Is my speaker dead? How to measure with a multimeter

In this video I will show a how to measure with a multimeter, to determine if a speaker driver has been blown off.
With numerous years of serving high-end audio clients under my belt, I am excited to offer a speaker repair and upgrade service that's sure to meet your needs. I apply the intricate process demonstrated in my videos, ensuring that your speakers are handled by an expert. For advice or packaging inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact me. If you're within the Las Vegas area, drop-off or potential pick-up can be arranged.
A dedicated website with more detailed information is currently in the works - keep an eye on audiovega.com/. I specialize in refoaming a diverse range of brands, having a wealth of experience with JBL, Cerwin Vega, Snell, Dali, Bang and Olufsen, and Scan-speak drivers. My proficiency particularly lies in refurbishing and upgrading crossovers, as well as carrying out driver replacements and upgrades that often necessitate precise measurements and calculations. Trust that your audio equipment is in capable hands.
Kind regards
Kent Larsen

[@BENBASIL]

Thank you, Mr. Ruffalo

[@jacklawer6389]

Gr8 video, thank U Question please I have a tweeter that's distorted , I was told that tweeters only fully blow not partially? Is this true because I think it's on its way out. I will get a meter to test. Thanks

[@hu5tle-]

How would I measure / test the wires that are coming from the stereo? For ex. I have a car stereo and one of the speakers isn't working and I need to test the wires FROM the radio to see if they're working. How would I do that?

[@StanStone1]

This guy is brilliant... very informative and helpful... thank you

[@AudioTalk]

Glad it was helpful!

[@wazup3333]

@@AudioTalk I'm confused, each connector on the driver is negative or positive. How can there be continuity if they are separate (positive/negative)? Positive and negative are never in circuit together?

[@AudioTalk]

@@wazup3333 A speaker driver is just a coil inside, so if you measure really low or really high resistance you are dealing with a defective driver. On each side of that coil there is connector marked negative and which will make the other connection positive, for the sake of polarity (phase) of the speaker.

[@wazup3333]

@@AudioTalk I understand the coil resistance, so then each end cannot be positive or negative? Let me bring up another example a 12-volt car battery has a positive and negative and if you try to cross those two points you will start a fire or have spark because there will never be continuity between the positive and the negative. How is it different on a speaker driver? Are both pins a positive or negative? How is the driver being powered then? Also my Tweeter for right channel should be 4 ohms but I am getting five to seven ohms however I barely hear the Tweeter. It seems underpowered comparing to my center channel speaker tweeter. Is it normal or bad? My left channel tweeter is completely broken because there is no continuity so I can't compare Tweeter sound to left speaker only center

[@AudioTalk]

@@wazup3333 The amplifier brings the power a speaker driver is not a power source, its a passive component. Plus and minus refers to polarity, so that you have a chance of connecting several speaker drivers in phase. If you connect 2 speaker drivers with opposite polarity they will phase out each other and there will hardly be any sound, and that is the reason they are referred to as plus and minus.

[@dannyd1572]

THis helped alot!!! I found two dead tweeters. I turn down my monitor to zero, yet I can hear sounds coming out of one of my speakers. WHy is that?

[@cornetcornet]

How about a video troubleshooting speaker and speaker wire on a 70 volt system using a impedance meter.

[@fakundofrontera]

Hi there, i have a vintage Goodmans that was working ok but time ago stop working, i measure with the multimeter and have no lecture, is OL...i desolder and resolder the leads to see if the problem was there but still the same, does it means that the coil is burn off? or maybe something less bad? thanks

[@5rabella]

Good day Sir, I have a b&w speaker it’s a DM 604 model the tweeter stops working then I trace the wires and the red terminal from the crossover going to the tweeter when I test it with multi tester the hand of tester doesn’t move. Does it mean I have a busted crossover? Can I change the capacitor going to the tweeter to fixed it? Thanks in advanced more power to you sir

[@AudioTalk]

Hi Renan, sounds more like the tweeter has burned off, and thats very common for B&W. If you remove the midrange you can twist the tweeter quarter turn and take it out and look at the back of the tweeter and find the model number online for a replacement. The verify once you have it out, measure across plus and minus, and if its open its toast. Pay attention to polarity, where the wires go on the tweeter. It wont harm anything to reverse it, but it will sound boring and uninvolving, because of incorrect phase.

[@leavemealone4904]

Brilliant. All the questions I had answered. Thanks

[@dalethomasdewitt]

130°C for polyurethane enamel magnet wire. Other polymer formulations are in the 160°C range. The weak link in all tech is that insulation.

[@Apollo1van]

I have nothing and no movement checked with 9volt battery could the guitar amp just burn it up its a Carvin 12 " 8ohm can it it fixed or junk it

[@Apollo1van]

Still no answer after 3 years now working on Denon surround and speaker went dead

[@sugarnap245]

@@Apollo1vanany news? I have a speaker not showing continuity or resistance and I’m nervous to dig into it much further

[@prstauro]

Thanks for the info.

[@bhbhbhanu]

Good explanation sir

[@shawn2571]

so my 12" 8ohm speaker out of my mackie C300 is reading 18 ohms does that mean it is blown?

[@shawn2571]

ok i take that back is my multi meter supposed to be on 200 or 2000? when on 200 it reads 5.6 ohms does that still mean my speaker is bad?

[@shawn2571]

my speaker doesn't seem to move at all when you push down on it

[@Mr_BUSINESS_24_7]

What if your 8 ohm speaker measures 8.2 ohms ? What about situations where the driver measures slightly over what the speakers ohm rating is ?

[@AudioTalk]

The exception is ribbon tweeters, they have low induction and because of that impedance and resistance is almost the same impedance, but if this is a woofer it can be its a 10 ohm driver or just simply not made very precise, and lastly an indication of a defect. Measure the same driver from the other speaker if there is one and compare. With a woofer the impedance will always be higher than the resistance measured with ohm meter or multimeter, unless you have a gauge that can measure impedance, but you would know if it can, because those are special and in general much more expensive, or an interface that is used with a software on a PC.

[@Mr_BUSINESS_24_7]

@@AudioTalk that weird Because on a 4 ohm coil, I usually mesu 3.3 ohm or 3.4 ohm What's the difference between impedance and resistance ? Aren't they both measured in ohms ? on my infinity KAPPA perfect 12" I measured 4.1 ohms

[@AudioTalk]

@@Mr_BUSINESS_24_7 on a 4 ohm coil, yes that would be normal 3.3 ohm, impedance will always be higher than resistance. Impedance is a combination resistance and induction together when you are dealing with a AC circuits, thats why there is a different name for it.

[@burningknuckle26]

my speakers show 00.0... is that correct? does that mean its blown?

[@vernonprince69]

What if a 4 oms speaker is constantly at 3.1 is that a good speaker still!?

[@Timootius]

Yes, that's completely normal.

[@wazup3333]

@@Timootius I'm confused, each connector on the driver is negative or positive. How can there be continuity if they are separate (positive/negative)? Positive and negative are never in circuit together?

[@jesuszuniga1257]

Hi I my car speakers have a ohm of 4. I check with a multimeter to see if there were good and all of the speakers came back at 3.8 ohms . Is it good or bad

[@AudioTalk]

The measurement says its good then

[@jesuszuniga1257]

Oh OK can I check the speaker with a 9v battery to see of it works too

[@AudioTalk]

@@jesuszuniga1257 not as good of an indicator, but it gives some idea

[@jesuszuniga1257]

Oh OK because I was only able to check ohms with multimeter only

[@AudioTalk]

@@jesuszuniga1257 sure those 2 methods together is good

[@samylsneh6186]

ohms good no physical damage is quieter than my other speakers, switched sides same result. PLS help

[@richardlange4870]

so how do we fix a burned of speaker then? i have some vintage DDR REMA Hifi woofer to repair :'(

[@AudioTalk]

Rare occasions there will be a rep kit either as a voice coil or a recone kit for a speaker driver, where you can repair it. But for 90% + of the speaker drivers out there the only thing to do is replacing them.

[@richardlange4870]

@@AudioTalk yeah i figured that. it's just hard to figure out which part is blown when i had no clue.. now i know what to look for. a voicecoil replacement. the tools though cost like 70€ i suppose. i bought now 3 sets of the same variant of woofers instead for 30€ to replace, because they are vintage haha

[@giorgosboultadakis4592]

Hi there! I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT250 headphones (250Ω) and the right channel just stopped working. I guess that I could test its speaker the same way. So I did and my multimeter will just stay at the "1 . " mark. That means that I get no response, so is the resistance too low, so it's burnt? Should it be higher since it's a 250Ω model?

[@idhamhafidz]

Make sure you take out at least one leg from the circuit before testing

[@adadad995]

Sir, I inherited tannoy 15 inch Gold, one states 5.2 amps, other 5.3. is that good please?

[@jking3892]

EXCELLENT VIDEO,, thanks

[@dalejustdale1119]

I’d really like to talk to you about aTan America vip 3000 Bed.

[@bhbhbhanu]

Sir I have one doubt if we connect 4 ohm woofer in parallel with 4 ohms tweeter then what will be total ohms

[@AudioTalk]

Each speaker has an impedans curve where you can see the actual impedans at a specific frequency, so when the two speaker drivers start to overlap you get a parallel electrical connection. So with the crossover design you manage this overlap so you wont have a impedans load on the amplifier + having big impedans differences on the amplifier throughout the frequency range will make your speaker behave very differently from one amp to the other. That is a classic difference between a well engineered speaker and one put together with limited knowledge, but its better to get started, make mistakes and study than to be discouraged, I dont know anybody that knows everything about speaker design. Good question and I just might make a video on it.

[@bhbhbhanu]

@@AudioTalk thank you sir

[@AudioTalk]

@@bhbhbhanu thank you for the question, I will make a video on that subject

[@mindhospital2]

Thanks..my amp speker Check 5k ohmn.. speaker failure.. lets get change speaker...have a nice day...

[@edsecce5685]

My speaker goes up and down very fast, i guess it is damaged?

[@RaptorAnthomax]

Is 6ohm normal for a 4ohm speaker ?

[@daves2354]

They usually measure slightly lower. Your speaker is 8 ohm as they generally measure at 6-7 ohms

[@whiteboy12911]

I didn’t even see the screen can you redo it thanks

[@usingThaForce]

Couldn't see the ledges

[@jayrepairs]

this could have been easily 30 secs

[@joannaleach3342]

Oh my god!! I was thinking the same thing dude is supper annoying get to the point!!!!

[@sleepwalker29]

I guess all of my speakers are dead. Meter does nothing.

[@droidzhunterz6861]

Damn you look exactly like Mark Ruffalo, just older

[@herwansabit8619]

logic

[@idhamhafidz]

Thank you. May Allah reward you.

[@LeXar71]

At first I read father instead of speaker...

[@AudioTalk]

For that you only need one of the probes and don't even need to turn on the multimeter or even connecting it.

[@joannaleach3342]

This video literally put me in a bad mood. He talks waayyy more than he needed to. The annoyance really started right at the beginning when he's like see that? The ohm sign. And no we cannot see what youre trying to show. Omg really terrible video