# Scratchy Speaker



## Wattser93 (Mar 12, 2010)

Here's the equipment:

- Kenwood KDC-X693
- Arc Audio FD2200
- Helix E62C running passive
- Alpine MRP-M350
- 12" Type R in 2.5 @ 32Hz

Here's this issue. One of my side speakers buzzes a bit, like a small scratchy noise that is only audible at certain frequencies. Regardless of whether it's the iPhone, CD, AM, or FM playing, certain songs have scratchy noises that most often occur on vocals. If I have it turned up louder, the noise is louder, but the rest of the SQ doesn't suffer. I can listen to an entire song and not notice it once, and everything else is still crystal clear. The song will sound perfect, and then when a specific frequency plays, it'll sound scratchy. If it's a reoccurring line in a song, it'll sound the same, every time, at the same frequency. 

I've checked the speaker terminals at the amp with the DMM, both reading at about 4.8Ω at the amp, within 0.1Ω of each other (I figured 4Ω comps would read at about 3.2Ω or so, but they were at 4.8Ω oddly enough). I've also ran some frequency sweeps with an iPhone app, and they play full range frequencies fine, clean from 80Hz (my crossover point) to 20kHz. I only notice the noise on music, single frequency tones don't cause any noises.

I'm curious if anybody here has any ideas? I don't know if one of the speakers is blown, one of the voice coil is misaligned, or if one of the tweets blew.


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## trumpet (Nov 14, 2010)

Is this a new speaker?


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## Wattser93 (Mar 12, 2010)

trumpet said:


> Is this a new speaker?


Good question. About 2 months old. I would guess I've put about 40 hours of play time on them, about 38 hours at moderate volume, and 2 hours of pretty hard play time. The first 20 hours or so were at very reasonable volumes. I didn't play them for 2 hours hard in a row, but about once a week my iPod will shuffle to something that I crank it on, so about once a week, they'd get about 5 minutes of hard play time, not even pushed into a soft clip though, still clean power. They got louder before the amp starts clicking than I can tolerate listening to for any period of time.

My music tastes consist of KoRn, Rage Against the Machine, The Who, Sublime, Between the Buried and Me, and other similar artists. Pretty varied music, by far Between the Buried and Me is the most punishing on the mids. There's 12 minute songs that torture the mids, so I've always been careful to back down the volume 2 or 3 clicks when listening to anything with extended abuse like BTBaM.

HPF varies between 80Hz 12db and 70Hz 18db, I haven't made my final decision yet, but no 40Hz 24db slopes on 250RMS or anything like that.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)




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## Wattser93 (Mar 12, 2010)

Bump. 

I'm looking for any ideas before I take them to the shop and see what he can do for me.


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

im having the same issue. im thinkning its because theyre new speakers. installed within a week ago. ill give tjhem time to break in before i start to worry.

CC


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## trumpet (Nov 14, 2010)

I've beaten on many new speakers and not had any problems. Scratching sounds aren't something that will go away with break-in. I asked if they were new speakers because I wanted to know if you had just installed them. If the basket is seated on an uneven surface and you crank down on the mounting screws you can twist the frame, which can lead to a scratchy sound by way of warping the cone.

You might want to try a slightly higher HPF setting and see if that makes the noise go away on BTBaM.


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## Wattser93 (Mar 12, 2010)

trumpet said:


> I've beaten on many new speakers and not had any problems. Scratching sounds aren't something that will go away with break-in. I asked if they were new speakers because I wanted to know if you had just installed them. If the basket is seated on an uneven surface and you crank down on the mounting screws you can twist the frame, which can lead to a scratchy sound by way of warping the cone.
> 
> You might want to try a slightly higher HPF setting and see if that makes the noise go away on BTBaM.


I can hear the problem at low volume though.

That's why I'm curious on what the problem could be. I may just have to go to the shop and have him take a listen. It may be that something came loose and is causing the scratchy noise. They definitely weren't abused to failure.


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## ISTundra (Jan 3, 2009)

Sure wish someone would weigh in with a definite idea and not just speculation. I've got a couple of spendy drivers that now sound scratchy, exact same phenomena that the OP describes.


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## AndyInOC (Jul 22, 2008)

Lots of venting? Maybe some debris in the motor, remove from the door push the cone forward a bit and gently blow into the pole vent.


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## Wattser93 (Mar 12, 2010)

ISTundra said:


> Sure wish someone would weigh in with a definite idea and not just speculation. I've got a couple of spendy drivers that now sound scratchy, exact same phenomena that the OP describes.


I'm glad I'm not the only one. It really is an odd problem.



AndyInOC said:


> Lots of venting? Maybe some debris in the motor, remove from the door push the cone forward a bit and gently blow into the pole vent.


I'll try that. Thanks. It could be anything. I live in the desert, so it could have been dust or something, hopefully that's all it is.


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## Jprice2708 (Feb 12, 2011)

I'm suffering the same problem with my left mid. If I've blown a utopia mid I'm gonna cry....


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

I had this issue and it turned out to be a scratchy channel on my amp.
Have you tried switching the speaker wires from left channel to right channel to see if the scratch stays in the speaker?


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

^^

Kendal beat me to it, but I had a similar issue and it turned out to be one of my old Kenwood amp's channels going out.


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## Jprice2708 (Feb 12, 2011)

lol - if I have a scratchy channel on my Mac amp I'm still gonna cry, but I'll test it


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Jprice2708 said:


> lol - if I have a scratchy channel on my Mac amp I'm still gonna cry, but I'll test it


Scratchy channel on your amp could mean a dirty pot or switch that some Deoxit could fix....anything is possible.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

Jprice2708 said:


> lol - if I have a scratchy channel on my Mac amp I'm still gonna cry, but I'll test it


easy to tell. switch wires left to right on the front speaker. if the issue switches sides, you know it not the speaker.


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