my MG20 tweeter went out the other day

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Posted by Green Lantern (A) on January 24, 2016 at 15:06:53

I was listening to some music the other day, cruising along at 55db (loud but not 'that' loud) and I began to notice the left tweeter was sounding a bit harsh. I wrote it off as dirty juice coming from the city lines until around 30 min into it the highs on the left completely vanished.
Well first thing I did of course was shut down the system. I didn't smell smoke which was a good sign I'm guessing, and I went out to the garage and grabbed my multi-meter. I popped out the fuse and it looked perfect (I was a little disappointed actually hoping that was the only issue)...and tested the continuity-it was good meaning the fuse was intact.

Well now I'm thinking wtf, now I have to f with the socks, remove the tweeter and send it off to Magnepan for a replacement, re-attach it, fumble with the sock again, etc.,and I'm mumbling 'why me, why me...'

I then decided to check my tube amp which powers that tweeter. Fired it up and all the tubes were aglow (disappointed again thinking it just might be a bad tube). Then I brought in my garage speaker, an old trusted Pioneer SP-BS21 Andrew Jones design. At $60 a pair it often doubles as my 'sacrifice' speaker in cases like this. Anyway I hooked up the amp into the speaker, fired up just the left side and again -no sound. Hmmm after double checking connections still no sound. Now I'm thinking I don't have a tweeter problem at all, this might be an amp problem. So I swap the right side tube amp with the left, and fed it into the MG20 tweeter, fired up the system and woola, sweet, magical sound coming from the tweeter. So now I'm happy it's not the tweeter but kind of muffed that it's now a tube amp problem. I hope it's just a bad tube (or two) in there, and not a transformer or other issue involved...I'll to have to get it checked out. I never learned to bias tubes and these amps weren't designed 'bias friendly'; at least not to a avg Joe like me.

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Topic - my MG20 tweeter went out the other day - Green Lantern 15:06:53 01/24/16 (19)

RE: Well, you are walking on the wild side when ... - andyr 12:31:12 01/25/16 (1)

RE: Well, you are walking on the wild side when ... - Green Lantern 18:39:13 01/25/16 (0)

Bummer, but - E-Stat 06:09:39 01/25/16 (10)

RE: Bummer, but - Green Lantern 18:41:49 01/25/16 (0)

RE: Bummer, but - Norman M 11:22:59 01/25/16 (8)

RE: Bummer, but - Green Lantern 19:29:51 01/25/16 (0)

If replacing a fuse - E-Stat 11:37:06 01/25/16 (6)

RE: If replacing a fuse - Norman M 10:34:54 01/26/16 (5)

Congratulations - E-Stat 10:43:01 01/26/16 (4)

Mysticism? NT - Norman M 12:21:21 01/26/16 (3)

I consider replacing fuses - E-Stat 12:32:47 01/26/16 (2)

RE: I consider replacing fuses - Norman M 13:56:28 01/26/16 (1)

RE: I consider replacing fuses - E-Stat 15:17:26 01/26/16 (0)

One (possible) solution to tube-amp biasing problems... - Audiophilander 00:26:39 01/25/16 (2)

RE: One (possible) solution to tube-amp biasing problems... - airheadair 10:06:56 01/27/16 (1)

Not OTL amps. - Audiophilander 02:36:29 01/28/16 (0)

RE: my MG20 tweeter went out the other day - russ69 22:18:54 01/24/16 (0)

RE: my MG20 tweeter went out the other day - j beede 16:26:17 01/24/16 (1)

RE: my MG20 tweeter went out the other day - Green Lantern 05:15:34 01/25/16 (0)

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