HLCD Guru Questions!!!!

I have my 4 HLCD on a separate 2 channel 1000 watt kicker amp (should be plenty of power). Last night we rode for about 3.5 hours total. The amp never thermaled & didn’t seem overly hot too the touch. We were getting enough battery power due to the running boat. Every so often my speakers would let out an “air horn” noise during the music. I actually thought one of the fellow tubers was blowing an air horn at me but found it to be the speakers. I did find out I had a faulty speaker wire connection at the amp. Once I get the connection lined out I hope it clears this “horn” sound up. I’ve never heard of this can you provide any input as to why they would do this. I’m new to the HLCD technology. Thanks


P.S. I have my whole system (3 amps) on 3 different switches. So I turned my towers off & turned only the cabin speakers on they seemed fine so I dont think its the deck.

My hunch is that whatever sound you were getting, it would have been the same whether you were running horns, or direct radiating traditional drivers. A speaker only reproduces what the amplifier sends it, usually. Something tells me that the loose speaker connections at the amp might have been touching internmittently or even short out to the other terminal, causing the amp to "freak-out" for lack of a better term, and send a bunch of noise out to the speakers.

If the diaphragm in the drivers truly acted like the diaphragm in a traditional horn, like a truck air horn, I do not think it would last to continue playing after the fact.... there is a LOT of air pressure requried to make those things work.... Car horns are similar, but use different technology....

There is that freak chance that you have a failed t-lead in the horn, one where it would make-break quickly like a car horn, but that is highly unlikely...

I bet you will be fine after remedying the loose wire at the amp.

Phil
Kicker

There's lots of potential electronic causes ... a little corrosion on a sensitive
input stage, a loose RCA shield or anything that makes the amplifier hum or
oscillate. But its unlikely that its a speaker problem until the cause blows the
speaker.

David
Earmark Marine

I agree with David on this one. The issue you are seeing is not a speaker problem but either an amplifier gaging or a bad RCA grounding/shorting out. The result is it gets your speakers to burp. I had one member of this forum (lets see if he chimes in) stop by Exile last week and he was worried something was up with his XM7 HLCD's. When I took a look at the setup, we swapped the source unit RCA's from Tower to Cabin and presto, the problem transfered. You might look at trying the same thing to see if you can repeat the problem. In his case he had bad set of outputs off his Kenwood deck.

Hope this helps.

-Brian
Exile Audio

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brianinpdx

I agree with David on this one. The issue you are seeing is not a speaker problem but either an amplifier gaging or a bad RCA grounding/shorting out. The result is it gets your speakers to burp. I had one member of this forum (lets see if he chimes in) stop by Exile last week and he was worried something was up with his XM7 HLCD's. When I took a look at the setup, we swapped the source unit RCA's from Tower to Cabin and presto, the problem transfered. You might look at trying the same thing to see if you can repeat the problem. In his case he had bad set of outputs off his Kenwood deck.

Hope this helps.

-Brian
Exile Audio

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I didnt really think it could be a an output off the deck causing the problem but that sounds like an easy enough trouble shoot to swap the rca's & try to transfer the problem. I dont know how hard it is to fry a set of outputs on the deck but when we ride I always fade to the rear (hlcds) to cancel my bow speakers that are ran only off the deck. If the faulty speaker connection I originally had doesnt remedy this problem I will try your solution to narrow it down. Thanks

Best advice is to follow the signal path and go down stream from there. some little bugger will pop its head up and you'll say, "Gotcha". the real trouble is when problems wont repeat themselves.

Report back to us and we'll all try to give you some guidance. Lots of good minds here.

cheers

-Brian
Exile Audio

Got the speaker wire connection fixed and still had a problem with one side going out randomly. If I would just barely touch the rca connection I could make it go on & off. Swapped the RCA cable and all is well. Thanks for the input guys.