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Smoking speaker

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MikeDC

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Smoking speaker

PostMon Mar 30, 2020 3:16 pm

I experienced a strange problem with my audio system today. I was playing the organ using expernal powered speakers and suddenly the speakers stopped and there was a high-pitched whistle coming from the speakers although it seemed to be moving around to different ones. The I noticed smoke coming from one of the speakers (looked like it was a tweeter).

Any thoughts on what might be going on here? Even if the one speaker developed a short and burned out, why would all the speakers stop?

Thanks
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Grant_Youngman

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Re: Smoking speaker

PostMon Mar 30, 2020 5:06 pm

Almost all electronics contains a reservoir of smoke — which is released when there is a major failure :mrgreen:

Usually, however, devices don't simply release psychosomatic smoke, unless there's something common connecting them. Perhaps something shorted or hit the input rail of one speaker with a significant overvoltage condition (like a voltage regulator failure) that impacted the audio interface generally ..
Grant
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engrssc

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Re: Smoking speaker

PostMon Mar 30, 2020 5:19 pm

Sounds as if there was an oscillation. That is somehow there was a path from the amplifier input to the amplifier's output. Aside from that, depending on the wiring, it could happen that a shield (or common) has become disconnected. Rarely, but possible, an (amplifier's) internal component has become defective. There many other causes, but those are the most common. Most likely, which ever device was "smoking" has a degree of damage. Speakers generally, in those cases, are not repairable.

Rgds,
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MikeDC

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Re: Smoking speaker

PostMon Mar 30, 2020 6:32 pm

Is there anything in the path between the output of the sound interface and the input to the amp/speaker (these are powered monitors) that could have caused this?

Thanks.

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