Did I just kill my speaker? :(

McLeanAB

McLeanAB

Active member
Hey all,

Wiring up some newly acquired speakers in a 4x12 and as I was sliding on the connector to the terminal, it bent a little and popped out the little wire connected directly to the speaker cone... I carefully re-inserted it into the hole that existed, but there's no sound...

Did I kill my speaker? Is this an easy repair?

Any and all thoughts... ugh... it's not supposed to be a 3x12... :)
 

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You didn't kill the speaker. It should be able to be fixed, but probably not the easiest DIY/at home repair.

Essentially one of the leads from the voice coil wire that connects to the terminal was pulled out. Assuming the coil wire didn't break, you would need to solder it back together. The tricky part would be getting to everything because it's usually under the dust cap and covered with goop. Likely the cone would get messed up.

 
Thanks for that...

So, can I just leave the 'broken' speaker in the wiring and let the other three sound off? Or is there danger of something not working correctly if that little wire is disconnected? Just curious...

Thanks!
 
There is the danger of a large ohms mismatch between the amp and the cab. With the voice coil being disconnected it's not contributing to the total impedance; same as if you removed the speaker entirely.

For instance if you had 4-16 ohms speakers, in typical wiring it'd be 16 ohms total. Remove one of those speakers you'll end up with 24 ohms total. Not good for a tube amp at all. That load probably wouldn't work out well for a SS amp either.

You're best bet so the cab is at least useable for now would be to unhook another speaker so only 2 are connected. But leave the disconnected speakers mounted in the cab so you don't have 2 open holes on the baffle. It's up to you which orientation you want the 2 connected speakers to be in. Personally I'd hook up the diagonal ones.

What is the ohms of the individual speakers? That would determine if you need to wire the 2 connected speakers in series or parallel.

Side note. You could remove the 2 speakers you're disconnecting to see how it sounded. Create a mock tuned cab. It'll likely sound like crap, but you never know until you try. Worse case scenario you mount them back in.
 
I figured... hooked it up as a 3x12 and it sounds killer, but I'm running an ISP Stealth... think I'll make it a 2x12 with 4 speakers until I can figure something out...

Thanks for all the info!
 
Google "speaker repair" in you local area, you might find someone locally that can fix it fairly easily and quickly.
 
I did that to a scumback years ago and Jim told me it’d have to be rebuilt. Cost was almost as much as a new one, so I gave it away and bought a Celestion.
 
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