Madisound Services

Speaker Repair Check List

What does Madisound need to know to help you replace a broken speaker?

1. What is broken?
   General description of the drivers that are damaged. The first thing to do is determine which driver or drivers are broken. If you identify a problem in one speaker, first switch the left and right speaker wires and see if the problem moves. If it does, then the problem is somewhere else in your system. If if doesn't, then you are in the right place. Most speakers have removable grill coverings, remove them if they come off easily (don't force it!) With some familiar music playing put your ear to each driver on the speaker and try to determine the source of the problem. It will be helpful if you can give us a general description of the driver, i.e. 'It is a cloth dome tweeter' or 'It is a foam surround, paper cone woofer.' The more information we have the better job we can do suggesting a replacement. If there are any numbers or letters on the back of the driver, write them down. Although we don't have much cross referencing info, sometimes we can recognize the model and provide you with a direct replacement.

2. What is the exact cutout hole size & outer flange size?
   Once you have an idea which driver is causing the problem, remove the screws that secure it to the cabinet and gently pull the driver out. You will want to keep track of which wire is positive and which is negative. Usually one of the terminals on the driver itself is marked with a 'plus sign' or a red dot, that one is positive. Your driver might be soldered to the wire, or you may have push on connectors, either way you may want to mark the wires coming out of the cabinet with some tape before removing it. The most important piece of information we need to know is the size and shape of the hole in the cabinet. If the flange of the driver is routed into the cabinet we also need to know the size of the routed area (you can just measure the outside dimensions of the driver you just removed).

3. What is the box alignment? Usually vented or sealed.
   If it is a woofer or open back midrange you wish to replace, we need to to know the size and type of enclosure the driver is in. Most woofers are either in a sealed or a ported cabinet.

4. Internal volume of cabinet
   [Only important for replacing woofers.] Measure the internal dimensions of the enclosure and the length and diameter of the port (if you have one).

5. Could it be the crossover?
   Well...it could. It is more rare for a crossover to fail than a driver, but it certainly does happen. If you just have a problem with one speaker you could switch a tweeter or woofer from one cabinet to the other. If the problem stays with the cabinet you could have a crossover problem. If the offending driver is still having problems in the other cabinet then that is the problem. Very often we can just sell you a driver and you can continue to use the crossover in your cabinet. Sometimes (especially in the case of tweeter replacement) we will recommend that you change the crossover when you change the driver.

Now you're ready to review our speaker replacement procedure.