Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Voice Coil leads causing Buzzing?

I know there have been posts in the past about buzzing, by both others and myself. I have noticed this problem on Both sets of M80's I Have owned, The first pair were bought in I believe 2001 and I hadnt noticed it until one woofer went bad and buzzed quite loudly, Axiom replaced the woofer and all was fine, Until I moved that pair to our Theater system and was doing testing with the Avia disc usint test tones. I again noticed a buzz from both speakers on some of the frequencies. This time it wasnt just one woofer it was a couple of them. Woofers and midrange.

After searching the boards I dug up some information about a bad batch of drivers that had the leads going from the voice coil to the back of the driver too long, which caused them to touch the cone at certain times. This makes sense. Because that pair of speakers is in the theater, and I rarely notice a buzz on movies... (only once or twice that i can recall) I havent really pursued getting any more drivers or anything.

But as I was doing testing today... can you say torture testing? (see Emotiva shutdown thread) I noticed some buzzing on both my newer 80's from the bass drivers. Not really noticable unless I put my ear near the port on the rear. I cant help but think there is a design flaw with the drivers, and the voice coil leads being too long for the type of duty these drivers are being used for. If indeed it is a case of the leads being too long.

Since we are all aware of the torture testing that goes on at axiom im somewhat surprised that this hasnt been noticed. I dont know if I am just exceeding what these drivers are capable of in terms of Xmax or not. I would think that if they can play for days on end with 2.5 times the power my amplifiers are capable of then they should be able to take whatever i can dish out.

I really hate to point out what I think is a problem with anyones hard work but hopefully it will help for the better. I hope My hope is that other members here can confirm or deny their findings and it would also be helpfull is someone at axiom could do the same just to prove im not the only one who has ever noticed this.

And yes i have tightened down every screw on the cabinet. You can only crank on those screws so much before you start stripping them. I think something like 8 screws per bass driver, and 6 per midrange would also be good as it would be more secure. would it not?

Actually, After looking at the date i registered on the forum, I got my first pair of M80's early Jan 03' and my second pair in July 07'

Not sure if that puts me in the timeframe of when the suspect drivers were discovered for my older speakers.

Are you sure your not just hearing a 60hz hum from your electrical or ground loop, etc...? When I first got my new m80's and ep600, I noticed a similar buzzing sound like you describe coming from the 80's woofers and even my vp150. Once I removed the ground screw on my ep600, waaalaaaaa, no problem.

Well my first pair i bought for myself in my 2 channel system. Then when my parents built a new house with dedicated theater room we ordered a 7.1 epic 80 system with everything being boston cherry finish (like my old 80's) and instead of the new pair of 80's being the same old finish i decided to get the HG cherry when it was offered for free. Now the HG cherry v2's are in my 2 channel system and everything else is in the theater, which i also get to use quite alot

The best of both worlds A great 2 channel system for myself. And the use of a great 7.1 theater.

The spider assembly could be bottoming out...particularly if the signal is distorted.

I had a similar issue with one of my m60's back when I was crazy about treating my room with acoustic panels. When using the RealTraps test tone CD that goes from 10hz to 300hz in 1hz increments (takes a long time), I was hearing this weird buzzing sound. At first I thought it was just some weird relective thing with my room.

However, after closer examination as you mentioned, I could really hear it if I placed my ears near the back of the speaker. In my situation, it was the loudest if I placed my ears down by the speaker terminals.

I also noticed by pushing on the terminals with my fingers, I could either stop the noise, or change the pitch of the noise. I then checked to see that the four screws holding the plate in place where snug, they were.

Sometimes air can escape and create a buzzing sound. This applies to the drivers as well. The next thing I tried was to start loosening the screws to check inside where the crossover is located. As I was loosening the screws I noticed the pitch of the noise changed, eventually with the right combination of tightening some and slightly loosening the others the noise stopped.

I did report this to axiom and they sent me a rubber like gasket to place behind the plastic housing, have not had a single problem since. Oh yeah, I don't own them anymore, I've go 80v2's now.

I have a very similar "whistling" issue with my EP600. When the grill is on, at 20 Hz (as per my test CD) and loud levels, I hear a whistling. The problem goes away when the grill is off.