Testing speakers

[howardc1951]

Is it possible to test whether a speaker is working or not without using an amp? I wondered if using the ohm setting on a multimeter through the input jacks would tell me whether the speaker was faulty or not. I just thought it would be preferable to do that than to connect up an amp and watch smoke appear from it because there was a fault in the speaker crossover!

[Shevans]

You can test for a dead short or a wild resistance. Testing known good speakers will not give you the correct answer as speakers impediance vary over the frequency range.

The Doc will be along shortly for a 2nd opinion (proper answer)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

As Seppi said, a multimeter set on ohms will tell you if there is short or an open circuit. The other way is a small battery across the terminals and the bass driver will either pop out or in depending on which way around the battery is. Crossover components are very robust and very rarely have problems, they are more likely to be physically damaged in transit. Speaker voice coils get all the electrical damage. Bass driver from amp going DC and tweeter from using under powered amp driven into clipping. You can also lose a tweeter voice coil if the neg breaks in an interconnect and you get howl.

[howardc1951]

Thanks for that. I've used a battery to test the polarity of individual units but I hadn't thought of using it through a crossover network.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It wont work through a crossover as it is DC, it will only function on the bass driver. The crossover blocks the DC to the tweeter and midrange (if there is one) but it doesn't block the DC to the bass driver.