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Last week on Wednesday, I smelled something funny (burning) coming from one of my speakers.  I was pushing it a little, and it sound to good to cut it.

When I fired up on Friday, the woofer was not working.  I replaced it with one of my back ups.

What do you think I did?  Did I ruin the crossover in the speaker.  It's a Cerwin Vega PSX153 (non powered).  I got inside the speaker and nothing seemed out of order.  The cone looks okay.  

Please advise.

Put an ohm meter across the coil It should read about 8 ohms.  A crossover does not normally go bad unless it is hit with a power surge. If you need further help I can provide you with a home phone number. I am doing support by PM now I might as well do it by phone.

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Thanks.  I just may need to call.  Ohm meter?  Get them at Radio Shack?  I ordered another woofer ... should be here today.

Or a quick test without the need of an ohm meter, get a 9 volt battery & run the positive to the positve lead of the woofer & the negative to the negative.  If the woofer isn't fried, it should move the cone out, if it is fried, the cone won't move.  Also a good way to check if the polarity is right on a speaker cable as well.  If it moves out, the polarity is correct, if the cone moves in, you ar backward.

I burnt out a crossover in one of my Peavey SP4 a couple years back, was running them with an amp that wasn't rated for their program power & drove them to clipping, burnt out the high frequency capaciters & a low pass transformer.

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They can be had for much less than the shack...About $5... Harbor Freight ...

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What part of the woofer fries?  The cone looks fine, is it in the driver?  Is it common to smell something prior to a woofer not working anymore?

The voice coil that is in the magnet.  THis is where all the electrical stuff happens.  The cone itself could look brand new, if the coil is burnt, it's toast!

If it's in the process of burning, sure you may smell something before it goes.  

Chances are your amp wasn't rated properly for the speakers capability & you were driving them to clipping because the power wasn't there to push them properly at higher volume.  Out of curiosity what is the amp you were using to drive them with?  The speaker handles 1000 watts peak so if they go with the flow of most other speaker designers, there program rating is about 500 watts @ 8 ohms.  This is what your amp should be pushing.

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Behringer 2500

http://www.behringer.com/EP2500/index.cfm?lang=eng

Can you tell from the specs what my pin selection should be on the back of the amp?

Well it's right in the ballpark so yeah you must've been just cranking them!  

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It has been  years since I quit smoking I have never smelled a speaker fried. It would be similar to a power transformer and burned oil. We need some more info, amp, speaker etc..

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Maybe it's my ignorance.  Do the pin selections on the back of the amp play much of a role in proper rating/performance?  Would you be kind enough to look at the diagram in manual at the above link and give me some suggestions?  Thanks.

For input 1 & 2 I would have the (1 & 8 ) clip limiter on (position right), probably the (3 & 10) low cut filter on (position left) at (2 & 9) 50hz ( position left - if it seemed to cut out too much bass then at 30hz position right).   (4 & 5) set to stereo (position left).  (6 & 7) bridge mode off (position left).

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It's not a nice smell!  I literally watched one burn one time when I was doing live sound.  Wasn't my fault, the guy that was supposedly training me pushed up the lows to a point where they couldn't take it no more?  It was weird.

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INPUT 1

1.  Clip Limiter Off or On
2.  Low cut filter 50hz or 30hz
3.  Low cut filter on or off

4.  Stereo or Parallel Inputs
5.  Stereo or Parallel Inputs

6.  Bridge mode off or on
7.  Bridge mode off or on

INPUT 2
8.  Low cut filter on or off
9.  Low cut filter 50hz or 30hz
10.  Low cut filter on or off

Thanks you two.  Yeah, it was a weird smell and pretty strong.  I either need more speaker and power or just need to quit pushing beyond the limit!!!!!

Just get 2 more of the same speaker, this will effectively double your percieved volume & room coverage to boot!

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Daisy chain 'em?

Well you can if your speakers have parallel input so you can tap of the speaker, the best way would be to get a separate set of speaker cable & run them from the amp like the first set.  If you use binding post connectors, just piggy back them.  If you are using Speakon connectors, not sure how you'd do it without custom wiring something, not sure if they make a Speakon Y adapter, have never really seen one.

Also I found a manual for you speaker through Cerwin Vega & I was mistaken with the power handling, the speaker you have according to CV handles 600 watts PEAK which means it would only want an amp pushing no more than 300 watts into 8 ohms, so you were actually overpowering your speaker by about 150 watts, not a ton, but may have been enough - probably why you said it sounded so good, you weren't actually getting into the amps clipping point yet & it was sending a nice clean signal that the speaker even though it may not have been distorting, it was heating up which in turn burned the voice coil or crossover parts - probably the woofer first though.  Again do a quick check with the woofer itself with a 9 volt batt, if it pushes out, the speaker is most likely ok.

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My Behringer B1520 speakers have two connectors for paralleling.  I was looking for the Y adapter at one point, and didn't see any. Everyone I asked assumed binding posts were the solution.

If they are paralleled I don't see that there is a problem mixing the cable run lengths if the cable is a low enough gauge. You don't want to use 16 gauge cable at those power levels, of course, but if you use 13 gauge or so it should be fine to parallel on one run.