Melded Array Wiring Help

[David Carter]

I finished my first DR250 last night, and I'm now in troubleshooting mode. At the moment, the only gear I've got to test it with is my bass and bass head. I don't have a power amp and haven't yet borrowed my friend's powered mixer (hopefully tonight). But when I played bass through it last night, I couldn't hear anything from the melded array. At first I thought maybe I just wasn't playing in a range where the tweeters kick in, but even as I moved up the neck to the highest notes, I still couldn't tell any difference when switch the tweeter cutoff switch off and on.

This morning I pulled the top access cover and jack plate and started probing with the multimeter. It appears that I've got continuity, so it doesn't seem to be a bad/loose connection.

Then I started going over the wiring in my head, and I think I found a mistake, but I don't know if it is something that would cause the problem I'm having or not. Here is an image of my current array wiring (the image only shows 12 piezos instead of 20 just to simplify the illustration). It's a little busy, but I tried to position the lines the way the wires are really laid out so that I didn't have any chance of messing up in the process of translating a rough schematic into real life.



The question I have is the blue dotted line at the top of the image. Currently there is an actual wire there that connects those tabs. However, as I went back and studied the plans, I'm thinking that maybe that wire should NOT be there and I need to clip it.

So, two questions: should I clip the blue wire? and is that likely to have any impact on my problem of not hearing anything from the tweeters?

Thanks in advance from an eternal novice!

[LelandCrooks]

So, two questions: should I clip the blue wire? and is that likely to have any impact on my problem of not hearing anything from the tweeters?

Thanks in advance from an eternal novice!

Cut the blue wire.

It's your total problem.

[David Carter]

So, two questions: should I clip the blue wire? and is that likely to have any impact on my problem of not hearing anything from the tweeters?

Cut the blue wire.

It's your total problem.

Yeah! I love it when the answer is simple like that! Thanks!!! As soon as I get back from work, I'll head straight for the wire cutters. In fact, I may go home for lunch.

[Alien]

Cut the blue wire.

It's your total problem.

That will create a dead short across the amp - you need to cut the red wire in order to get the two banks running in series.

Andy

[DAVID_L_PERRY]

you need to cut the red wire in order to get the two banks running in series.

Andy

+1

[David Carter]

Cut the blue wire.

It's your total problem.

That will create a dead short across the amp - you need to cut the red wire in order to get the two banks running in series.

Andy

Thanks for catching that, Andy. I went back and took a closer look at the plans and at the wiring I did on the piezo array for my O10, and I see it now. You're absolutely right. I don't understand it, but I can tell that to match the plans, I do indeed need to cut red instead of blue. Glad I posted first instead of just cutting.

Thanks for chiming in before I was able to cut the blue one! You, too, Dave!

[Sydney]

The drivers on the left string is paralleled, As are the drivers on the right.
To series connect the left to the right, The left string's output (which is + ) need to connect to the right strings (-)
CUT THE RED
* Tip - The end point of a paralleled group has it's "output" ( the reverse polarity of beginning of that string ) connected to the opposite polarity of another paralleled group ( + to - or vice versa ).
In your drawing the amp feed to the left string is neg ( so it's endpoint must be + ) The right string's feed is + so it's endpoint must be the neg (-)
So like a relay race - one coming in and one's leaving.
Seems like you figured that anyway.

[David Carter]

The drivers on the left string is paralleled, As are the drivers on the right.
To series connect the left to the right, The left string's output (which is + ) need to connect to the right strings (-)
CUT THE RED

Thanks, Sydney. You guys are real lifesavers!

[DAVID_L_PERRY]

What leland really said:-

Cut the blue wire....err I think...red...er can somebody turn off the uv light

[David Carter]

* Tip - The end point of a paralleled group has it's "output" ( the reverse polarity of beginning of that string ) connected to the opposite polarity of another paralleled group ( + to - or vice versa ).
In your drawing the amp feed to the left string is neg ( so it's endpoint must be + ) The right string's feed is + so it's endpoint must be the neg (-)
So like a relay race - one coming in and one's leaving.

Thanks, I'll remember that. That's a simple way to help make sense of it. You'd think this wouldn't be that difficult for me. I've done all kinds of wiring in my house (and before you cringe and reach for the fire extinguisher, I will also add that it has always been inspected and approved by qualified people ). I just don't do it that often, and with residential wiring, I've never had to think about banks in parallel/series and all those kinds of permutations.

Anyway, thanks again for the tip!

[David Carter]

What leland really said:-

Cut the blue wire....err I think...red...er can somebody turn off the uv light

I'm sure that he was just giving me a little too much credit and didn't consider that I could stumble onto the correct solution without having identified the correct wire. It's tough being the first responder!

[Sydney]

I've done all kinds of wiring in my house ... it has always been inspected and approved by qualified people.

As have I. In a lot of ways domestic wiring is easier because a lot of people have already figured out the various circuits and laid them out in Wiring Books. Though, Some people do some maddening and illusive things - that I had to fix- like remarking travelers in the middle of a multi-switch light circuit.
I saw your diagram 1st thing this morning - But because I hadn't had my morning brown (java) - I couldn't trust my gray (matter) to fully discern the red and blue spaghetti - I waiting Until kick in.
Leland's an hour or 2 earlier. (maybe he was still "In the subsubs")
*SubSubs is a blissful state of mind - not quite awake not quite asleep

[LelandCrooks]

Uhhhhhh


I know what happened.

I think I took the blue pill.

"You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. "

[David Carter]

Uhhhhhh


I know what happened.

I think I took the blue pill.

"You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. "

So, didn't want to face the matrix, eh?

[gdougherty]

Question for people, maybe this is part of my problem with tweeter arrays...

Does it matter whether the amp leads are on the opposite end from the series wire or on the same side?