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I think the venue I'm in is too small.

Last night at a show, someone toppled one of my brand new JBL PRX535's. These are 3-way powered speakers with internal 650w continuous power amps in them.

I stopped the show, brought my equipment home and fired them up today. I live in a small apt, so I can't turn the volume up much at all. At first everything seemed fine. I let out a sigh of relief.  Now, it seems that both speakers are cutting out.  I still get volume from both of them, but there seems to be some up and down with the volume/frequencies?.

I run a computer program to play my music. I tried two different PCs, two different mixers, two different runs from the PC to the mixer (USB and headphone jack). I tried with both speakers connected, and one at a time, but they both have the same in and out whether together or running separately. I tried plugging straight into the wall and through a surge protector.

Could the fall the one speaker took short out or cause something else to happen to both speakers through the mixer.  The problem seems independent to each speaker.  Might it be that I'm playing them at too low a volume in my apt to get a true response?  Impedance issue?  Please advise.

Any time a speaker hits the ground it can cause severe damage.  If the music was playing and the cone was traveling back and forth and the copper windings were hit they could have shorted out causing a burned area.   There is a very fine air gap (20-30 thousandths of an inch.    Not much room for error.)   Look for loose wires &  broken connections.   You should have taken names and phone numbers.    Take them to a music store and have a repairman look at them.

The speaker could work fine forever or it can crap out anytime.  You'll never know when untill it happens.   Depends on how damaged the copper windings got.   It could act like a dead spot on a car starter.  

Was it a drunken accident or someone clowning around?

That's the big drawback about speakers on stands.  You try to keep the legs together to keep people from tripping over them, but by doing so they are more likely to fall over if they get bumped.  I always set the stands behind the subs.  At least they have to work a little to get at them.

Check the cables too. Check where the cables plug into the speakers. Check where the cables plug into the mixer. Did the cables get pulled when the speaker fell over?

If you get or have a cable with 1/8" to 2 rca jacks you can plug an MP3 player into the CD\tape input on the mixer and see if the speakers are cutting out with the MP3 player.

If the speakers are brand new they are under warranty and if you bought them from a reputable company you should be able to send them back for exchange for another pair. You don't need to tell them that one fell over, just that they are cutting out on you.

I got a Behringer powered mixer a few months ago that fried within a few weeks of getting it. I sent it back to Musician's friend and got a refund. Bought a Yamaha off ebay and all is well.

Both speakers would not be affected as they are each under their own power.  I have never heard of anything like this happening with a powered speaker going bad, usually it's one or the other.

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Are the volume surges in the lows or across the freq band? (try to listen close to all three. Shelf EQ for lows and highs. What does 1 speaker at a time do? Make sure the speakers are in phase Best way is place them about 2 feet apart facing each other. If they are in phase the basses will add and if they are out of phase they will cancel.

My JBL'S have been through mini twisters outside and been slammed on the ground. A heavy fall would cause a plug to pop off (etc) in which case you wouldnt have those symptoms you describe, it would be steady..

I'm still asleep but try those and reply.

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Cables are fine.  The problem is consistent on both speakers which is odd to me too.  I haven't had a lot of time to play with these; one thing I noticed this morning is the signal light in the back isn't coming on (or just barely), and again I'm wondering if it's due to the low volume, or maybe my mixer setting.  If I turn it up, the signal light comes on, but I still don't know if I'm able to put enough volume on it (until my neighbor below me goes somewhere).  Can someone explain to me how the signal light might affect sound?  Seems logical that it would.  I'm running a 25 ft new $45 mic cable to each.  Could the signal just not be getting pushed through enough?  Thanks for all your comments.

Well if it's like a signal light on a mixer, the higher the volume, the more it will light, starting out as a blink then as the signal gets stronger, it will become more of a steady light.

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Every amp has a linear range with no distortion. You can not test a system with a radical improper gain structure. However I still need to know if the volume surges are frequency selective or not. When you apply my TS procedures and give results then I can analyze, until then I dont have a clue..

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