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7050B distortion issues

repoman, muokattu 8 Vuodet sitten.

7050B distortion issues

Youngling Viestejä: 3 Liittymispäivä: 12.4.2015 Viimeisimmät viestit
I have a distortion issue with my 7050B subwoofer. It is more pronounced with lower volume levels, but audible even when I turn the volume up. To put a long story short it sort of sounds like something is loose and resonates nastily with the cone. Slightly metallic distortion.

Since the speaker is out of warranty and second hand, I took the element out to visually verify it. I have to give it to Genelec, the speaker element is easy to take out, takes about two minutes only. After taking the grill out I also gently put my fingers on top of the cone while the speaker was giving its nasty resonations, and I immediately heard that the nasty distortion almost died entirely.

The speaker didn't reveal anything from the visual inspection. Everything looks just fine to my amateur eyes, nothing has been visibly fractured in the cone or the glueing. Cone moves without issues, as far as I can tell. And given that the speaker sounds better the more I crank the volume up, I suppose it isn't completely gone yet. The only thing loose inside the speaker, looking from the element hole, was the bigger abiko-type of connector to the speaker element. But, that is not the issue as I easily fixed it so that it sits more tight now. Which leaves me to wonder what next?

Could some of the forum 7050B owners comment? A good test signal is e.g. Kent, Vapen & Ammunition, track 5: Hur jag fick dig att älska mig. My speaker resonates nastily from pretty much the beginning of the song, when the bass track starts.
repoman, muokattu 8 Vuodet sitten.

Re: 7050B distortion issues

Youngling Viestejä: 3 Liittymispäivä: 12.4.2015 Viimeisimmät viestit
Further inspection reveals the distortion comes from within the speaker element. I held it in my hand from the magnet while letting it play in free field, noise is still there. Then I powered it off and gently moved the cone with my right hand while holding my ear next to the magnet. I can hear something rubbing just a little, so I suppose it is time to haul my ass to somewhere where I can verify a properly working 7050B. I suppose there are at least some shops around in Tampere Finland where they can be test-listened.

If any Genelec rep happens to read this, replacement element pricing can be sent to my email, hahah..
ilkka-rissanen, muokattu 8 Vuodet sitten.

Re: 7050B distortion issues

Yoda Viestejä: 2564 Liittymispäivä: 23.3.2009 Viimeisimmät viestit
Hi,

Based on your fault description, it looks like there is something wrong with the woofer driver, possibly some foreign material in the air gap which then makes noise when the voice coil is moving. Proper solution to the problem is to replace the woofer driver with a new one. Please contact our service department at service(at)genelec.com for a price quote. The woofer can be replaced by yourself.
repoman, muokattu 8 Vuodet sitten.

Re: 7050B distortion issues

Youngling Viestejä: 3 Liittymispäivä: 12.4.2015 Viimeisimmät viestit
Thanks Ilkka, you really seem to know what you are talking about.

Given your tip about foreign material, I decided to give that voice coil gap a good amount of 8-bar pressurised air. I couldn't give it more pressure than that since my el-cheapo compressor isn't capable of better. But that was enough.

I did not see anything come out of the gap or anything like that, but after blowing the air for a good while I could no longer hear the rubbing when I pushed the cone, and after installation back to the subwoofer frame, the speaker plays completely cleanly. A true night-and-day difference to previous.

The positive thing is of course that my 7050B sounds awesome now. On the negative side, I feel like an idiot for already buying that replacement speaker element.. But, errare humanum est.

It could be that in case the foreign material in the voice coil gap was or is magnetic, then it might have just moved instead of coming out with the air. And in that case it could move back to where it rubs, who knows. So I might still need the speaker which I bought.

So my advice to fellow Genelec owners: if you have this sort of issues and you are out of warranty, take a look at that bass speaker element. If the speaker looks to be in good condition and the voice coil gap is visible and accessible like in the 7050B speaker, you don't lose anything by lifting the cone a little and giving that gap some air from a compressor. With a little luck whatever there is, may just come out or move enough.
ilkka-rissanen, muokattu 8 Vuodet sitten.

Re: 7050B distortion issues

Yoda Viestejä: 2564 Liittymispäivä: 23.3.2009 Viimeisimmät viestit
Hi,

I am glad you were able to fix it by yourself. But as you said, that piece of foreign material most probably just moved a bit, but didn't completely come out of the gap. It may stay like that but there is a possibility that the coil starts rubbing again after some time. That's why I didn't suggest this method as the proper and final solution earlier.