How to Test Broken or Blown Speaker, Drivers, Bass, Tweeter, Mid Range, Vintage Speakers Driver

How to test if your speaker or drivers are blown or open circuit using a battery or meter

[@jimsregaturntableshifijukebox]

Good information Michael, as ALWAYS 👌. Jim🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙂

[@girishkukadia1293]

Great useful info, many thanks.

[@gaineyjohnson6628]

Thank you!

[@Canasln]

Hi Michael, thank you so much for good information, I have a problem with my car speakers which all of them doesn't work. When I check with multimeter I can see good ohm values. However when I perform battery test, I don't hear any noise. How can I be sure the problem is speakers or car stereo. Is there any way to check stereo outputs? Thanks in advance.

[@MichaelYates]

I would be very surprised if all the speakers have failed and if they all read 4 to 16 ohms on your multimeter then they would seem fine. But surprised the battery did not produce even a very little sound. You can test the output from the stereo but you would have to be very careful by connecting the speakers or an 8ohm load and setting your multimeter to millivolts range and putting one probe to one side of speaker or load and other probe to the other side of speaker or load and turn stereo up a little you should get a reading and it will get higher when turning the volume. but be careful you have meter on millivolts and dont short out the stereo outputs.

[@Canasln]

@@MichaelYates Thank you so much I'll try it out.

[@bobsbits5357]

hi mike you have high street meters tandy ones or hafifords you are right for the newbee's £8 in halifords were selling them voice recorder nice plan tascam one i am still using a MD recorder tascam ones pick up wind out side why i used the MD and mic and cover i am back i got to yes to make video's i just to get a over head cam like you have here bob

[@MichaelYates]

Yes the Tascam is very sensitive indeed. I just use a camera on a cheap tripod up high and point down, I see the tripods in charity shops all the time for around a fiver, come in very handy. looking forward to you getting up and running

[@bobsbits5357]

hi i have the over head boom and tripod it's just the cam left i am looking in to it there's so many out it's a right mind field of cam's

[@theatreofthedead4452]

Hello, i have that my left speaker Dynaudio Focus 140 is playing little bit quieter than the right one. When played quiet or loud doesn’t matter, the cables are raw input and fine but they’re not the same lenght. Could that be the problem? Or what is up with that? Visually it is fine the left speaker.

[@MichaelYates]

The lenght would not matter unless a few hundred meters long. I would test speaker on both left and right of amp just incase its the amp. If amps fine then could be the crossover in one being slightly out compared to other. Even though the cones more freely on the main drivers it could still be one not having full movement when playing, one tweeter could be a little louder as well. Check the wadding inside speaker cabinet is not pressed up tight on the driver and both are the same in both cabinets. If you can play a mono track and try and see if its the main driver or tweeter that is lower or both.

[@theatreofthedead4452]

@@MichaelYates Thanks for responding, ill find out.

[@tbred85]

Hi Michael, I have an old pair of Kenwood LS-V120-W 2-way 3-speaker bookshelf speakers with a Lineaum tweeter. Is this method (using a 1.5V battery) also viable or safe for testing my Lineaum tweeters? Also, is this procedure safe to perform with the crossover circuit attached, or should I test it after removing the crossover circuit. Thanks for good content.

[@MichaelYates]

I would try to unsoldier one side of the tweeter and use a meter across the 2 terminals, should get a reading of 4 to 8 ohms using the resistance setting on meter. I would not use a battery as TBH I am not to sure how sensitive these Lineaum tweeters are. A cheap meter can be bought for 7 quid on eBay that will do the job and they always come in handy. Normally just playing some music with Cymbals, High Hat etc you should be how to hear the sound come out of the tweeter with your ear against it.

[@jfs70ss]

Have a pair of KEF 104/2 and one speaker doesn't work. It won't 'Tone' for continuity. Will end up opening it up and doing a visual. Wondering if I test the crossover plus(+) minus(-), if it tones out then there is an 'Open' short somewhere. If the crossover doesn't 'Tone', then that's should be where the issue lies. Would I be correct? Anyone here reading this, any input is very much appreciated. Soon to be (in 21 days) 63yo 'Wanna Be' Audiophile from the SF Bay Area, Ca. Speakers owned: KEF 104/2, KEF C80/Series2, Jamo Classic 8, Klipsch Heresy (1978) Many Amplifiers, most Sony ES: TA-E9000es, TA-N9000es, DA4es, Yamaha CA800 just to name a few.

[@MichaelYates]

Hi, If you have tested across the speaker inself without the crossover connected and you get no reading then the speaker must be open circuit, the battery test would confirm this to. It is sometime not possible to test with meter just putting the probes on the (+) and (-) of crossover it depends on how it is wired

[@teddymartin6256]

Michael maybe you can help me with something my brother.. I have a set of Peavey International 118 Speakers..they are 700 watts program and 1400 watts Maximum. They have a High tweeter a mid tweeter and also a 18 inch woofer in each cabinet. One of the Horns are not working in the top Speaker so when I plug it into my Pa System it is distorting. The other cabinet sounds solid and is not distorting at all. So do you think because the top tweeter is blown it would cause the whole cabinet to distort, or do you think the 18 inch woofer is getting ready to blow. What is your opinion brother. Let me know okay. With Highest Regards Ted Martin Canon City Colorado

[@MichaelYates]

Hi Ted, Dont know much about these speakers TBH, but I would just take out the distorting horn from that speaker cabinet and swap it over with the good one in the other cabinet, if its still distorting then that would tell you that its no good. just the horn not working properly should not affect the other mid tweeter or bass drivers sound, they should still sound fine, one way again is just to unplug the wires going to to faulty tweeter and play some music using the cabinet with just the mid tweeter and bass driver connected. Also there is a video here that shows a repair to a bass driver in the Peavey 115 speakers when the foam inside starts to crumble, dont know if your 118's use the same or simular driver kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4jVo419fMylsJY

[@nitrocell9287]

So this test is universal for all speakers, Why show us the same thing on each one?

[@MichaelYates]

Yes same for all speakers, I just did a bass, mid and tweeter to show any very novice viewers.

[@vikz1803]

Do speaker have to be off the car can you test them while on

[@MichaelYates]

They can still be on the car, but you will need to undo at least one lead(connection) from one of the terminals, then place meter or battery across both connections, you could use small crocadile leads to help if akward getting to speaker connections

[@vikz1803]

@@MichaelYates ok thank you for replying I appreciate it 👍🏻