Well, way back when I was doing all the DJing written about at that link, I bought an amp and a set of speakers... and twenty years later, they're still with me! Most contemporary DJs today use these little speakers that sit up on stands and sound like little speakers up on stands. While those would be a lot easier to carry to and from the car, I love that my speakers kick out sound (and yes, BASS!) that would shatter the very poles holding up the minis!
Anyway, a couple years ago, Cindy had the great idea to give the speakers a facelift. Nothing internal, but she made some very nice looking cloth covers to replace the old scratched up metal ones they came with. While in the middle of that project, one of the speakers was showing some wear and tear (literally), with a little hole in the woofer, like so.
I made a mental note of it, knowing that at some point down the road I'd need to replace the woofers, but at the time, it didn't make any noticeable impact to the sound quality, so I decided to let it live out the rest of its days in the service of loud music lovers everywhere.
That brings us up to last Saturday.
Midway through the dance, I noticed that the right speaker was making truly horrible sounds whenever any deep bass tried to come out of it. I thought that maybe we had reached "that time"... But since it was the middle of the dance, I just cut all the deep bass from that side, and carried on, a little quieter than usual.
Finally, 11:00 came, I played the Lawrence Welk exit song, shut off the power, and went over to pull the cover off and survey the damage. The first thing I saw was little shreds of paper lying on the bottom of the cover. Then I looked at the front of the speaker, and even though I knew it would be bad, I gasped out loud at what I saw...
Everyone still in the gym at that point heard the gasp and came running to see the damage. The really amazing thing was that just a week earlier, I'd DJ'd six hours of Daddy/Daughter dancing and both speakers pumped out nice rich sound the whole time. It really held it together until it just couldn't hold any longer.
Now I'm on the hunt for that "just-right" replacement set of woofers - because while the other one has a heck of a lot more woofer in its woofer, it's showing its age... That's the one shown in the first picture, and I've been down that road before!
Oh, and the post title of "Houston, We Have A Problem"? The speakers were made by a company called Ross, out of Houston, Texas. It's a company that doesn't seem to exist anymore, but I will happily attest to the fact that it's not because they didn't make a great product!!
Ah man. :^/
ReplyDeleteI hear in the distance the soft sounds of taps being played.
I hope that woofers still exist. Good luck with your speakers Mike. Heaven forbid you end up forced to go the "Little Speakers On Stands" route.
ReplyDeleteOk Mike, just so you know, I have read your blog(and will continue to do so). Are those the same speakers you used when I was going to those dances? That's pretty impressive. You know, there are still songs I hear that remind me of those days. Ah, fond memories.
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