OT: Speaker Problem

[Travis King]

Mom has the Altec Lansing AVS500 speakers. The sub recently makes this
knocking noise (quiet but annoying), and it doesn't quit even when you turn
the speakers off or have any sound going. I played music that had bass in
the songs, and I noticed the bass did not have at all a steady sound and the
speaker in the sub was moving, and by that, I mean the *entire* speaker was
moving, not just the center of it even on very low volumes. I'm assuming
this means these speakers are shot? I just went ahead and turned the sub
all the way down, but even so, it still must have just enough bass to
trigger the knocking, which isn't quitting. Thanks.

 

[Bob I]

Unplug them from the PC and see if it still happens.

 

[Travis King]

The speakers are turned off however not unplugged from the electricity. I
just unplugged them from the sound card, and they are still making the
knocking sound, and it is definitely coming from the subwoofer. They must
be shot then? I'm assuming Mom blew the sub or else the sub just went bad?

 

[Travis King]

Sure enough. I went ahead and connected a spare set of speakers, which
actually have more bass than the AVS500 anyway and when I hit the sub of the
bad speakers, the subwoofer made a spring 'boing' sound when I smacked it
when it used to just make a solid wood sound.

 

[Bob I]

As the saying goes, "He's dead, Jim"

The speakers are turned off however not unplugged from the electricity.
I just unplugged them from the sound card, and they are still making the
knocking sound, and it is definitely coming from the subwoofer. They
must be shot then? I'm assuming Mom blew the sub or else the sub just
went bad?

 

[Travis King]

Tore open the sub tonight and I notice that on the circuit board, it had two
major cracks by where a screw was mounted, and I also notice this silver
plate that was causing the 'boing' noise. Right next to where the two
cracks were on the circuit board, there were a few capacitors, and just to
the left of the those capacitors, it looked like there was a golden brown
instead of just brown spot, so I am betting that it's toast.