Noise inside speaker cabinet when moving ?


I recently acquired a pair of LSA 1 Statement speakers at a fair enough price on an audio mart website. We struck the deal , the speakers were shipped to me . I received them and began the process of removing them from the shipping box. Only to see they were put in there upside down , which was a bit odd and unusual to say the least. While in the process of turning both of the speakers right side up , I noticed that each one had a distinctive mechanical movement noise in doing so. Hooked up both speakers to my audio rig stack and they seem to play quite well. Nothing I can hear that might suggest internal damage or broken parts etc inside the speaker cabinet. What could be causing this noise ?. I initially thought , though not an expert on speaker construction by any means, it could be some part of the internal parts righting itself after being turned upside down like that by the seller. Is this a common occurrence for some bookshelf speakers to any degree. Or even speakers in general. Again the speakers sound and work quite fine. It would be one thing if just a single speaker had this issue , if we can call it that, but both of them.

Any ideas as to what could have caused this noise when turning them right side up?

sagur80

I had a very subtle ’zzz’ out of one speaker. Woofers shot out of the bottom (enclosure on 8" high legs), and a staple holding the insulation had fallen out onto the back of the woofer’s cone, and was ’zzzzing’

Meaning, forget my ’you don’t have to fix it’ that was bad advice. Problem: find and solve it.

@sagur80 

Of course be careful of screwdrivers and other metal objects being pulled in by the speaker magnets when working near the cone.

 

 

It’s amazing what you can do with a small glue gun! Pull out the woofer and see what is loose.  If you can put the piece back where it belongs, great.  If not, remove it and look to see what’s loose, ie the crossover. If nothing is really loose, a squirt of  hot glue and put it all back together.  
BTW,  woofer screws can also come loose.

All the best.

 

@corelli Wow, that's a surprise. My repair man did not say anything about a counterfeit. Or he might not have noticed. But to be honest, the Chinese are making gear these days that surpasses lots of boutique stuff made here in the states. So, if mine are counterfeit, bless them for doing a great job, because my VR-1's sound fabulous.

@judsauce   The VR-1's you had were probably Chinese counterfeits.  Had that same speaker for a couple of days with the same problem and the sorted out they were counterfeits.  Back they went to the seller.

I had the same thing happen on one of my Von Schweikert VR-1 monitors that I bought many years ago on Audiogon. I heard a rattle in one speaker when moving them. I took it to a local repair guy and it was just something loose within the crossover. It was a quick and cheap fix. I still have the speakers and they always sounded great. The fact that it happened to both of your speakers leads me to believe that it is a manufacturing flaw/weakness in construction that was unmasked by the stress of shipping. As mentioned above, upside down position should have zero effect on the innards of a speaker. 

Glad they sound good. Enjoy them!

I don’t know these speakers, but on many speakers using PCB xovers, nylon zip ties are used to moor the heavy inductors, and hot glue is added to further damp potential movement. If these have point to point wiring and no PCB, then hot glue may be the only thing holding the inductors and that makes them vulnerable to dislodgment in transit. As others have pointed out, it’s an easy fix.  Hot glue guns are affordable. And you can tighten your binding post while you’re in there. 

OP,

Don't get distracted by cause or blame. Right side up, down doesn't make any difference.

Remove the woofer, the crossover parts are usually accessible from there. Some glue dried out, ... or they landed hard along the way. Thankfully no other damage.

And, btw, you do not have to 'fix them' if they are stable when in position and sound terrific. The now loose parts/crossover board have settled somewhere.

Good call. Btw, Walter at Underwood Audio, the LSA people, said same. Can either repair it myself, might just give it a try or some audio repair store could do for not that much. All in all , they sound good in their current state. Still, would be good idea to fix the issues inside the cabinet and just get it over with once and for all. The speakers are ones I was looking for quite some time. No point in trying to return them as they can be fixed quite easily.... appreciate your help and others too who contributed in a genuine and helpful way. 

I would not want a loose inductor rattling inside my speaker.  Others turn a blind eye.  Open it up man and fix it.  Simple.

^^^^

Quite possibly. Then the seller putting the speakers in upside down and generally sloppy packing did not help either. UPS may have caused the damage. Still it does seem shady how the seller removes the listing, not marks it as sold or inactive, immediately after the sale went through. He failed to mention a loose speaker cable terminal at the back of one of the speakers too. So, iyo does a loose inductor or capacitor inside the speaker actually impair SQ ? 

 

Probably caused by shipping abuse.

All you need is a screwdriver. Remove the woofer. Grab a flashlight. You will probably find a copper coil of wire that is not secured to the cabinet wall. Glue it back in place.

Far easier than getting into a scuffle with the seller--no win on that one.

@corelli thx for the input. So, would it be just easier to return the speakers to the seller ?.....I know nothing about speaker repair , let alone even how to remove a woofer. Could it have been caused by shipping ?.....Or, as I am not ruling out the possibility the seller was aware of the problems , then tried to pull a fast one by placing them in the shipping box upside down , then blame UPS for for the damage already there. 

Betcha an ice cold six pack your problem is a loose inductor.  Hot glue is not always so hot at holding things in place. Remove the woofer and check it out.

@kenjit Just heard back from underwood audio. They reckon it could loose crossovers. 

@johnk afortasphere ???   was that a brain fart or just a Freudian slippage ?

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The crossover might have come loose. Best practice would be to take a look and hot glue it back in place if it is not secure.

Small mice on a treadmill they tend to break loose if speakers flipped causing major discombalations in your afortasphere.

it could be the noise of the cables hitting against the cabinet. It could be something loose. Just remove the woofer and look inside.