Speaker Crossover Rebuild

[Superman]

I have an old pair of Altec Lansing speakers. 3-way, with 10" woofers. Lately, I have been using them much more than in previous years, and it seems these speakers have developed an unbearable brightness. VERY obnoxiously BRIGHT. Enough to endanger my hearing. I wonder if some capacitors, or other components of the crossover circuit have gotten way out of spec.

So I guess that is my question. Do speaker crossovers get out of spec? Can this result in extreme brightness in sound? If so, I am tempted to get the soldering iron out.

I bought these speakers around 1983.

[mrybczyn]

highly unlikely that any solid state components fail. possibly inductor coils or fluid filled capacitors.

you could do some simple diagnosis with a scope, or try connecting a known good speaker. most likely it is the speaker drivers that failed. if so, best replace.

you can use a smartphone with an oscilloscope app for audio frequency stuff..

[Superman]

Capacitors from this era do fail. Routinely.

Are you suggesting the amplifier is the problem?

[RWebb]

how old?

examine the cone surrounds carefully - move them gently thru their entire range of motion

[Gogar]

Capacitors can start to leak with age; I doubt a coil could go 'bad', but I suppose it's possible.

Mr. Webb is onto something: If the surrounds of the woofer have deteriorated, the low end will suffer considerably, making the speakers seem 'more bright', even if they are actually just 'less bassy.'


If you can hook up a known good set of speakers or hook up the altecs to a known good stereo maybe you can eliminate or include the idea that the amp might be messed up.