Locating a blown speaker??

[Ethan]

I have an Ampeg 6x10 bass cab that has had one or more blown speakers in it for a while, and I'm finally going to replace them...problem is, I am not sure which one it is. What's the best way to locate a blown speaker in a cab like this? I get a kind of distorted, farty sound on lower notes, but it is not so horrible that you can't use the cab at all. It's good enough to get by, I just want it sounding like I know it should again.

[Jimbilly]

If it's the voice coil, you can often find the bad one by GENTLY pushing the cone in a little with your fingers (it pushes back out by itself) and feel the roughness of the voice coil rubbing, like metal on metal.

I was recently looking at a friends 3x10 cab that sounded good at low volumes, but when cranked up it sounded like crap, -but all the voice coils felt smooth. After some head scratching, I could see a faint, crooked line around each cone. Each cone had buckled from where the voice coil had tried to push the cone too far. The paper was sort of folded and broken in a jagged circle around the cone, about 1.5" in from the edge. So be aware of that possibility. Apparently that is not unheard of in speakers that have been pushed to maximum.

You may have to take them out one-by-one and run a signal through each, you can use a home stereo signal to do two at a time.

[Ethan]

Yeah I was thinking about disconnecting one at a time and playing thru the cab to see if I could narrow it down that way. I tried pushing on the cone a while ago with no luck, but I'll try it again.

[HSB0531]

Remove the grill and check for any physical damage, especially to the surround (outer edge of the cone).

If most speakers are blown you'd be better off replacing all of them.

[DaveH]

Crank it to the point it sounds crappy, and have a bud hold a pillow in front of each speaker (one at a time) while you play....this will usually tell on the culprit.

[Armitage]

Or use a florescent light... without any incandescent around... hit a clean low note, and you can usually see which one is reacting different.

[Ethan]

Well I finally took it to the speaker repair guy here in town yesterday and he told me that there is nothing wrong with my speakers. Additionally, I've had some work done on my ampeg head and I get that same broken sound through other cabinets too. I guess that's why none of these methods have worked for me!

[bubs_42]

Its the blown one...