What equipment is he driving the speakers with?
speaker distortion
my son in Hawaii got a pair of McIntosh speakers recently. I think it's a 1990's model which listed for like maybe 5k. I don't know the model number but when he hooked it up he said they don't sound good. he mentioned that the sound has distortion. is there anyone out there who might know what the problem is??
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while maybe not the be-all and end all in high end, Mac employed talented engineers like Roger Russel - the XR series had some virtues my guess is you will find some blown drifers and perhaps a fried protection network as i recall a few models employed those... probably worth fixing.. keep them away from Lava.... |
If they are 90’s vintage McIntosh, my guess would be that the woofers need to be refoamed or reconed. This is a common issue for many different speakers from the 90’s. Do they have removable front grills? If so, visually inspect to see if the foam surround is deteriorating. Also, gently push in on the center of the woofers to see if you hear a rubbing sound. This sound indicates they need a recone. If no sound, then they may just need a refoam. Not knowing the model, 2 way or 3 way, and if they are 3 way, the midrange may have the same problem. Just do a Google search for speaker repair in Hawaii. |
my son in Hawaii got a pair of McIntosh speakers recently. I think it's a 1990's model which listed for like maybe 5k. I don't know the model number but when he hooked it up he said they don't sound good. he mentioned that the sound has distortion. is there anyone out there who might know what the problem is??g_nakamoto06-05-2018 1:40pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In my experience, all xover traditional speakers offer distorted fq's, midrange. The problem is , your son failed to take into account the new wide band high sensitity speakers which ahve near zero distortion in the midrange CRITICAL fq.s This is his problem. Get rid of the Mac;'s and advise him to stay away from any speaker with a xover. 2nd advice is to suggest one of the new high tec wide band speakers/drivers. Read my comments to try to understand what makesa wide band so high fidelity in midrange. |
alexberger416 posts02-13-2020 4:12pmLow sensitivity is a trade-off small size and deep bass to bigger size and not as deep bass. Low sensitivity causes thermal compression that makes heavy, constrained, tiresome sound. High sensitivity speakers, in contrast, produce easy going sound like a real musicians on stage performance. It is sad, but a big part of audiophiles don't care about thermal compression despite this phenomenon kills a real musical reproduction and makes music boring and tiresome. Regards, Alex. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just googled Higher Sensitivity makes better music (something like that.) and found this little gem from ~~~AUDIOGON~~~ topic posted on,,,,,be right back 2-13-2020 READ THIS POST Over and over and OVER How s that for adding something of significant substance to this civil discussion of why xover designs are loaded with midrange 1500-6k hz coloration/distortion/listeners fatigue This post by alexburger says more than I could ever put words, and pretty much sums up why I jumped the xover ship and would never ever consider a tweeter as a source for my midrange in classical music. Although I am using a paper tweeter right now, made in china to help out the 4 inch full range in some 10k+ hz area. Really a great lil tweeter. But as for woofer/midrange/tweeter xover thing, no thanks. Been there done that past 40 years. Look at the speaker used market, like a grave yard. Why the selling off? Why few takers?? xovers served us well past 50 years, 'Its come full circle back to wide band speakers. There have I made a contribution based ona fair , unbiased critque of this issue of xover distortion? Low sens speakers sound like a wet burlap bag is thrown over the front. No thanks!! |