get it repaired

Instead of a vac, try a piece of tape to pull the dent. Good Luck.

Hmmm, ill try that. I dont want to use tape that will leave residue. Ill try both? o.O

I had the same thing happen when I was a college student and moving every semester to get cheaper rent (7 residences in 4 years). It was with my regular stereo speaker though.

Anyway, I just used my mouth instead of a vacuum. Hmmm, I didn't even think of a vacuum at the time...All I knew that I needed at the time was suction...Turned out ok, but they are definitely not purfect (there are divots where sharp corners existed when pushed in).

If you love your speakers, I'm sure you'd be willing to makeout with the them a bit, right?? I'd suggest getting them replaced since you intend to use these for mixing/mastering/etc...

lol I did try to suck them out, but it still didnt work. Vacuum didnt either.

I'm so pissed, i JUST got these. I dont know what to do. I dont feel like spending more money just to send these back and recieve them (not to mention im broke after buying a bunch of recording equipment).

I'm gonna suck each day till I get them out haha. Ugh.

Try a match head and some industrial liquid super glue.
Hold it on there for 30 seconds or so, then pull it out...

As for getting the match off you're on your own there. :)

I looked on the M-Audio site, and I can't quite see what the tweeter dome is made out of.

Soft fabric?

Hard plastic?

Aluminum?

Etc?

It is often possible to repair dented fabric domes with no effect on the sound, but other materials are more of a challenge. Carefully heat the tweeter dome with a hair dryer set on low. Don't really blast it, but try to raise it up to a temperature just below McDonald's coffee. This can soften the dome material, and make the tape or vacuum process work better. (I've been known to fix dented tweeters by mouth, but not when anyone was looking. And no tongue.)

If you have tried other methods to no avail, here's one:

Pierce the center of the dent at a 45 degree angle with the smallest sewing needle you can find, and pull it gently forward. Once it is popped out, do the heat thing again. Be careful not to put any lateral forces on the dome, just pull directly forward.

I know this sounds Draconian, but good tweeters are not as delicate as you might think. They must be constructed to stand up to very serious vibration and g-force.

Chances are, things will sound fine. On the other hand, if you simply going to stare insecurely at the repaired tweeter for the next two years, wondering if it is standing between you and a hit record, just send the speaker back for a replacement and get it over with.

Gaffer's tape (not duct tape) works excellent for this and doesn't leave residue. You could also try the blue low tac painter's tape from Lowe's or similar ;-)

mckay

bounce wrote: Gaffer's tape (not duct tape) works excellent for this and doesn't leave residue. You could also try the blue low tac painter's tape from Lowe's or similar ;-)

mckay

Good call on the gaffers. But if you try the painters tape be sure to open up a roll if you can to check its 'sticky factor'...
Well ANY tape for that matter, I have bad luck with masking and painters tape being DOA...

Thanks guys, I was thinking about contacting M-audio and seeing how much they are willing to either send me a new tweeter, or for me to send it in for a repair. Between now and then, I'm going to try that heating method, and hopefully I can simply suck it out. If not, I gotta find some tape, because I try some tape laying around the house and it didn't work. I'm scared about piercing the cone haha. It is basically a hard plastic, it's actaully not even that hard its a rather soft plastic. But its an inch in diameter so its more...uh...you know, it'll be tougher to move theres like geometric principle for that haha I cant remember it. but anywho you know what I mean.

ohy, man do I have to be everywhere at once?

That all works when you're talking about a "regular speaker" with a voice coil dustcap.

But you're talking about a dome tweeter here.

Think about it.

That's a replaceable component. Pull the tweeter, open it up, and you'll be able to pull out the voice coil/dome assembly. Gently massage the dent out from the inside, and reassemble.

Or, order the replacement voice coil assembly.

dwoz

Careful, dwoz....

Most tweeters these days, especially in the price range of the M-Audio, don't use removable butterflies. It probably is not possible to get to the back of the dome without breaking a glue joint. I agree with you that it might be worth trying to remove the faceplate and have a look, but certainly proceed with gentle care.

Glue joint is correct. Opened it up finally... and with my luck there is no way to get it pushed out.

I tried the tape thing, and I dont want to apply much pressure im afraid i might push it in more.

Lets just say, I have the tech support number written down, ill probably give them a call and hopefully they can just send me a new one so I can install it myself (should be fairly simply). since its brand new its not like i need to replace the other tweeter, i dont think I will hear that much of a diff haha.

How much do you think they would charge me if I asked for them to send me a tweeteR?

hey man where i work is a m-audio dealer and we acutally have gotten dx4's i with pushed in tweters. if you got them in the box try askling your dealer to replace them for you on the spot. they have had a lot f tweeter problems with the dx4's i woul dsay 2 out of 5 are damged or not working out of the box

sad

Well I did this on accident so it wasnt anyones fault. And not to mention I bought this online through musiciansfriend, not much I can do about that.

So far, I think anxious's approach is spot on. Trust me - this guy KNOWS loudspeakers.

Obviously, with a fabric tweeter his suggestion will be just fine.

I purchased a pair of NHT 2.5i's from Crutchfield several years ago. I went to their store where they sell not just new stuff, but used/returned/damaged in shipping, etc. stuff.

Well, I had a woody for the 2.5i's since I heard them at a buddy's house a couple years prior to that.

Well, anyway, they had a pair with the lovely sycamore finish on them that had been returned. The guy that they had shipped them to sent them back b/c there was a small hair-line crack in the veneer at the rear left of one of the speakers. However, when he was sticking them back in the box to ship them back to Crutchfield, he put his hands in the side-mounted woofer and smashed the fabric dust-cap in on both speakers!! (ARGGGHHH)

Anyway - I bought them for less than 1/2 the price because Crutchfield couldn't sell them for any more (I guess consumers don't understand what purpose a dust-cap serves.)

In any case, I contacted NHT and they walked me through the EXACT process that anxious describes. Not only did it work, it worked PERFECTLY.

Granted - as Dwoz states - this is for the dustcap, not the tweeter itself. BUT, the same principle would apply on a soft-dome tweeter.

Aluminum or titanium - you might be screwed though.

anxious is also right that, in most of these lower-priced, and even some higher-priced systems now-adays, modular components are not being used. Tis a damn shame. It's minor crap like this that manufacturers cut corners on to save $4 per speaker!

J.

So are you suggesting I pierce the tweeter with a small needle and the whole blow dryer process thingy? I used the blow dryer it didn't even seem to make it hot, or more pliable. I used tape and that didnt work, its way too small too pull back out like that without some sort of force pushing it back out. I think I might have to try the needle, I need a smaller one tho. I did send an email to m-audio to ask how much it would be to send a tweeter.

Hey, thanks! You are very kind, particularly for a cat with a large gun....

How does it sound?

Can you hear a difference between it and the other speaker?

I bought a set of NS-10's used and one tweeter had a dented tweeter. I bought a new one. Installed it. The new one sounds the same.

A couple months down the line, I blew the new one, so I put the old one back in, and it still sounds fine.

I ordered a replacement and installed it (for cosmetic reasons). However, my dented tweeter sounds fine and I'm keeping it for a spare.