Ribbon buzzing

[DaveS]

DON`T DO ANY OF THIS UNLESS YOU ARE HAVING REAL PROBLEMS WITH YOUR BIBBONS
If you have a buzz in a ribbon the thing to do is look on the back of your ribbon, there are four rows of screws. The two inside screws are machine screws, the two outsisde rows are woodscrews that hold the ribbon to the panal.
Run the speakers and locate where in the lenght of the ribbon the buzz is by putting you ear about a foot away from the ribbon. You will be able to pinpoint exactly where it is. SNUG UP the machine screws A LITTLE BIT at the piont you have found the buzz, then go one set screw up and down from the buzz and snug them up too. DON`T THINK THE TIGHTER THE BETTER you will start popping magnets and that will more than make your ribbon buzz that will make it non-functional.
If that doesn`t work try GENTLY running your hair dryer over the spot BEFORE you take take it apart, this might work for awhile but is not a true fix,but it could last 6 seconds or 6 years.
YOU should not take a ribbon apart unless you KNOW what your doing, you will just be compounding your troubles.
When all else fails call me.

Thank you for the helpfull hints!!

When I first joined the board it wasn't long before one of my four 30" ribbons on my Carver original amazings started to make an intermittent fuzzy type sound which sounded to me like an inappropriate resonance. I immediately received at least a half dozen suggestions all of which sounded appropriate but my wife wanted me to wait until after Christmas to knock down one of my speakers and try to fix it. So I've been living with no music for too long now.

Anyway, one of the last suggestions was to use a hair dryer very carefully as moisture was the biggest single enemy the ribbons have on this strange string universe we found ourselves marooned upon.

Since I live in Snohomish County (just like Bob who's about 12 miles away but I've never seen him) and the Pacific Northwest is notorious for humidity (moss will grow on our food if you don't eat fast enough) so I went out and got a good little dehumidifier which I run constantly except when I'm playing music. Put the little dryer right next to the ribbon and hav e been letting her blow away for weeks.



To listen, I disconnect the dehumidifier and play the music. When I'm done. I reconnect the humidifier. Since I got the little unit at a thrift store I have to say it's the best $3.75 I've spent since I bought the Carver Speakers themselves.

I've had absolutely no problems with either speaker since deploying the small humidifier.

I'd think buying something like this for Carver Amazing Speakers would be a no-brainer preventative measure to keep these fussy ribbons operational as long as possible.

When I lived in the USVI most of the pianos had electric heaters in them to stabilize humidity levels, so they'd stay in tune more than a few days.

Holy Heavens above! I went out and bought a dehumidifier, not a humidifier. If I used more humidity up here in moss land the woofers would all rot off their casings and the ribbons would buzz like a beeehive!

Use a dehumidfier. My problem dissappeared once I did. I'll bet a good quality electric heater would also work like a charm. Don't let hyour wife put one of those decorative fountains any where near the speakers either. Ruth did that while I was playing golf yesterday and when I got home the buz was baack. Unplugged the fountain and moved it into the basement closet where it was rendered harmless and she could still take her friends downstairs to enjoy it and the ribbon was once agin restored within 2 hours.


(Just kidding about the closet for the fountain. THat would indeed jeopardize my hapy home.) I moved it to our sunroom where it looks better and the blasted thing is far enough away from the speakers and subjected to sufficient open air that the humidity does not reach the ribbons.

Would it be possible to get a precise figure for "snug", I found this torque screwdriver so if we could get some numbers the risk of over snuging the screws would be greatly decreased...

here is the link for the screwdriver
http://www.felo.com/en/index.html
then go in products/Felo nm

[DaveS]

Being that all screwdrivers are different that is hard to do. The trick is NOT to tighten ANY ONE screw a lot more than the rest of the screws near it.
Do them ALL 1/4 of a turn at a time, not just one screw 2 turns and figure you did a good then.

I have a chance to buy a pair of AL III+. Told that they are in very good condition except that one ribbon is buzzing slightly. Before I go to see them, I'd like to know:

How bad is it that the ribbon is buzzing?

How much are they worth (what is a GOOD buy, an okay buy, and a rip-off)?

What should I check before deciding to buy or not?

I've never hears AL III+ before, but I've heard Amazing Platinums, and was in awe.

Also, I have an M4.0t - will that be enough to drive them well?

Thanks,

Dawg

A buzz can be several things. Read through this thread for some....it can also be a ribbon on the outs. AL-IIIs go in the neighborhood of $700-900 if in excellent condition, less if not. If the ribbon is bad, factor in an expection to pay $415 plus shipping for a replacement ribbon.

A buzz can be several things. Read through this thread for some....it can also be a ribbon on the outs. AL-IIIs go in the neighborhood of $700-900 if in excellent condition, less if not. If the ribbon is bad, factor in an expection to pay $415 plus shipping for a replacement ribbon.

Would the ribbon be sent to me to install, or would I need to send the speakers somewhere for repair?

Where/who do I go to for the repair?

Would the ribbon be sent to me to install, or would I need to send the speakers somewhere for repair?

Where/who do I go to for the repair?

You would send the complete ribbon assembly to Dave S. for repair. You can contact him by clicking on the email link at the bottom of one of his posts.

Would the ribbon be sent to me to install, or would I need to send the speakers somewhere for repair?

Where/who do I go to for the repair?

You would send the complete ribbon assembly to Dave S. for repair. You can contact him by clicking on the email link at the bottom of one of his posts.

Thanks Jesse

Thanks for the update!!

To test get a copy of the bee video from the discovery channel. At 3:18 on track three a male and female bee are recorded. The illusion is off the charts!

Which bee video? There are dozens of them!