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Sidcurtis
16-04-2011, 16:24
I have just joined the forum to try and find out more about my JR150's and a DW2 Subwoofer. I had a pair of JR149's in the 80's and stupidly let them go.
I recently regained an interest in getting a sound system again rather than relying on the Pioneer surround for all musical things.
I saw an advert for the 150's complete with DW2 and on impulse bought them. Now I have to make them work properly.

I have the 150's connected to a JVC J-SA22 amp. I understand the DW2 should be connected to the amp and the speakers to the DW2.

The wiring on the DW2 does not have any indication as to what goes where.
Two chocolate blocks with four off wires each.
Orange/Green with Yellow trace/ Red with Blue trace/Red

Can someone point me in the right direction please
Simon

Beechwoods
16-04-2011, 18:52
Hi Simon and welcome to AOS. I'm afraid that I've no experience of the DW2 sub. There are others here who have used one (JacHawk for one). Someone may know the schematics. I'll split this post into another thread where it might attract more specific notice.

Reid Malenfant
16-04-2011, 19:06
Hi Simon, any chance of getting a picture or two up of the connections? I'm just a little lost as to the colour scheme of the cables. If you happen to have a simple multimeter (or a camera & screwdriver :D) we can easily work out what's what given a bit of time. It'd make things vastly easier if you could open the thing up by possibly removing a drive unit as well.

At the end of the day it sounds like the crossover in the sub has a high pass filter that'll feed the left & right speakers. If we can't find any info it's simply a case of establishing the order of the crossover by drawing out the circuit (by you taking a picture or two again ;)) & then we'll get it sussed for you with little or no problems :)

Sidcurtis
16-04-2011, 19:59
I have attached two photos. To get to the board inside is rather more difficult. Strip off the bottom remove bottom speaker then remove a rather crude chipboard circle. Remove opposing speaker. Reamove foam that is stapled into position. Inside is a foam stuffing that covers the board. Not sure how to get the board out. If required I can strip on the dining room table tommorow.
Regards
Simon

Reid Malenfant
16-04-2011, 20:10
Hi Simon, yes i'd appreciate it if you could strip the thing (this is only for your benefit ;)) so i can work out what's going on. I'll need detailed pictures of the wires connecting to the boards, the side of the boards with the PCB tracks & the side with the components.

As long as you give me that i should be able to work out what the proper connections are :)

Sidcurtis
16-04-2011, 20:56
Mark
Tomorrow I have to put my car back together. Something I am much better at.
I am a mechanical maintenance engineer by trade. I can handle 3ph and low voltages but once you get down to millivolts and resistances I leave it to the professionals. Being colour blind all I can say is there are pretty coloured lines round resistors!
Regards
Simon

Reid Malenfant
16-04-2011, 21:04
Oh dear... Is there any chance of you taking bigger pictures & following directions on this thread upload bigger pictures (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2) & then use the [IMG} files in a post?

They aren't 100% clear, oh by the way, it'd be helpful seeing as you are in there to take a pic of the wires connecting to the driver in the enclosure & again where it terminates on the crossover.

We'll get there ;)

Sidcurtis
17-04-2011, 09:10
Mark
I did reduce the size to fit in with the upload requirement. I will redo later today and work out the photobucket thing.
Regards
Simon

Sidcurtis
17-04-2011, 17:17
http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa335/Sidpig/

Mark
The link above should take you to the images. The board is duplicated on the other half. The black pot in the middle leads to the outside and has three positions 0 -2 -4 I take this to be db.

The white wire and the green with white trace are the speaker wires.
The two speakers are mounted opposite one another vertically and all the wires are sealed through the woodwork.
Regards
Simon

Reid Malenfant
17-04-2011, 17:34
Hi Simon, well it looks to be sussed out chap ;) Both crossovers are 12Db per octave which means that the connections need to be reversed to the satelite speakers (due to phase issues) & looking at the wiring colour they have done just that :)

Here are the connections... remember they are the same for left & right speakers ;)

Input + = Red
Input - = Red/Blue tracer

Satelite output + = Orange
Satelite output - = Green/Yellow tracer


That should sort you out, please let me know how you get on :cool:

E2A:- I just had a thought... Depending on where in the room the sub is compared to the satelites you may need to reverse the positive & negative connections to each satelite or you might get cancelation near the crossover point. Best to try them both ways round & settle for the one with the most bass (in phase at the xover point). This will as i say though be dependant on the distance of the sub & satelites from your seating position ;)

Beechwoods
17-04-2011, 17:59
Top job Mark, thank you!

Reid Malenfant
17-04-2011, 18:11
Top job Mark, thank you!
I did sit there scratching my head why you'd thank me Nick but then it occured to me that you are after one & the same unit or so i'm led to believe ;)

Well at least the information is there now for when you find one. Even if the pics go walkabout you'll still know what's what :cool:

Hope you find your sub!

ATB :)

Rare Bird
17-04-2011, 18:18
Would it alter anything if i said those two seas units are push pull

Reid Malenfant
17-04-2011, 18:29
Would it alter anything if i said those two seas units are push pull
No, that'll be taken care of by how they are wired to the crossover ;) Nothing to do with input connections to the sub & output connections to the satelites. Cheers for bringing it up though, all part of the fun :eyebrows:

Beechwoods
17-04-2011, 20:29
I did sit there scratching my head why you'd thank me Nick but then it occured to me that you are after one & the same unit or so i'm led to believe ;)

Well at least the information is there now for when you find one. Even if the pics go walkabout you'll still know what's what :cool:

Hope you find your sub!

ATB :)

:lol: I thought you might wonder! Simon posted this originally on my Gallery thread, in response to posts about my JR149's. I split his post to start this thread in the hope someone would be able to help, and sure enough, I wasn't to be disappointed :lolsign:

Sidcurtis
17-04-2011, 20:45
Mark
A very big thank you.
All put back together and works. :) I have been trying on a variety of music and it's hard to describe the difference it has made. Without in line I would not have known something was missing. I have turned to level to -2 as on 0 it does appear to be prominent. We are classified as detached but in reality there is only about six inches between us and our neighbour. May have to watch the volume.
The system is in a room about 14' square and does fill with sound.

My next problem is with the 150's. It was there before connecting the sub and is not there when I use the Sonus Fabers. If I listen to Riders on the Storm the sound of rain and all the high notes are crisp and clear. The woofer is working I would say in a subtle fashion. Everything is fine the volume dial is about one third. If I listen to Dolly Parton I will always love you there is a distortion\vibration on the lower speakers one more than to other.
I have checked the cones and all looks perfect. Is there a recording or disc you would recommend that would put the system through it's paces?
What would be my next step?
Regards and thanks again
Simon

Rare Bird
17-04-2011, 23:32
Do you think one of the Audax units may have drooped? Unbolting the unit turning it all way around bolt back up usually cures it if so. Does it sound worse at low level?

Reid Malenfant
18-04-2011, 09:45
Hi Simon, i'm pleased it's now working :)

I'd have a go at what Andr'e suggested, unbolt the two bass/midrange drivers in each enclosure & turn them 180 degrees around so that the top of the basket ends up at the bottom. It's quite possible that the suspension has sagged a bit & this is causing the voice coils to rub causing some distortion. By turning them the mass of the cone/voicecoil etc may get rid of the problem straight away or over a period of time, but it certainly won't do any harm ;)

Sidcurtis
18-04-2011, 11:34
I will turn them over tonight and see what happens over the next few weeks.
Can you recommend a quality cable for connecting the speakers to the amp? Not too expensive though.

Nick I noticed you are in Bristol. Talk about tough luck the 150's and DW2 came from Bristol three weeks ago. I saw an advert on one of the sites with millions of hifi ads and was scanning down the list when I saw the advert from February. I sent the guy a mail just in case they had not gone and ended up buying them unheard. I paid 450 I don't know if that was too much but it was an impulse thing. So far I am very happy especially with the help from you guys. I'd be lost without it.
Regards

Simon

Reid Malenfant
18-04-2011, 12:16
For speaker cable i'm pretty happy with this stuff (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10m-2-5mm-Loud-Speaker-Cable-Oxygen-Free-322-Strand-/350238763399?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item518bdb6987) :) I also use the 4 & 6mm^2 stuff as well & can't find fault with it, definately not at the price anyway :cool:

Sidcurtis
19-04-2011, 20:41
New cable and banana plugs ordered.
Bottom units turned.
One appears to be ok the other still has the vibration\distortion I don't know if it's as bad or not. I suppose it's best to wait a while longer. It's only some notes that set it off.

Next question. Sonus Fabers have two sets of connections which are currently linked together. Is there a different way of wiring them?
Regards
Simon

Beechwoods
19-04-2011, 21:19
There's bi-wiring http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/audio/biwire/Page1.html - you can run two separate pairs of wires from your amp to each speaker. I've never really worried too much about the benefits or otherwise of bi-wiring but it's a relatively cheap experiment if you have speaker cable to spare...

Jac Hawk
29-04-2011, 10:05
Sorry for being lazy and late with posting on this thread, "i've got the kids at the moment and they're running me ragged:steam:". Anyway 1st off, that sub of yours is an absolute gem, i would kill for another one, secondly it should have it's own dedicated amp and as i recall the connections for all your speakers are on there

http://www.mcmullon.com/icollect/hi_fi/jim_rodgers/images/jr_bass_amplifier.jpg

Reid Malenfant
29-04-2011, 10:17
:scratch: Odd, why bother with a crossover then :scratch: Besides which there appears to be no way of bypassing the crossover so i honestly have no idea how that amp would be connected Mike :scratch:

Jac Hawk
29-04-2011, 10:48
Hmmmm, i had the JR Super Woofer and it came with it's own amp which had a low pass filter built in, i thought the DW2 was the same just with 2 10" drivers instead of 1 reflex ported, take a look at this site http://www.mcmullon.com/icollect/hi_fi/jim_rodgers/jr_review.htm#Introduction and you will see what i mean

Reid Malenfant
29-04-2011, 11:01
Reading that site there were two types of JR Super Woofers, active & passive ;) It appears the DW2 or at least the version here is passive :)


There was a passive version with the terminals for the satellite JR149s coming from below the super woofer unit.

The active version used an amplifier in a brown box with large heat sink fins with an on/off and a 'volume' control for the bass.

Sidcurtis
29-05-2011, 15:51
I'm back again. I thought I'd give it time for the speakers to settle down. Unfortunately it is still there. Fortunately I can run the DW2 with the Sonus speakers. I suppose I will have to get them looked at professionally. Thats not going to be cheap I expect. Any recommendations?

Can someone explain the difference between active and passive please. I take it the DW2 does not need a separate amplifier. It certainly can produce floor vibration without one.

Rare Bird
29-05-2011, 16:16
Subs are generally Active but you can get some passive..

Active units don't need amps

Sidcurtis
13-09-2011, 18:40
I sent the four drive units to Wembley Speakers and whilst they were not the quickest of turn arounds I am very very pleased with the results. They sound just perfect with no vibration or distortion. All four units including post and packing £187. Well worth the expenditure.
Thanks to all for their help
Sid