Totem Model One: Woofer buzzing, help please?

Would a solution be as simple as getting a replacement pair of woofers and hooking them up?

Yes - provided you find the correct replacement woofer from Dynaudio. It is very easy to replace woofers in most speakers. I am not familiar with Totem One's but I expect is is a simple matter.

However, Dynaudio stopped selling drivers to DIY and hobbyists around 10 years ago - so good luck! Your best bet is probably Totem but it will likely be fairly costly as the reality is that it is expensive for boutiques to support a 10 year old product when they OEM all the critical bits in their designs. (Remember Dynaudio makes money on parts, Totem cannot sell you a replacement part at a loss - so they make money, and finally no dealer in their right mind would take some risk to help you for no profit. All this is necessary otherwise these people go out of business)

You may be able to find someone who can repair/rebuild the voice coils but I doubt it is worth it unless they happen to be local.

In the end it may be simpler to look for another used old pair on line. My recommendation to those making serious investments in high quality 10 year old used speakers is to check whether the company still supplies replacement parts...many do but most do NOT.

remove the driver and check the connections. replace if necc

no dealer in their right mind would take some risk to help you for no profit. All this is necessary otherwise these people go out of business

You'd be surprised at how some high-end audio dealers/manufacturers are loyal to their customers, replacing broken goods at a loss or for no fee at all. If the companies in question have that "big box" mentality, than expect the @uck you treatment.

Thanks everyone so much for your replies :)

Anyway, I've emailed totem to see if they'll mail me a set of replacement woofers, if that doesnt work, i guess I'll have to go back to the local distributor...

One more thing though:

The buzzing doesnt ALWAYS happen. If i listen to regular non bass heavy stuff, the speaker sounds perfect, only specific tracks will the buzzing rear its ugly head!!

How do speakers usually react to bass heavy tracks? If it is NOT by buzzing, then I'll know for sure that the woofers have blown. Last thing i want to do is fix something that isn't broken :)

Any input would be much appreciated :)

Call Dynaudio, they may have stopped selling to the hobbiest market but they still provide replacement drivers for any speaker they have ever made. You will need the 6 digit part number on the back of the driver as well as the model #, which in the case of the Model 1 is the 15W75.

My experience with Totem has been exceptional, they should be able to troubleshoot your speakers. If you do have to replace the woofers I hope they are not the same as my Mani1's, a concentric pair of drivers in each box. That could become expensive in a hurry. Good Luck, but you should be in good hands with Vince at Totem, he knows his speakers inside out.

One thing to try if you haven't already is tightening the screws holding in the woofer. I have seen them become loose before. It is a long shot for sure.

It sound like coil is rubing and that can happen after years in the same position. You can try to Rotate the woofer (Unsrew it and turn, then rescrew).

If you need to replace/rebuild the driver, go to Madisound:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=125&osCsid=26513875b73e10120b3bf3906b8ff8a3)

They can rebuild Dynaudio drivers and are authorized to do so (they were one of the vendors that sold Dynaudio drivers to the hobbyist 10 years ago). They have the related $$ charges for rebuilds on their website (per model). However, you have to send in your drivers to prove they are "authentic" Dynaudio drivers. What they actually do is completely replace them with new drivers (on an exchange basis).

Check to see if the speakers are separating from the surrounds. That happened to two pair of Vandersteen 2CEs That I had. All I had to do was reglue the woofers to the surrounds. Good luck.