my mackie speakers [Archive] - Mobile Disco Directory Forum

djmarc

07-04-2009, 08:52 PM

Hi had a problem this weekend at a local disco, I noticed that one of my mackie speakers kept fading in and out on certain songs, One min the music went real low then came back to full limits like the other speaker i have never pushed them to the full limit

could anyone help me on this as iv got a few weeks to get it repaired of try to find someone that will do it for me

lucky the people at the disco didnt notice it and it started to play up about the last 45 mins just like to add the other speaker is ok could this be the speaker leads or the speaker it self and does anyone know who can take a look for me im in north london

thanks

mark

Penfold42

07-04-2009, 09:07 PM

Couple of things here - (Put's tin hat on)

Where were the dials set at?
How much ventillation did you have behind the speakers?

When you say "Push" what do you mean by push?

Sorry that's 3...:)

Excalibur

07-04-2009, 09:26 PM

Couple of things here - (Put's tin hat on)

Where were the dials set at?
How much ventillation did you have behind the speakers?

When you say "Push" what do you mean by push?

Sorry that's 3...:)

Got one of those hats spare? Oh it's OK, I'll just answer from behind this handy sofa. :sofa: It sounds like a classic case of

Dynamic Entertainment

07-04-2009, 09:37 PM

Get shot of the mackies and buy RCF:sofa:
:D :D

Sorry. Ignoring the fact that they are Mackies, is the mixer on stereo and have you ever had that problem before with the track that playing. The only reason that i ask is that one of my versions of Lulu's Shout is really badly mastered and the speakers go nuts if being fed a stereo signal.

JAMdisco

08-04-2009, 10:33 AM

lucky the people at the disco didnt notice it and it started to play up about the last 45 mins just like to add the other speaker is ok could this be the speaker leads or the speaker it self and does anyone know who can take a look for me im in north london

thanks

mark

First and most obvious one is get it all out in the house and start to do some methodical checking. Check the leads, amp to speaker, then swap speaker end, then mixer end, check power leads next (although I can't see it being this). And finally, if you have a spare set of speakers (although with passive you'll need an amp) try them.

All this will do is pinpoint your fault, hopefully just a speaker lead, if it is the speaker, at least you'll know. :)

[edit] A little punctuation would make your post much easier to read. :)

[edit2] I was also assuming that these were Mackie Actives, if not, also check the amp your running.

Excalibur

08-04-2009, 11:19 AM

I was going to post a link to the biggest cooling fan I could find on ebay, but sanity prevailed. :( :(

Mate, it's a classic overheating scenario, as you described it. Sound fades, returns by itself as it cools. Dies again as it heats up. Try to avoid placing the back of the cab near a wall or curtain. That's what Tony was trying to say without mentioning overheating, toasters, lean mean grilling machines, or similar. ;) :D

I have heard of people clipping small fans to the back of them.

rob1963

08-04-2009, 11:45 AM

I have heard of people clipping small fans to the back of them.

Or better still replacing them with the V2.

:D

Excalibur

08-04-2009, 12:04 PM

Or better still replacing them with the V2.

:D

And you can guess my recommendation can't you, seeing as we're going to Mansfield tomorrow. :D :D

Penfold42

08-04-2009, 08:55 PM

And you can guess my recommendation can't you, seeing as we're going to Mansfield tomorrow. :D :D

Go on then....give me a clue?

Tom

08-04-2009, 09:03 PM

Or better still replacing them with the V2.

:D

Good choice there Rob. lol. ;):D

Mark Wild

08-04-2009, 09:14 PM

Poor Mackie V1's get a real hard time don't they.

Penfold42

08-04-2009, 09:21 PM

Poor Mackie V1's get a real hard time don't they.

:agree:

I've never had a problem. I'm not saying their are not people out there that are un-happy......i'm just not one of them....:)

Mark Wild

08-04-2009, 09:24 PM

:agree:

I've never had a problem. I'm not saying their are not people out there that are un-happy......i'm just not one of them....:)

I'm loving mine :D

Jiggles

08-04-2009, 09:28 PM

Same :D Its just the unlucky ones. :p

Penfold42

08-04-2009, 09:31 PM

Same :D Its just the unlucky ones. :p

Sorry i'm on one tonight....:D

Not funny Callum.....what would you do if they went down....:eek:
Not very nice poking fun at people who have this problem.....:)

Jiggles

08-04-2009, 09:36 PM

Come on Tone if it was you or someone else that said it it would of been fine. :mad: It was said in jest.

Penfold42

08-04-2009, 09:38 PM

Come on Tone if it was you that said it it would of been fine. :mad: It was said in jest.

Hence the smilie...:)
But the original OP had a problem.....not a dig mate. :)

As you know....I'm the original on topic poster.....:)

CRAZY K

08-04-2009, 10:20 PM

Sorry i'm on one tonight....:D

Not funny Callum.....what would you do if they went down....:eek:
Not very nice poking fun at people who have this problem.....:)

That will be the bloke down my DJ shop who has just had to shell out a lot of wonga for a new driver on his Mackie speaker which according to him was said to be on fire by some punters at his event:eek:

Tony, you got lucky because Dave obviously bought a good pair which have been used a fair bit without problems.:D

CRAZY K

Babybob

08-04-2009, 10:46 PM

Come on Tone if it was you or someone else that said it it would of been fine. :mad: It was said in jest.

Have....it's HAVE. :D ;) :p

Jiggles

08-04-2009, 11:01 PM

Here comes the Police now...

Sorry having a bad night.

DeckstarDeluxe

08-04-2009, 11:04 PM

surely its would've?

Excalibur

08-04-2009, 11:29 PM

Great. Now you see why we're not supposed to mention the Urban Myth about heat dissipation (or lack of it ) in certain active speakers.

As has been said before, there appears to be no obvious common factor in this problem. It's basically a toss of a coin thing. They will suffer or they'll never fail.

Twinspin

08-04-2009, 11:43 PM

Sorry i'm on one tonight....:D

Not funny Callum.....what would you do if they went down....:eek:
Not very nice poking fun at people who have this problem.....:)

Nah...its much funnier poking fun at the Mackie srm450 users when you change them for RCF Wahey!!. But then again you dont have to visit your local take away after a gig when you have a grill with you.

Make mine a half pound burger if you please.

:p :D :sofa: :thumbsup:

Tom

08-04-2009, 11:50 PM

Nah...its much funnier poking fun at the Mackie srm450 users when you change them for RCF Wahey!!. But then again you dont have to visit your local take away after a gig when you have a grill with you.

Make mine a half pound burger if you please.

:p :D :sofa: :thumbsup:

How did I guess RCF would crop up again. lol.

For the OP, as other have said, I would check all leads and also possible get the speaker checked by an electrician. Just to check that everything is ok. :)

Dynamic Entertainment

08-04-2009, 11:54 PM

:p RCF RCF RCF RCF RCF RCF RCF RCF...or Skytec...Top two in my book for reliability :D - sorry being childish again....:o

Twinspin

09-04-2009, 12:04 AM

you got some skytec as well then Steve :sofa: :D :p

DeckstarDeluxe

09-04-2009, 12:07 AM

you got some skytec as well then Steve :sofa: :D :p

great for proping the doors open with when your running outside with the mackies to cool em down :D

Dynamic Entertainment

09-04-2009, 12:12 AM

you got some skytec as well then Steve :sofa: :D :p

Yep, still get some use aswell (ocassionally).

great for proping the doors open with when your running outside with the mackies to cool em down :D

Nope, the mackies can prop the door open all night. Ran a dance event with a contact/friend of mine and we used the skytecs as monitors and his mackies, and mackie bins, for the main playout (it wasnt a massive event), both systems were run fairly solidly and guess what failed.....give you a clue, it wasnt the skytec.... (they bailed out the mackies) make of that what you will

DJ INDIE

09-04-2009, 01:24 AM

as others have said, set everything up and test everything - i had this happen to me at a gig once:

if the fault occurs again;

swap the speaker leads around at the speaker - is the fault with the other speaker now?

if it is, it could be the speaker lead, or (what happened to me, and it was the last thing i thought of) your phono leads from your playout system to your mixer - million to one shot, but worth a try replacing them.

if its not, and its still with the same speaker then it does look like a speaker fault im afraid.

djmarc

09-04-2009, 06:38 PM

Excalibur

09-04-2009, 07:05 PM

thanks everyone for the advise im going to set them up in the house this weekend and play around with wires and check plugs ect ect fingers x it is only a speaker cable

just off hand though does anyone know where i can get it repaired if the speaker has a fault anywhere north london,Hertfordshire area

thank you

mark

Was the offending cab near a wall, or did it have restricted airflow? :confused: If the answer is yes, I'd be surprised if you find a cable fault. ;) Your description of the fault sounds like a classic thermal issue, when the children have finished with their jokes about it. I hope I'm wrong, and will readily apologise if that's the case.

As for repairers, sorry but I'd guess Doncaster's further than you wanted to go. :( :(

Penfold42

09-04-2009, 07:08 PM

Your description of the fault sounds like a classic thermal issue

:agree:

djmarc

09-04-2009, 11:08 PM

Excalibur

09-04-2009, 11:23 PM

i took a picture of the event i just wished i knew how to post the picture here so you could see .
the speakers were on stands faceing outwards toward the dance floor with no obstruction from behind the speakers

last week i did a disco and had no problem at all,
Just this time the sound was ok in the left speakers but i noticed that the right speaker went on a low volume then back to sound just a tinnie sound no base.
Also i was asked to pay some rock n roll for the older folk,I play lulu shout that was really bad, But when i play rock round the clock the sound was great so there is an example of what is driving me crazy.

i hope im making sence here just would want some help into getting it sorted out as i have a few kids discos and a wedding anniversarie night coming up soon.

Time for the blind to lead the blind. :D Assuming you have a digital camera (otherwise I've no idea ). Get the pics onto the PC, by connecting them, or putting the memory card into a reader. Open the pic you want in a photo editing program, Ulead photoimpact/ Corel Photo Paint/Serif Photo plus or whatever.
http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19363
There will be a command on the top marked image. click on it, and go to option resize. get the first size down to 620 pixels, and save that image as a name in say pictures on the PC. Below here in the reply screen is a box manage attachments.

Vectis

09-04-2009, 11:45 PM

Is there an echo in here? :o :o :D :D :D :D

Excalibur

10-04-2009, 12:55 AM

Is there an echo in here? :o :o :D :D :D :D

Not any more. :o Instead of laughing at my finger trouble ( somewhere on this keyboard, there's a button which submits posts, whether I want to or not. When I find which one it is, I'm gonna rip it out! ) why not tell the lad how to post piccies? :D If he can follow my advice, I'll be amazed.

CRAZY K

10-04-2009, 08:27 AM

i took a picture of the event i just wished i knew how to post the picture here so you could see .

the speakers were on stands faceing outwards toward the dance floor with no obstruction from behind the speakers

last week i did a disco and had no problem at all,
Just this time the sound was ok in the left speakers but i noticed that the right speaker went on a low volume then back to sound just a tinnie sound no base.
Also i was asked to pay some rock n roll for the older folk,I play lulu shout that was really bad, But when i play rock round the clock the sound was great so there is an example of what is driving me crazy.

i hope im making sence here just would want some help into getting it sorted out as i have a few kids discos and a wedding anniversarie night coming up soon.

If its a possible thermal problem ( heat related ) get it looked at professionally quickly.

The guy I met the other day in the DJ shop was like this :cry:

His had overheated totally and taken out circuit components AND the driver.:eek:

This will cost serious money to have fixed.

Mind you fault finding is not easy.

Excalibur and Justin gave the "problem" amp to the engineer at Class D yesterday but he could not diagnose a problem despite poking around and banging the amp up and down on a speaker cabinet:bang:

Either its a miracle, the car journey from Yorkshire or Justin has some other duff equipment ;)

Rather demostrates the difficulty quite often of solving problems with sound equipment.

As the engineer said yesterday--we like "dead" equipment ( i.e. not working)
its much easier to repair!

Carefully follow all fault finding suggestions on here before parting with your hard earned cash down at the repairers where time costs money:)

CRAZY K

Excalibur

10-04-2009, 08:37 AM

Excalibur and Justin gave the "problem" amp to the engineer at Class D yesterday but he could not diagnose a problem despite poking around and banging the amp up and down on a speaker cabinet:bang:

Either its a miracle, the car journey from Yorkshire or Justin has some other duff equipment ;)
CRAZY K

What odds on it behaving flawlessly during Justin's soundcheck this morning, and misbehaving in tonight's gig? :confused: :( :( :( :(

Corabar Steve

10-04-2009, 08:39 AM

just off hand though does anyone know where i can get it repaired if the speaker has a fault anywhere north london,Hertfordshire area Try Powerhouse Hire in East Barnet.

They're mates of mine, but they've just moved premises (& changed phone numbers) so I'm not sure of the contact details for them (other than home or personal mobile numbers, which I'm not giving out) If you find details for Oakleigh Road North, that's their old premises.

If I remember later I'll see if I can find their new number for you.

CRAZY K

10-04-2009, 08:44 AM

What odds on it behaving flawlessly during Justin's soundcheck this morning, and misbehaving in tonight's gig? :confused: :( :( :( :(

I just spoke to Ladbrokes

EVENS----;)

CRAZY K

djmarc

10-04-2009, 07:20 PM

hey steve your right they have moved down the road bout 100 yards if you can get a number i might keep it as a last resort.

as for the picture i know how to edit then and save them to my pc so i shall over the weekend try and put one up for you all to see how iv got the speakers set up

thanks for all your help guys im going to check out the leads and amp see if i can find out what going on so will give you an update soon.

mark

Corabar Steve

11-04-2009, 09:56 AM

That was the last move about 10 years ago when they moved to a larger shop & separate warehouse on Oakleigh Rd North (a fair bit more than 100 yards though) they are now in an industrial unit.

All their contact details can be found here: http://www.discoequipmenthire.co.uk/

djmarc

11-04-2009, 10:32 AM

Thanks steve i see if i can solve the problem if not i take the speaker over to there.

I didnt know he does repairs back in the old day he just use to hire out disco gear in the small shop opposite the pub on the corner.

Right thanks alot for the info and catch up with you later

Cheer mate

Mark

Corabar Steve

11-04-2009, 10:36 AM

They've done repairs as long as I've known them (20 years) I worked for them on & off for 10 years while they were opposite the Rising Sun.

Back then they were done upstairs by a little old asian chap called Carl. Not sure who does them now.

djmarc

11-04-2009, 10:56 AM

I did a disco last weekend in the church hall on the corner more near to the high road was a good night

The lady in question quoted ( you know this is powerhouse territory ) lol
i said that nice but he does cover a large part of my territory too :D

thought i share that did make me chuckle and she said i was outstanding and would book me again