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IRG
04-02-2005, 04:41 PM
OK today I decided to buy a pair of Paradigm Monitor 3s, that are the ver3. Got them for a decent price,from my local dealer, and if I don't like them, they can go back. Here is something unusual that happened today.

I took them home, hooked them up to my NAD receiver, and proceeded to run my test disc, so I could set my levels using my new spl meter. I am playing just a test note, like white noise. First the left speaker, check. Then the center speaker, check. Then the right speaker, huh, the sound is slightly different here. A little more distortion, almost crackly like. I asked my wife if she could tell the difference, and sure enough she could. SO I switch speakers, and move the left to the right, and vice versa.

Same speaker, making this slightly odd noise again. It is like listening to white noise (that is already distorted?) and adding just a little bit of crackle to it around the edges. Nothing severe, but yet noticeable at higher voumes). I take the one Monitor 3 out of the loop, and put my Energy C-3 back in its place. Crackly sound gone. So now I assume, the tweeter must be damaged. So I play some music, dvd, and everything sounds fine. No crackle that I can tell.

I call my dealer, he thinks it is weird, but tells me he will put a new tweeter in it if I want. So I bring it back to him, we hook it up, and I bring my test disc with me. And now no crackly noise at all. Sounds just fine. But he tells me, he will still get me a new tweeter if I want it (and I do), but I go home a bit confused. As it turns out, the tweeter for the Monitor 3 is a different size than what he had on hand, so I couldn't get a new one right away. In about 2 weeks.

So when I go home, I set it up again, thinking that maybe it was just a weird coincidence. But when I played the test sound again, sure enough it was back. Wife could tell from the next room. But otherwise the speaker sounds great, although I haven't driven it really hard yet (we did in the showroom, and it was fine).

Anyone have any ideas as to why this might be? Something with the crossover maybe? I don't think it is the amp, or dvd player (the other Energy speakers played it fine, as did the other Monitor 3). Could it be my room? I am at a loss, and thought maybe I missing something obvious. Maybe I shouldn't even worry since it is just a test tone, and not real music, which seems to be fine. Just thought I would share this, and see if anyone has an answer....

cam
04-02-2005, 05:47 PM
You have probably already done this but check all the screws and make sure they are secured. It sounds like something is resonating with in the speaker at certain frequencies ie, test tones. Maybe the grill it self is the problem. I think you made a good choice on those 3's, how did they compare to the mini's and 5's. If the tweeter is toast right out of the box don't worry, this can happen to any speaker and any brand. You have a 5 year warranty with yours.

Woochifer
04-02-2005, 05:48 PM
My guess would be something going on at the crossover. Crackly sounds like you describe are typically either distortion or a short. Distortion would point to a physical problem with the driver, while a short could be anything else along the signal path. The intermittent nature of the problem as you describe it sounds more like a crossover problem or something going on with one of the connectors. Either way, they're easy to fix.

IRG
04-02-2005, 06:05 PM
My guess would be something going on at the crossover. Crackly sounds like you describe are typically either distortion or a short. Distortion would point to a physical problem with the driver, while a short could be anything else along the signal path. The intermittent nature of the problem as you describe it sounds more like a crossover problem or something going on with one of the connectors. Either way, they're easy to fix.

Thanks Cam and Woochifer. I am still puzzled why this didn't do it back in the store. Here we hooked it up to a Marantz integrated amp. Neither of us heard anything abnormal at all at any volume. Can the crossover be replaced as well without much hassle?

yogo
04-02-2005, 11:20 PM
Best troubleshooting choice I can think of is ask your dealer to lend you a new one to try out in place of the possibly defective one.

That will narrow it down to your system probs or the original speaker problem.

If you still have problems with the lender speaker, it's your system... if not, it's the original speaker.

kexodusc
04-03-2005, 07:38 AM
I had a cold solder joint that was working sort of intermittently in one of my crossovers that caused a speaker of mine to do the same thing...mine was at a speaker terminal lug on the crossover.
It might be something with the xo...
Try it in a different room. Is your cable coming in/out of your amplifier in securely? Try switching that (ya never know, I've had it happen to me...). If the problem persists you can bet it's something with the speaker.

The crossover and tweeter are easy enough to replace in those if it comes to that. They might find when removing the tweeter that the quick disconnect or solder joint are the culprit.

Whatever you do...DON'T let this drag on...every trip to the dealer and back is money out of your pocket.

IRG
04-04-2005, 05:25 AM
Best troubleshooting choice I can think of is ask your dealer to lend you a new one to try out in place of the possibly defective one.

That will narrow it down to your system probs or the original speaker problem.

If you still have problems with the lender speaker, it's your system... if not, it's the original speaker.

Problem is, my dealer doesn't have any other Monitor 3 v3 in stock. This was the last pair. When he orders again it will be a v4 model. And if I want those, I have to pay for them before he orders - which I don't really like, but oh well.

Otherwise he is accommodating in changing out the tweeter, etc. I am going to ask him about the crossover today.

I know it isn't the system that is causing this. When I swap in my older pair of energy speakers, this noise doesn't exist. And the other Monitor speaker doesn't do it either.

IRG
04-04-2005, 05:29 AM
I had a cold solder joint that was working sort of intermittently in one of my crossovers that caused a speaker of mine to do the same thing...mine was at a speaker terminal lug on the crossover.
It might be something with the xo...
Try it in a different room. Is your cable coming in/out of your amplifier in securely? Try switching that (ya never know, I've had it happen to me...). If the problem persists you can bet it's something with the speaker.

The crossover and tweeter are easy enough to replace in those if it comes to that. They might find when removing the tweeter that the quick disconnect or solder joint are the culprit.

Whatever you do...DON'T let this drag on...every trip to the dealer and back is money out of your pocket.

I do think it could be crossover, and an intermittant problem like you suggested. Because this speaker didn't do it when I brought it in. And when I swapped in other speakers on my home system, it also didn't happen. Just when I put this one speaker back either in the left or right front I swapped speakers to make sure it wasn't connections or amp).

I played some Sarah McLaughlin at pretty high volumes yesterday (about 90 db) and she sounded great. Whatever this issue is, it really doesn't affect music. But you're right, I am not going to let it drag on. If the new tweeter doesn't resovle this, I might just order a new pair of v4. Otherwise I really like this speaker. A nice fuller sound than the Energy C-3 that already sounded quite good.

Eric Z
04-04-2005, 08:01 AM
I'd be afraid something might happen later on caused by this "defect."

The part that confuses me the most (I'm sure it confuses you the most, too), is how you weren't able to replicate the defect in the store using their equipment. That tells me that it has something to do with how that one speaker interacts with the rest of your system. Do you have a different receiver you can hook it up to at home? I wonder what would happen if you were able to hook up the new speakers to a different NAD receiver (same model).

Keep us updated- very interesting!

IRG
04-04-2005, 09:05 AM
I'd be afraid something might happen later on caused by this "defect."

The part that confuses me the most (I'm sure it confuses you the most, too), is how you weren't able to replicate the defect in the store using their equipment. That tells me that it has something to do with how that one speaker interacts with the rest of your system. Do you have a different receiver you can hook it up to at home? I wonder what would happen if you were able to hook up the new speakers to a different NAD receiver (same model).

Keep us updated- very interesting!

Yes this interesting, and somewhat amusing, although more for others than myself! I do have another receiver, but it is getting packed up and sold over ebay soon.

You know, it just occured to me that even though I didn't hear it in the store when I brought it back, I only had that one speaker with me, not the pair. We used another speaker (I think it was an Energy) to work as the left/right pair. Maybe it is only noticeable when both speakers from the Monitor 3 line are being used.

Otherwise I am at a loss. Almost as if this one speaker doesn't quite resonate with the test tones at certain volumes. But there is nothing noticeable otherwise. I'm still going to order a new tweeter and see if that does something. And if not, I can still trade in the pair for a new pair if need be.

My dealer thought that the new Monitor series was going to have silver grills in place of black (although black could be ordered). Not sure I would like that - the dealer doesn't either. But it could be cool too.

I will add up update if anything is learned.