Can tweeters gradually lose performance?

[BoomboxLover48]

I was wondering how tweeters fail!

We all know it can completely fail when the coils go bad.

Can a slow death happen by gradually failing to respond to high notes?

 

[crazygamer]

For me they are for decorational purpose as they don´t seem to have any proper use to me. I haven´t even heard them in action really.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

For me they are for decorational purpose as they don´t seem to have any proper use to me. I haven´t even heard them in action really.

No way!

Its time for an ear exam and see if you miss over 4000 cps.

 

[crazygamer]

No way!

Its time for an ear exam and see if you miss over 4000 cps.

I´ve never heard how they actually sound, how they should sound or what they should do, chirp or what ?

 

[Reli]

For me it's been the "pizeo" style tweeters that stop working.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

For me it's been the "pizeo" style tweeters that stop working.

Exactly! I was thinking the same.

I heard some of the boombox tweeters slowly die. I didn't know that. I thought it was just a sudden death and that was the end of it.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Piezo tweeters have been heard to suffer premature deaths but cone style tweeters tend not to die gradually.

I tend to think that a Boombox that is developing a flatter sounding output has other internal issues than just worn out tweeters. Bad caps in the signal path can cause this issue.

James....

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Piezo tweeters have been heard to suffer premature deaths but cone style tweeters tend not to die gradually.

I tend to think that a Boombox that is developing a flatter sounding output has other internal issues than just worn out tweeters. Bad caps in the signal path can cause this issue.

James....

Thanks James! That makes sense.

 

[MyOhMy]

For me they are for decorational purpose as they don´t seem to have any proper use to me. I haven´t even heard them in action really.

Put a cushion against the main speaker to muffle the sound, place your ear against the tweeter then smile with glee.

 

[Reli]

Get a Lasonic TRC920 or Sanyo M9994. Even a deaf person could hear those tweeters.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Get a Lasonic TRC920 or Sanyo M9994. Even a deaf person could hear those tweeters.

Besides those you mentioned, Akai AJ500FS, Sanyo Big Ben, Panasonic RX5350, RX 7200, Sanyo M9998 are other boxes that really shows the tweeter effect.

 

[caution]

Every box I've acquired so far with piezo tweeters are either dead or nearly dead.
When they're made they're zapped, or poled, with a high DC voltage to align the crystal domains inside. It's the electric equivalent of magnetization. This alignment isn't very robust in low-quality materials, so they're fading out as the alignment disappears. It's possible to damage them with too high a voltage, but that would probably only happen if there was a problem with the amp, and would kill it quickly.

 

[trippy1313]

Get a Lasonic TRC920 or Sanyo M9994. Even a deaf person could hear those tweeters.

Very true. One in my 920 went out a few months back. I knew immediately when it happened. Even just the one out the radio sounded extremely flat.

Truth is, I never believed they did much until that happened.

 

[Superduper]

Every box I've acquired so far with piezo tweeters are either dead or nearly dead.

My experience exactly. When new however, they generally are very assertive, but on these old things, you'd think someone played a joke on you with those discs if you didn't know better.