Need help with speaker crossover

[Niko]

Hi everyone!
I know it really sounds easy and I already feel stupid but I really need some help.
I am just finishing IPL acoustic S2TLM ribbon speakers.

I have tried today to assemble one crossover to see how it works.
Did not solder anything but just twisted wires and put some spades on internal wire.
I have triple checked crossover panel drawings...but end up that is not working good.
I can barely hear speakers...so I think that I have probably did something wrong on crossover panel because I have tested speakers both together in biwire and separately bass and tweeter.

I have even take spades out and tried with bare internal wire to try to eliminate problem.
I have tried to disconnect and connect 3x and even tested another pair of speakers.
Every time the same.
I can actually tell now that I don't hear tweeter at all and I can hear bass unit barely...and without any bass.
I will try to put pictures here so If any one can help me with some tip or thinking what I have done wrong.

Many thanks and sorry for my bad english.









Cheers!

[walpurgis]

Difficult to be sure, but from the description of what you are hearing, it could be that you have connected the bass drivers to the tweeter output and possibly the tweeters to the bass section. I hope the tweeters have survived intact, as bass put through them could be bad.

You must use a series capacitor if you are testing the tweeters. Unless you have a meter handy of course.

[Niko]

Thank you for answering walpurgis!
I am 100% sure that I did not mix bass and tweeter.
And I'm to tired an frustrated to assemble another one to try tonight.

[walpurgis]

In that case Nikola, it could be a good idea to email IPL. I'm sure they'd assist.

http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/

[fatmarley]

From what I can see the crossover looks fine. Certainly the woofer section, so you should be getting sound through the woofer at least.

Have a good nights sleep and double check the wiring tomorrow. You'll probably be doing this () when you find out what the problem Is.

[Niko]

Hi!
I got the answer today from mr.Ivan ( IPL acoustic) and he said that the crossovers must be assembled properly with soldered joints, all wire ends must be scraped so there is no insulation left on the inductor wires , just twisting together is not good enough.
I was hoping that that was it what I did wrong so when I came today afternoon home I did as told and again the same thing.
Was trying to find someone with skills on this stuff around me is about 200 km from here.
And even that guy when I send him the picture of my assembly told me bass should work without a problem.

I think at the and I will send back components to IPL so Ivan can do that for me.

All I can say is I am a little disappointed in myself.... because from all topics on IPL build never heard that anybody head problem with crossover assembly.
Aaaaaaah!

[The Alchemist]

Hi Nikola, I'm sorry you are having problems with you crossovers. My hobby is building IPL speakers and have made quite a few over the years. Whilst I am keen on testing things out I think that you have been over ambitious in assembling the componenets "dry" and expecting them to work. My advice would be to disconnect all the components and clean all the bare wires thoroughly with abrasive paper, pay particular attention to the terminals. (Ivan is very particular about that in his instructions.) Then carfully solder all the wires together. As far as testing is concerned, I just do a simple continuity check with a meter but be aware that you might not get anything downstream of the capacitors. I suspect that if you take my advice you will find that it will all work fine but if you need to contact Ivan I'm sure that he will be very helpful. You may be interested in seeing how I do my crossovers. Instead of fixing everything to the connection panel I fix a piece of 3mm Paxolin sheet to the "posts" on the panel and assemble everything to the board using hot melt glue and cable ties. All soldered joints are made on solder tags for extra security. The original input tags from the connection panel are transfered to the new board and attached with short flying leads. This is maybe a bit fiddly and time consuming but well worth it to do a good job. It is very frustrating when things do not go to plan with a DIY product but I'm sure that you will be delighted with the results when you finish your speakers. I will include a photograph of the way that I do my crossovers which may be of interest to you and hope that you get everything sorted soon.

[walpurgis]

Soldering is pretty easy and just requires a little patience and common sense. If you never have a go, you'll never be able to and it's a handy skill to have. You can ask here for any advice you need as you go along. The equipment is cheap enough.

There is nothing in the crossovers that is particularly prone to damage, just don't cut wires too short. Any soldering mistakes can be rectified, as joints can be resoldered easily. Also, there's nothing there that can't be replaced at no great cost, should the worst happen.

The only thing to be careful with once the crossovers are built is the ribbon tweeters. They will blow if the receive bass signals.

[fatmarley]

Soldering's easy once you know how. There are tons of tutorial videos on Youtube:



Antex make good, cheap reliable irons.

[The Alchemist]

Finally sorted how to show an image of my crossovers- hope it is of interest.