I've heard this on a pair of speakers before. I discovered after removing the driver, that the problem was the speaker wires were too close to the back of the driver's cone. Everytime there was a need for lower extention(more travel of the cone), I got a very light buzz. Fixing the problem involved only pushing the wires back into the cabinet away from the driver's cone. |
Wouldn't recommend opening speakers up if still under warranty. |
Timrhu ..this isn't exactly the same thing as tearing down the engine of a brand new car.LOL Taking four or five screws out isn't a big deal... atleast for the mechanically inclined. Some manufactures would suggest you do this before going through the trouble of shipping the speakers back for a simple fix. If you had to replace a driver. Most would ship the driver to you.. You still would have to change it out yourself. This wouldn't void the warranty. I've done it several times through different companies.
Cheers |
Talk with the manufacturer first. If they suggest removing the driver, get the name of the person you talk to. It doesn't hurt to cover your bases. |
Gmood1, my previous experience was with Paradigm. It worked just as you said except that I paid for the tweeter. They insisted I must have over driven the speakers which I doubt.
My point is, if the speakers aren't even broken in yet, Trumpetbri should insist Totem take care of the problem. |
Yes I understand Timrhu. He could also just take them back to the dealer..if close enough. Let the dealer take the driver out and see if this is the problem. Man..I'm glad I haven't had to deal with Paradigm's customer service.
The two companies I dealt with were much smaller and customer friendly. Neither company charged me for the replacement. One of them even 1 day shipped the driver to me for free. All I had to do was drop the original in the same shipping box and let the courier pick it up. It didn't cost me a dime.
If you think about it... it could go either way. They could still claim the speaker was damaged by the owner. Whether shipped back or not..it just depends on the company. |
Thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions! I bought them from Mike Wall...(supposedly a dealer) here on Audiogon.) They were brand new "factory sealed." I'm in hopes he will take care of me. I've never encountered this from speakers before. I was wondering if the Ayre burn in disc could have caused this. I've only used the brown noise track at reasonable moderate levels. Who knows, could it have loosened things up inside? Again, it hasn't hurt other speakers in ANY way...only helped speed the burn in. Thanks for any other view points you can offer on the Ayre disc or whatever your experiences are with burn in/speakers etc. -Brian. |
You might have checked this already, but I had a similar problem with a pair of Usher bookshelf speakers. After some careful listening, I found one of the binding posts was loose and was resonating (I was using banana connectors). I removed the terminal cup, tightened all of the posts and the sound went away. |
Stick it to Totem and tell 'em you won't take that crap! |
Well Folks, thanks for your help. I decided to retire the rainmakers as I found out it was a piece of solder on the wiring inside the cabinet creating the noise. Feeling less than confident about their manufacturing, I have returned them to my dealer, and am going to switch to the Whafedale Evolution 10 speakers. They have been getting raves and have been around long enough not to let solder get in the way of their sound I'm sure. Totem should check their items carefully before they go out. Too bad as I liked the sound I was getting outside of the ringing/vibrating frequency. |
This will sound like I'm a Totem employee or dealer. I'm not. Just a very satisfied customer.
I can understand why you'd be frustrated, but doubt the defect you experienced is unique to Totem. It's inevitable a defective product will be shipped - this is true of all companies. I think that the fact that the dealer replaced the unit (indeed with another brand) says something about Totem and their dealer network.
My experience with Totem's products and their customer support has been excellent. No defects in the products, just state of the art sound, excellent craftsmanship. They answer their phone when you call, and return emails within a day. That's better than my experience with many of the top brands discussed on the site. |
I agree with bdgregory... Totem is an excellent company and this is the exception for them. I have Rainmakers in my home theater system and they are phenomenally musical and transparent, even with suboptimal positioning. I'd like to suggest it's worthwhile giving Totem another shot, and maybe your dealer can test the next set before shipping too. |
I had a similar issue with a pair of Arros and it turned out to be the woofer enclosure overlapping with the tweeter enclosure and creating a vibration around 500 Hz. I brought them to Totem (I am in Montreal) and they inserted an ultra thin gasket between both that I believe made it standard in their subsequent Arros model. Et voila.
I was a bit upset at first but things like that can happen and it is how manufacturers deal with the issue that matters more than the issue itself (unless it is a question of life and death!). Not to mention spending time with the designer himself while his guys were fixing the problem. Vince is a class act and a true passionate.
Just out of curiosity, do you like your Evo 10 better? how do they differ?
Tks |
