leave it connected for any length of time as the battery could become hot.
 
It is best to use some type of 1.5 volt batter (D, C, AA, AAA), you might get by with a 9v, but it is really about voltage and not how much energy is stored.

A direct 9V DC will result in a power of 13.5 volts.

Keep in mind the reason tweeters blow first is because they can't handle as much power as a woofer.

With a 1.5V battery, the resulting power is 0.375 watts, which is pretty safe, though I don't recommend you sustain the connection.

When you make and break contact with the battery, you should hear the tweeter click as the cone moves forward and pulls back.

Occasionally, certain speakers will have an internal fuse, though that is rare. Occasionally, a crossover component will go, but again, very rare. It is possible that the contact between the speakers and the wire has become loose or corroded, and you should see this when you remover the tweeter.

IMPORTANT, remember which wire goes where, for your speaker to sound right, the wires must be connected to the same terminals they came off of. Have a marking pen handy (Sharpy or similar) or some tape, and mark one wire and the matching terminal, so you can keep track..

Steve/bluewizard
 
hmm they magicly started working again....im scared to move anything in case it breaks again lol.....gonna need a perma fix soon....
maybe something inside got knocked about in the moving van
 
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damn stopped working again...*** is going on.....

EDIT: actually im not sure if it did start working before...and now i dont think the bass is working either...
im gonna post a vid up
 
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One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is whether you've taken them apart yet?

If not, the correct way is to remove the woofer, and reach up inside and the tweeter unscrews.

If you take the woofer out, maybe you can check all of the internal connections. Certainly worth a look :thumbsup:
 
working again..didnt even touch it...just turned up volume after it was muted while i was uploading video to youtube and suddenly it was working

def not a blown tweeter right? blown tweeters cant come back to life and work well sometimes right?

EDIT: and no i havent opened it up yet because i dont have the tools but i will as soon as i do.
 
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CHECK YOUR SPEAKER WIRE CONNECTIONS VERY CAREFULLY. Make sure they are properly seated and that they are making contact, and that there are no stray wires that might short things out.

I've had a situation where single stray stand of wire was sticking out, and normally it wasn't causing a problem, but as I used the amp and it heated up, the wire slowly bent down and shorted the speaker. Check on both the amp and speaker ends of the wire, and once again, assure that the jumpers are making contact.

Next, try swapping the speaker wires, that is, use the left amp to drive the right speaker. If the problem follows the speaker wire, the implies the wire or the amp is the problem. But, if you switch amp channels, and the same speaker has a problem, that implies that the problem is in the speaker.

Steve/bluewizard
 
its gotta be something to do with the connectors in the back...my old room mate janked the back connectors once...ripped the cable right out...forgot about that...lets hope its something simple as that....i think i made it work better just now by moving the cables about in the back...but i dono..il keep trying with new wires/jumpers and let u know tommorow...

btw im very thankful for everyones help
 

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