BillFitzmaurice.info

Well, my gear must be jealous that my old body keeps breaking down and getting all of my attention..... first, the crossover in one of the OT12 decides to burn itself up, then last Thursday.....

Set up the system for the second Concerts in the Park show of the year....last month is when the OT12 decided to haunt me, but that's all fixed. Now for round two on the second show. The top subs in my stack are the 20 inchers. Stuck my head in to make sure everything was cooking, but it sounded like it was dead. I shut down the other subs and it was barely making noise.

Wasn't much we could do at that point - the other 4 would have to carry the load....

During the show, I started hearing some rattling from one of the wide subs. Couldn't figure it out on the fly. It wasn't horrible, just a rattle occassionally. So, now I had two issues to deal with.

Drug the amp rack and those two subs out of the trailer and started to test with a 60 hz tone. First was the skinny sub. Output was really low. Plugged into the other sub (now dubbed the rattler...after all we're coming into summer in Texas - seemed appropriate). The output was the same. Plugged into one of the other amps and it blew my head off. hmmmmmm.....

Got out the volt meter and started comparing. At this point I guess it would be good to know that I run 3 Crown XLS1500 amps bridged to drive the 6 subs - 2 on each amp. Checked the voltage output on the first amp - 47.5 volts. Second amp - 52 volts. Third amp that the skinny sub was on - 6 volts.......YIKES.

So now started the trouble shooting. Was the amp bad? Was there a cabling issue? The amps are all daisy chained from the driverack. I swapped output wiring in the daisy chain with no change, then went straight from the driverack with the same result.

Looks like the XLS1500 has taken a dive. I have other amps available, so I started testing to see if I could get one to put out something close in voltage. The XLS1000 could only hit 30 volts bridged (baseline being 47-50 on the other two).

On to the xTI2000. In stereo mode, it was only getting to 33 volts. In bridged mode - it was way too much, hitting almost 70, even limited in the dsp by 3db. So, I limited the amp by 6 db and got it down to about 59 volts.....still too much. One more notch should get it in a usable range. Yeah right......the limit options inside the amp are -3, -6, -12. Crap! I think the -9 probably would have gotten me where I needed to be. The -12 pulled all the way down to 33 volts.

So, I ordered a new XLS1502 a little while ago. Fortunately, I can get through tomorrow night's show without that amp. It's an Opry style show that really low volume. We just use the two skinny subs and all they get is the bass guitar.

The new amp will be in over the next couple of days. Downside is that the new style 1502s are a black front, while the old ones are silver. Why an old, fat, soundman in shorts and t-shirts would worry about asthetics is beyond me...but, it happens.

By now, those of you who haven't fallen asleep or moved on to debate politics on social media, are probably wondering about the other sub....you remember, the one with the rattle?

Well, after 15 years - I finally blew a driver. This was one of the first 2 T39s I built. I tested it and it sounded ok until you gave it a little juice, then it started rattleing. I could tell it was coming from the driver chamber, so I opened it up.

I knew right away something was amiss when I could see the spider separated from the magnet structure.
Then, being the great dectective that I am, I immediately saw things in the chamber that didn't belong there - at least not where they were laying. There were a couple of pieces of the cone in there and they weren't attached to the driver any longer. I reached around to the backside and quickly found where those pieces used to be.
As I really didn't think I could go 15 years without blowing a driver, I bought spares for my system probably about the time that I built the second set of speakers. So, out comes the dusty box with a brand new 3012LF (I only show the dusty box for sheer drama of it).
Now, I need to get out there and start putting 10 volts worth of 30hz through it to see if can still take the pressure after such a long time on the shelf.

Just have to get everything buttoned up and ready to go by 5/15 - next time we drag everything out for the next Concert in the Park.

Man, I finally got the break-in started. Geez....had to drag out the old laptop with Win7. Fortunately, Audacity still had a file on there with a 30hz test tone. Had a hard time getting the correct settings on the headphone output to drive the amp hard enough to get 10 volts.

I haven't broken in a driver in about 10 years.....Hope this is the last one I ever have to do.

....and now I am left hanging....waiting for the rest of the story.

Glad you got it all sorted, Bruce. I'm still running a couple ancient CS1000's bridged into my tubas - hopefully they don't hear about a cousin passing away in Texas and follow suit.

himhimself wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 7:57 am Glad you got it all sorted, Bruce. I'm still running a couple ancient CS1000's bridged into my tubas - hopefully they don't hear about a cousin passing away in Texas and follow suit.

I'm sure those old, heavy-iron amps will last forever.

Think you can re-cone the blown driver to still have a spare around?

Rich4349 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 10:58 am Think you can re-cone the blown driver to still have a spare around?

Probably, but since I'm an Eminence dealer, the difference in cost between a recone kit and a new one doesn't make it worth it by the time I buy the glue, etc.

Not to mention getting the "want to" to get it done.....I'm finding that is becoming more and more elusive.

Well......the saga continues.....

We set up for the monthly Opry show just like always. Did a line check - all mics were working, all monitors were working. Just like always....(did I mention that?)

What was not just like always was the musicians on stage pointing at the monitors immediately and shaking their heads. Mike and I were mentally scrambling to figure out what they wanted, when Mike pointed at the monitor amp....it was off. Well, crap! I didn't turn it off and neither did he. He ran up to turn it on. Uhhhhh.....nothing, it was already on. Obviously, between the line check and the performance, it decided to up and die.

We quickly checked to make sure the power plug hadn't worked loose in the back - it hadn't. So, threw Mike my keys and he ran out to the trailer to grab the spare amp rack while I continued mixing the show.

I've kept a spare rack with 2 XLS 2500s in it for years. In fact, I don't think it's been out of the trailer in probably 7 years or so. So, I was pleasantly surprised when we took off the covers and there was a nice rack panel in the back with the inputs and output nicely labeled and ready to go. I honestly didn't remember that I'd built that panel, it had been so long.

Anyway, we got it hooked up and running while the show was still cooking.

I guess getting a few years out of that Behringer 4 channel amp was about all you could expect being the junk that they are. So, I guess I'll order another one.

This last month has been hell on the sound system. I haven't had any problems in 15 years - and now it's coming in a wave.

The new amp for the subs arrives today. The 3012LF is broken in and will be installed in the T39. Now, I have to buy another amp for monitors.

When it rains, it pours.......which considering that we've been a dought for a couple of years - wouldn't be so bad.

Well, I was wrong....I bought that Behringer over 7 years ago. So, I guess I got pretty good mileage out of it. Of course, the same amp is about $100 more now.

Bruce Weldy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 10:33 amI guess getting a few years out of that Behringer 4 channel amp was about all you could expect being the junk that they are. So, I guess I'll order another one.

I was drinking tea while reading this. I only just avoided spilling it all over my screen and keyboard

AntonZ wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 2:00 pm

Bruce Weldy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 10:33 amI guess getting a few years out of that Behringer 4 channel amp was about all you could expect being the junk that they are. So, I guess I'll order another one.

I was drinking tea while reading this. I only just avoided spilling it all over my screen and keyboard

Yeah.....it's $469 for a 4 channel Behringer or well over a grand for a beefier amp. So, I'll bite the bullet and own another Behringer. Of course, I'll have to turn the fans around in it so that it will play nicely with the Crowns in the rack.

Just left a message with my Sweetwater guy to call me back......need to get it ordered before prices start going up, which he said was probably gonna' start in a week or two.

Aye yai yai.

Tom Smit wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 9:45 pm Aye yai yai.

Indeed!
What a run of failures Bruce, good save having your backups though.

The new sub amp is installed and working. Tightened the new driver in the T39 one last time before buttoning it up a little bit ago. It's working fine.

New monitor amp should be here Tuesday. Hopefully by then my back will quit hurting enough to clean up all the stuff in the garage and get the sub back in the trailer.

In the words of the old Tom Cochrane song......

"Life is a Highway...."

and I feel like I just got hit by a semi.

Bruce, your story telling skills are something extra. I always enjoy them. Glad you got it sorted. When stuff like this all happens at once, I can't help but wonder if there was a nexus event that set it all in motion... power spike, DC on the mains AC, lightning strike nearby, your magnetic personality expanding exponentially causing a tear in the fabric of time and space?