Loose fastener holding the driver to the frame or loose fastener holding the assembly to the drywall.

 

well as you can see, I have it pulled out of the wall and I still hear it. I did not try loosening the driver from the frame itself. I'm not sure if I should be touching anything on the speaker itself, for warranty reasons.

 

Hi,

I would RMA it if there's nothing obvious you can tighten or connect that is loose.

Very best,

 

If your crossover is set to 120hz you would not get any signal below that to your speaker (60-120hz) so not sure why you are having issues at that frequency. I wonder if I it is environmental or related to the source. Have you tried the other speaker connected to the same amp channel? Also try setting the crossover to 80.

 

That's not true. I thought so too for a while, but some folks way smarter than me said "crossover is not a wall". I think it slowly ramps up to that point; so it's not surprising to me that some low frequencies are playing through the LCR. Like I said I don't think this is software related; a total of 6 of these drivers across all 3 LCR are present; and only this one has the noise. Back when I spent weeks calibrating and measuring my speakers with REW, I did try cross over of 80 as well and it didn't change anything.

All this time I ignored it because I figured it was just the speaker vibrating against the drywall, but that is very obviously not the issue now that I've taken the speaker out of the wall and done more testing.

 

if you haven't already, first thing I would do would be to switch that speaker with another one and confirm that it is the speaker. We all know it probably is but that would confirm it. Does it still make the sound on a different amp channel/does the new speaker sound just fine on the first one. Probably yes but I like to eliminate things.

I am guessing that if you have to touch the surround to make it stop the sound, there is a physical problem with the driver. If you look at it for a little while and can't figure out what might be loose or if there's adhesive not sticking anymore or something obvious, then I would get that RMA started.

I like the idea of wiring or something touching the back of the driver as it moves. That was a good thought make sure that's not happening.

 

if you haven't already, first thing I would do would be to switch that speaker with another one and confirm that it is the speaker. We all know it probably is but that would confirm it. Does it still make the sound on a different amp channel/does the new speaker sound just fine on the first one. Probably yes but I like to eliminate things.

Yes, do this to isolate to the speaker or the channel on your receiver/amplifier.

 

I can see through the back of the speaker and there are 2 wires going from the black & red leads down toward the middle of the speaker on the inside. I can visually confirm those are not touching the front side of the driver (which I can imagine would cause some rattling). I can flex the speaker forward and back and I don't see anything touching. Real weird issue; I'm not sure why depressing the rubber ring on the front would silence the noise. Might be best to RMA at this point. I have a support ticket out to GE; we'll see what they suggest. Maybe I can just detach that 1 driver and exchange it instead of sending the whole thing back. I tried to unplug the black/red leads from the driver but they are attached real good. I was afraid to give it too much force. I figure I'll just leave it alone to avoid breaking it.

 

Without visible signs of defect it is best to just RMA with the manufacturer. They should send you the replacement first before you send yours in so that you are not without a channel.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm just going to RMA.

 

The best suggestion here is to loosen the driver and fasten it again (do it evenly for all screws - so don't fasten one, then the next etc). No need to unscrew them completely.

 

RMA is probably the best approach here - this should not happen.

 

What is rma?

 

 

The surround is the rubber ring that you're putting your finger on to stop the vibration.

They are glued on to the cone and maybe some of the glue has failed which might create the sound. Not sure what else would explain how you can put your finger on the surround to stop the sound.

He is saying that if you push in on the cone from the front of the speaker you might be able to see it separate from the surround watching from the back with light shining.

 

^^^^
Exactly correct.

 

If the surround is seperated from the basket side or the cone side the cone which extends to the voice coil in the centre will be pulled to one side thereby causing rubbing on the coil. Kind of a scratchy sound. Or it could still be centered but the surround and cone are vibrating against each other. This is why I suggested the flashlight in a dark area idea. Put it close to the surround and push on the cone gently as you move the light around the surround. Check both sides of the connection points and see if some bright light peeks through. To me its mechanical in some way.
Either voil coil rub or detached surround which are usually connected anyway.
And another thought. You said you tightened the mounting screws. Did they snug up or keep spinning? If the latter it's possible that the driver is not properly seating thereby causing vibration between the driver and housing.

 

Remove the driver from the speaker and bench test it with tones.

 

With the amplifier off, use both hands to gently press on each side of the cone to see or feel if the voicecoil is rubbing. Curious why such a robust cast-frame driver would develop a voicecoil rub, aside from continuous high power. Also curious why the pole isn't vented.

I would talk to the manufacturer and see if they are amenable to returning that driver only, not the entire speaker.

 

With the amplifier off, use both hands to gently press on each side of the cone to see or feel if the voicecoil is rubbing. Curious why such a robust cast-frame driver would develop a voicecoil rub, aside from continuous high power. Also curious why the pole isn't vented.

I would talk to the manufacturer and see if they are amenable to returning that driver only, not the entire speaker.

Why? Why should a consumer have to disassemble an in-wall speaker that is under warranty? I understand if it's a subwoofer driver or amp, but that speaker should be replaced by GoldenEar.

 

I have 3x Goldenear Invisa SPS speakers for my front LCR. There's a high-pitched vibrating noise coming from the top-most driver on the left speaker.

Contact GoldenEar support. They are extremely helpful. They promptly sent me a replacement amp for my sub and respond promptly to technical questions too.
support@goldenear.com

 

Drivers going bad. Does the cone move in and out smoothly when pressing the cone in?