# Need help with EV speakers



## Head Coach (May 24, 2009)

I am a general manager of an ice rink and I went out and bought about $20,000.00 worth of club lighting last year. Before I went out and invested in this lighting, I contacted the manufacture of the speakers (17 of them) that are hanging over the ice in the overhead.

It took a year and a half to get the distributor out to check on the speakers because some were working and others were not.

Yesterday they came in and took 10 speakers down out of 17. When I asked them what do they think was wrong, they said that we had over-driven them and they went bad. Even though they have a 3 year warranty, the speakers are now 4 years old. I missed the cut-off date becuae they would bet back to me a year and a half ago. So I eat it....no big deal, I guess.

However, to replace them it's going to cost $385 for the pair, will need 5 new pairs.

So, the nut job that I am, I took off the screen and unscrewed the speaker from the housing and noticed that at the bottom of the speaker was a circut board with two large ceramic resistors and a couple of large capacitors mounted to the board.

Well, when I looked inside, one of the ceramic resistors was on the board and sitting in the bottom of the housing. So I opened a couple more bad speakers and several had both ceramic resistors and a capacitor missing of the board and sitting in the bottom of the housing.

Now, I called the guys that pulled them off the ceiling and they told me that I drove them too hard. But here's my question.....

If I drove them to distruction, then why are there still 7 in the overhead that work?:dunno:

Now logic would dictate that if I drove them all the same speed because they are all daisy chained together, would they be all bad?

I just think that maybe it's a bad product. I noticed that the manufacture soldered the components on the board, then pushed them over on their side and glued them to the board. Maybe they did this to keep the components from raddling off the board. But would you think that by pushing them over after they have been soldered, that they might have put stress on the actual leads.

Well, I am going to fix them myself and see if I can save myself a buck. So here's the main question....

The club lights that I put in, in the overhead, are designed to go off with base. So they said that I drove them too hard trying to get base out of them, but they were not designed for that. So, I would like to place some Subwoofers in the over head to take care of this problem.

What size should I get? 8, 10, 12, 15 inch speakers to do the job? Plus, can anyone recommend a good one? Plus, how many should I get for a rink that is 200 ft by 100 ft? Will one do the job? If so, do I place it in the over head at center, or off to the side?

Thanks for your help in advance
Head Coach


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## DrWho (Sep 27, 2006)

What speakers are you running?

If you ran them hard enough, then it's possible that the xover components got so hot they desoldered and essentially melted off. I've repaired quite a few speakers where that has happened. The sound quality should have been quite horrid when this was happening though, but maybe it was hard to tell with all the noise in a big ice rink type setting.

I would highly recommend installing a limiter on the sound system to prevent any future failures. I would also recommend checking the other speakers that didn't smoke to ensure they are fully operational and not just partially damaged.

As far as the subwoofage, I would recommend finding a reputable pro sound installer in your area to provide some recommendations since they would also be able to provide support and get everything calibrated properly and provide service as necessary. Not knowing the specifics of your application, I'd say it would take some very serious subwoofage to fill an ice arena with thumpin bass. Think on the order of a couple dozen 18" pro subs...and then you need the amps to drive all of it.

I hope I'm not recommending something way over the top for what you plan on doing...


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Yeah, ditto on the "desoldering through overdriving" conclusion. I have seen that several times and even a few exploded ceramic resistors. Always better to have that part fail rather than the voice coil or diaphragm. 

that being said, there still might be damage to the speakers south of the crossover -- you wont' know until you get them fixed.

good luck.


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## Synthsayer (Dec 19, 2007)

Did you say these were EV speakers? Is the installer an authorised EV dealer? If so, call EV today! Go to EV Pro Web Site and then click on contact. 
With a 200X100 foot space and 20 foot ceilings you have around 400,000 cubic feet of space to fill with sound. Remember, a high quality sound system will bring in a lot of customers. You should go with at least 4 -18" sub cabinets. I would go with 6 or 8 if its in your buddget. You can hang them, but having them on the floor may cost less, be safer, and disperse the sound better. Lay the subs down so the woofers are closest to the floor. A true professional installer will tell you everything you need.
Don't skimp on low power amps either. That will blow your speakers faster than high decibel levels. Get Crown, QSC, or Crest power amps with at least 500 Watts per channel. Make sure you look at the power output as Watts into 8 ohms. This will give you the best idea of what power the amp has.
You need high output, good sound and reliability.
Remember, get a pro sound installer. Don't go to a music store unless they have a record of doing installations in large clubs. It goes without saying to always check references of previous installations.
Sorry you have had such a rough time of it. I would be ready to sue the installer if his delayed response to my service request cost me to lose out on warranty coverage.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

First of all EV makes a good pro grade product for the type of space your using them in so I would not worry about their quality however it does seem that you have them "daisy chained together" as you stated and that is not the way I would have done them. Distortion can cause all sorts of grief and I am wondering if you have too little power driving the speakers also a few subs placed around the building wold help dramatically. EV makes subs and so dose may other commercial grade companies like Community, QSC, Pevey, Yamaha, and may others.


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