Low output on 4x

[Guest]

I just rescued a pair of 4x's on the way to Goodwill (or the landfill -- I didn't ask.) When I hooked them up to my NAD 3140 I noticed that one of the speakers sounded "muffled." What would cause this? Is it the dreaded tweeter control? (Seems most muffled in the high end.)

Since I am new to this site, I am also curious about the omission of the 4 series from the longer listing of Classic AR speakers. I always thought of them as mighty good little speakers, although not in the league of the 2ax and the like. I remember lusting after them in college, but not being able to afford them. From what I heard last night, even in their current less than perfect state, they sounded pretty respectable.

Thanks. Good site.

[Guest]

Hi;

Experiment 1: remove grills on both, put your ear up close to each tweeter. Is thier a difference between good and muffled?

Experiment 2: on poor performing speaker, open it up, and bypass the potentiometer with a test lead (wire w/'gator clip on each end). Repeat experiment 1.

If there is no sound from the muffled tweeter, it probably blown. See Layne Audio for replacement. (see LINKS section of this site).

If Ex2 makes both sound the same (may have to adjust control on good one), it is the pot. If the sound is "correct" for you, bypass the pot with a proper wire soldered in place. You should do this to both speakers - IF and ONLY IF the sound is right for you. Else replace both better pots with ones from Layne.

Good luck, and have fun

Nigel