Wilson Watt Puppy 7 Blowen tweeters?

"What's a Blowen tweeter?"

The answer my friend is Blowen in the wind
The answer is Blowen in the wind...

What's a Blowen tweeter?

Its above the Blowen Wafer.
MMM

Has it happend on both speakers or just one? I had a problem years ago with JBL and it turned out to be the crossover. It was just one speaker. Contact Wilson they should be willing to help you out.

It is when you "blow ento" them.

Give him a break. Check w. your dealer. It should be a simple resistor switch. Fast & painless. You need to purchase the resistors from Wilson. If you really are blowing tweeters, I never have. I like to play loud. If I hear strain I turn it down.

I have been reading the Audiogon forums for quite some time and ocassionally have had to ask some questions but there are a few of you out there that play games and treat these people that ask questions like morons, why don't you just stop all the crap and if you cannot answer them correctly or help them with their problem, don't respond at all. Now we are going to harass this person with the blown tweeters in his Wilson speakers because he made a typo!!!!!!!!!!!
Grow up!!!!!!!!!!!

A blowen tweeter is a tweeter that was blown by an audiophile from the 60's or 70's. Many of them are "keyboard challenged" and are prone to hit 2 keys at the same time.

I recognizew and canb relate to the problenm, although I've only blowen Midranges myself.

In general, and there are always exceptions, tweeters are more apt to be blown by a combination of overloud playing from an underpowered amplifier; the amplifier being driven into clipping and it is the clipping that destroys the tweeter.

I own a pair of Sophia 2s. More than likely your tweeters are ok. There are resistors that protect all of the drivers in Wilson speakers. For the tweeter, the resistors are located on the bottom of the Watt underneath the access panel. You will need to call your local dealer, because these are very specific, and unfortunately expensive resistors. If you are under warranty, they should be covered.

Thanks A'b'guy,for helping get some of these responders straight. A bad tweeter on a Wilson speaker or on any speaker just isn't all that funny; if it happens to be 'your-speaker'. Guess there is no shortage of morons on the board here--?? I know, everybody has a different sense of humor and many of us have different capabilities in spelling but AUDIO should be the #1 focus here;belittling should come in at 1204 or thereabouts.

A beer in the hands of a very insensitive person doesn't help much and I agree with contacting one's dealer. I got Soph'2's as well and this was my most expensive speaker purchase. So; I can relate. I would guess Duanea may be without-- for a while.

I think Audibleguy has a blowen fuse.

Your key problem, as I understand it, is that this has happened twice....

It is highly likely that you are overdriving your amplifier and then burning up the voice coil or protective resistor(if there is one) on your tweeter.

This happens when you have the music too loud and at which point the bass (requires ooodles or power) draws too much power for your amp to deliver. The amp flatlines or clips...this will burn up everything but usually burns the tweeter first as it requies the least power and can get very hot very fast with a saturated distorted/signal.

It is not the power rating of your amp that is important but whether it is over driven or not. A lower powered amp will run out of power, saturate and clip more easily than a higher powered amplifier. A lower powered amp may actually be more dangerous for your tweeters than a higher powered amp if you like to listen loud. Clean power is good. Sustained distorted power does damage quite quickly.

If the above des not help and you have a very powerful amplifier then it is possible (but unlikely) that the amplifier has a problem affecting BOTH channels.

Note that music from a most top quality consumer systems will not sound loud until it distorts (at which point you risk doing damage).

There are very few consumer systems that can play deafeningly loud without distortion. These systems are usually adapted for or from professional gear.

So as a general advice => if it sounds loud then you probaby have distortion and need to be careful.

As further general advice => music with very heavy bass content is what taxes the amplifier most ...if you enjoy thunderous bass then be more careful or get some pro gear (often with built in soft clipping protection circuitry).

Another suggestion: Tube amps may be less likely to do damage than an SS amp due to the tubes high output impedance and tendency to soft clip. Although tubes generally have lower power ratings to start with.

G'luck and sorry you had these problems but it really not that uncommon especially if you realize that drivers "compress" sound as they heat up (a few minutes of play)....this has a tendency to make people inch up the volume to regain dynamic range and loudness that is lost due to compression => a vicious circle leading to eventual speaker failure.

Duanea,

Yes, you should absolutely contact a Wilson Audio Dealer. Wilson Audio should keep speakers serial numbers and perfomance parameters on file so thay they can get you drop in replacements. Also they should be able to replace the resistors if that is your problem. As Shadorne put it you are most likely overdriving your amp causing clipping. You may want to buy a bigger amp or back off the volume control.

Johnny

That's a good point Tvad. Although not all high end company's provide what most would consider good service or warranty. Take Ferrari for example, they only give a 3 month or one year warranty on their new cars not the typical 3 year 36k mile.

If someone here can't take a little ribbing for making a typo, they should get a sense of humor. I am not accussing Duanea of that.

What I don't understand is why a lot of people here on the Gon ask questions that would be best answered by the manufacturer or a dealer.

Now we are going to harass this person with the blown tweeters in his Wilson speakers because he made a typo!!!!!!!!!!!
Grow up!!!!!!!!!!!

well, ok. But geez, there's nothing mean-spirited here, and Duane has been on this board for years,posted regularly, is always articulate, and without typos, so it's not like he has any reason to be hurt.

Can't we have a little fun?

TVAD had a good point, about Wilson for its price should bend over backwards, maybe they should just bend over.
Maybe you didnt have your tweeters properly mounted in your Vice......or was that just an add? :)

Sounds like your amp is oscellating. Have your components checked out. even your speaker cables. It probably isn't weak Wilson tweeters. Sometimes RF gets through - do you live near an airport?? Radar is a baddy.

you have burned out 2 resisters in the monitor-tweeter and mid range-They cost a lot and the replacement takes 2 people-go to Wilson's web site and click on repair parts-been there  2 times

duanea

I replaced the diaphragms/voice coil on a friends WP7’s because of a Class-D Nuforce 9se v3 amps VHF switch-on squeal that you can hardy hear, but can be measured, both voice coils were very blue with heat, they were standard Seas, Scan or similar from memory, diaphragm/coil were about $50 each. took about an hour each to do.

Cheers George

V. Old thread but this is a common problem. Ferrofluid dries out after as little as two years and tweeters burn up easily. The biggest culprit is amplifier clipping or HF instability in Class D type amps - usually the clipping is caused by overly demanding bass but the damage goes straight to the tweeter which heats up very fast when clipping. The second biggest culprit is consumer speakers being overdriven - most speakers can’t do more than 95 dB SPL for very long before becoming severely stressed.

The WP7's tweeters don't have ferrofluid, but yes on old tweeters that do use it this can be an issue, but it takes a decade or two dry out.

Cheers George