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How Do I Connect External Speakers to Rowe CD100 Bubbler?
cqlink:
--- Quote from: lilshawn on July 25, 2023, 08:44:30 pm ---amp transistors are EXTREMELY hard to find, as counterfeited transistors are being sold everywhere. ive had to order 3 different sets 3 times from 3 different places (including digikey) to get a good set.
i would double check to make sure you dont have a shorted speaker or something going on with the crossover to be sure. if you've had it professionally rebuilt... i would look into it a little more.
--- End quote ---
Yes. I think you're right. Something else is causing the distortion from the right-side external speaker. Can you provide insight how to check for a shorted speaker?
I sent the amp back to A&B Jukebox. They put it on a stand and let it play for close to two weeks. No distortion. Everything checked fine.
They used a scope and couldn't find anything wrong. All transistors and bias boards were replaced during the second rebuild. I got it back the other day and everything sounded great for about 4-5 hours then the right side external speaker started to distort again.
Jeremy at A&B Jukebox asked if the internal jukebox speakers sounded distorted. Honestly, because of the poor sound quality coming out of the internal speakers, I couldn't tell.
I don't know if it will help but I'm going to figure out how to rewire the external speakers in "series-parallel" configuration (if anyone can tell me the correct procedure, please advise).
This has been a total bummer. I used my jukebox a lot and now I hate to turn it on because it sounds so bad. That said, thanks to everyone trying to help me figure it out!
cqlink:
Here's my first question regarding rewiring the external speakers in a "series-parallel" config:
On one of the external speakers (speaker 1), I run the red (+) wire back to the amp. The speaker 1 black (-) wire will run to the red (+) terminal on the other external speaker (speaker 2). The black (-) wire on speaker two gets run back to the amp.
This leave only two wires, the (+) wire from speaker one and the (-) wire from speaker two going back to the amp. Obviously, there are only two wires going back to the amp whereas previously, there were four wires (two from each external speaker) running back to the two sets of taps.
What/ how do I connect the two speaker wires running back to the taps and what taps should I connect them to?
Thanks in advance!
cqlink:
Q2: In my description above, am I actually wiring them parallel? The external speakers are 8-ohm Polk Audio installed in my basement ceiling.
cqlink:
The first thing I tried was removing internal speaker wires from the taps. I played a CD with only external speakers attached. While the wasn't terribly distorted, overall sound quality was poor. The sound sounded on the verge of distorting. Very "scratchy."
Next, I removed the external speaker wiring and connected the internal speakers to the ground (E1) and E5 taps. The sound was fairly clean and very acceptable. No distortion.
Considering Jeremy at A&B Jukebox had the amp on the stand for two weeks and couldn't find a problem, I'm guessing I just don't know how to wire the external, 8-ohm Polk speakers.
cqlink:
So.....after 2.5 years of fussing with this nonsense, I believe I've discerned the difference between series and parallel wiring and I may be a bit better at understanding impedance. That said, for anyone following, here's the latest:
I've series-wired my external speakers. It took me 1.5 hours to get it right but everything sounds good.
Internal Pink and Violet/ Purple speaker (+) wires are connected to E4 right and left taps. Internal (-) wire is connected to E1 tap.
Right side EXTERNAL negative (-) wire is connected to E1 tap. Right side EXTERNAL (+) wire is connected to E6 tap. NOTE: I'm only using two wires - one negative and one positive).
External (-) wire from the E1 tap is connected to the (-) end of the RIGHT side external speaker.
External (+) wire from the E6 tap is connected to the LEFT side external speaker.
A separate wire is connected to the (+) end of the RIGHT side external speaker. I used the SAME wire and connected it to the (-) end of the LEFT side external speaker.
I'm still using the two 8-ohm Polk speaker so I should be at 16-ohm impedance which this amp should tolerate nicely.
Of course, since the amp bench tested fine when it was sent back to A&B Jukebox for the third time, I'm guessing when I ran (+) and (-) wires from both external speakers back to the right and left side of the internal tap board on my previous attempt(s), it resulted in some kind of low (4-ohm or less) impedance issue. As mentioned, the speakers would sound great for a day or a week and then begin to permanently distort.
A&B Jukebox thought a weak weld somewhere in the amp may have resulted in overheating/ distortion but again, the amp was on the bench playing for 10-days and it wouldn't distort.
Interestingly, on this attempt, to series-wire the external speakers, I actually PARALLEL wired them. I'm guessing I dropped impedance on the 8-ohm speakers to 4-ohms (or less). Obviously, I didn't leave the speakers wired this way but I thought they sounded better wired in parallel than they do in series.
If you're able to make sense out of all of this, God Bless You! As with the case of my Detroit Lions, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
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