(Topic ID: 292411)

No sound from cabinet speaker while backbox speakers work fine

By rlbohon3

2 years ago



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  • 6 posts
  • 3 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by rlbohon3
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#1 2 years ago

So I just started a restoration on a Twilight Zone and one of the things I've noticed is that there is no (zero) sound coming from the woofer speaker in the cabinet, while the two backbox speakers seem to be working fine. If I disconnect a wire to the cabinet speaker, sound goes away (to be expected per the circuit), but how is there no sound coming from the cabinet speaker while it's definitely part of the circuit to run the backbox speakers?

Is this just a symptom of a dead, non-moving speaker, even though it still completes the circuit for the other speakers? Or, is this a sign of a dead cap or other component that feeds the cabinet speaker?

Thoughts?

#2 2 years ago
Quoted from rlbohon3:

So I just started a restoration on a Twilight Zone and one of the things I've noticed is that there is no (zero) sound coming from the woofer speaker in the cabinet, while the two backbox speakers seem to be working fine. If I disconnect a wire to the cabinet speaker, sound goes away (to be expected per the circuit), but how is there no sound coming from the cabinet speaker while it's definitely part of the circuit to run the backbox speakers?
Is this just a symptom of a dead, non-moving speaker, even though it still completes the circuit for the other speakers? Or, is this a sign of a dead cap or other component that feeds the cabinet speaker?
Thoughts?

The backbox speakers and cabinet speakers are separate circuits from the audio amplifier out. Some things to check:

1. Ohm out/continuity check from speaker terminals back to J1 of the sound board. You could have a broken wire, even one internally broken in the insulation jacket.

2. Check speaker ohms with a DMM/ohm meter. Could be a dead speaker.

3. Check J1 male/female pins, could be a failed crimp connector on the plug, or cracked solder connection to male header pins on the sound board.

4. If all the above checks out, then the next place to investigate is the sound board itself (the TDA2030 Amplifier component can fail for one) otherwise you'll need advanced skills to troubleshoot audio amplifier with an oscilloscope.

#3 2 years ago

Either me or wayout440 , but someone is mistaken (I think I'm right). but according to the manual , Twilight Zone doesn't use the soundboard with the TDA2030 dual amps, but uses the much more common board with the single amp LM1875. You are also experiencing the same symptoms as if you have a single amp. If you unplug the cabinet speaker, you are effectively taking both speakers out of the circuit. I see only 2 ways this can happen. The speaker itself has its coil shorted or it's cone popped out. If you have a multimeter , unplug the cabinet speaker and measure resistance, how much is it ? It should typically be 4 ohms. If you measure the 4 ohms ,the cones must be broken. If you measure less than 4 ohms the coil is most likely shorted. You can use a 9v battery to basically test a speaker and see if the cone moves. Disconnect both leads of the speaker before you use a 9v battery. Just briefly touch the contacts to the battery, if the cone moves the speaker *should* be ok. Don't do this test too much to be sure you don't damage the wires connecting to the coil of the speaker.

I think wayout440 looked at the wrong sound board schematic in the WPC Schematic manual, as the board with the dual amplifiers is shown in there , but that's not the one used in Twilight Zone.

The speaker wiring I took from the fish tales manual , as it is missing from the TZ manual.

speak (resized).pngspeak (resized).png
#4 2 years ago
Quoted from Roamin:

I think wayout440 looked at the wrong sound board schematic in the WPC Schematic manual, as the board with the dual amplifiers is shown in there , but that's not the one used in Twilight Zone.
The speaker wiring I took from the fish tales manual , as it is missing from the TZ manual.
[quoted image]

OK. I took that from the link provide under the IPDB.com page for TZ, after not seeing the audio circuits in the TZ Manual at the same site.

#5 2 years ago

Thanks guys. That was easy; didn't even think of checking the easy stuff and my mind was immediately going to something else. The speaker resistance across the coil is reading about 0.5ohm; I'm thinking there's just a short internally. Applying 9v to the speaker made for a slight "pop" sound, but the cone did not visibly move that I could tell. I'll order a replacement speaker; pretty sure those tests confirm the culprit.

Thanks again for the tips, guys.

#6 2 years ago

Just a quick follow up; the speaker was definitely bad. A new replacement and it’s back to normal.

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