Tempest = Rattles and Buzzes (1 Viewer)

[Andrew S]

Alright I just moved my Tempest back into my room from the car where I had it for about a month or so. In the car it was up-firing, in my room it was forward firing. The Tempest worked perfectly both ways... except now that I moved it back into my room for home theater and have it forward-firing, all it does is rattle and buzz. But if I lay my enclosure on it's side like I had it in my car, it doesn't buzz at all.
I am VERY frustrated as I love my Tempest very much and paid a lot of money for it, (well, enough considering I'm canadian and only 17).
Any suggestions? Everything's wired correctly...
Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Rob Formica]

Hmmm... buzz comes and goes according to orientation... sounds like something is leaning up against your woofer when it is forward firing. Sounds more like a simple mechanical glitch rather than a problem:

1-Check to see it none of your wires are loose and can vibrate against your woofer
2-Verify that none of the speaker leads (from terminal to voice coil) haven't come loose
3-See if any dirt, metal, screws, etc... aren't trapped somewhere in the woofer...

I'm sure you can come up with others... I don't think your woofer has failed as it would perform badly in all positions...

Good luck,
Rob

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

Also make sure the driver screws are snug.

I doubt the tinsel leads are slapping on the cone but you could check for that.

 

[Lee Carbray]

Andrew, how did it sound in the car?

 

[Seth_L]

Loose Polyfill?

Seth

 

[Andrew S]

It sounded fine in the car, and still sounds fine when it's in the same position it was in the car, which is upfiring. At first I thought it was a wire rubbing against the cone, but I took the driver out and power it in free-air air and it did the same thing. It sounded good (as good as it can sound in free-air I mean) until I tilted it to the side and it began to rattle and buzz again. So that pretty much narrows it down to the driver.
As I said, it did sound good in the car and currently does sound good when upfiring (or down-firing), it's just when the driver is vertical that it sounds awful.
One day, I did notice a drop of water on the cone after opening the trunk, so I wiped it up and placed a dry towel over it the cone. A small amount of water wouldn't do it, would it?
Anyway, keep the responses coming if you will.. Hopefully Adire will respond to my email.
Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Lee Carbray]

Andrew I should have been more clear. I was not asking in relation to your problem. Not that I don't care about your problem, I just do not have any other advise other then the good help you are already receiving. I am sure Adire will now best anyway. I am just curious as to how well it performed in a car application.

Cheers,

 

[Andrew S]

Lee, I, as well as many others at car audio forums, think it performs very well in the car. Granted my box isn't totally sound quality oriented and the car sure rattled like hell (no sound deadening), but I thought it sounded great (I'm a teenage basshead), and many others run shivas/tempests in their cars as well if they have the room for the enclosures.
I believe Chris Tsutsui also uses/used a Tempest in his car. Maybe he can chime in.
Andrew

 

[Andrew S]

Anyone have any other advice?
Andrew

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Andrew, you got me worried. I still have my Tempest in its original box, and yep. I have the same problem you are having. Depending on the orientation, my driver has a very weird sound to it, as if the voice coils were slapping the cone. It also has a weird noise on the back, as if something was loose inside the vented voicecoil.

I sure hope all those buzzes and noises will be inaudible when my Tempest is in a box (at least, that's what the people at Adire told me).

 

[Andrew S]

Well, I thought this post died out, but since it hasn't, I'll update. I emailed Adire's tech support and they said that it's probably a coil misalignment and that I should contact my dealer for a replacement, which I did. Long story short, my replacement Tempest is in the mail and I'm impressed with the customer service of Adire and my dealer (creativesound.ca).
Now I just want to know what caused the misalignment and if it was anything I did? LIke I said, I never abused the driver to my knowledge, but would still like to know if it was just the driver's fault or if there were factors that I introduced that affected it.
And Javier, have you put any power to the driver? If it's anything like my situation, the buzzing is VERY loud in both free air and in the box. You can notice it from 5+ feet away at modest volumes.