Right Speaker on Altec-Lansing ATP3

L

lorcani

2[H]4U
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Apr 21, 2003
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Lately, my right speaker will cut out,and usually turns to static. It's only fixed by jiggling the wire, and thats a mediocre solution at best. Has anyone else ever heard of this problem? Altec-Lansing suggests RMA'ing it, but its expensive to ship. The plug for the right channel looks like a PS/2 plug, and the grip in the socket looks tight.

Any ideas?
 
I have a set doing exactly the same thing. I would have pulled it apart by now, but the bloody things seem to be put together expressly to make it as difficult as possible to get inside without destrying the unit.

Hell with it, it's a spare set, i'll take another look and we'll see what it is.

Feel free to PM me to remind me i wrote this. The wife gave birth 2 weeks ago so sleep and a clear memory are not exactly in large quantities at the moment. :)
 
I have the ATP3's, haven't had any problems, so it's probably a defect. Looking at the pinout, it does bear a resemblance to a PS/2 port, but the pins are positioned differently.
 
I'm thinking about replacing these buggers with a nice pair of headphones, maybe that will fix it. It's strange: the right channel on everything I buy fades really quickly.
 
I also have the ATP-3 speakers and I have been haveing problems with the whole set going silent, I figured out the plug for the right speaker wasn't making good connection. I took a rubberband and hooked it to the plug then hooked it around one of the feet of the sub. It seems to have fixed the problem I have been haveing and might be worth a try for yours.

P.S. I have been really happy with these speakers, they sound great and will shake the windows when I want.
 
Originally posted by GodsMadClown
What is your soundcard? What are your headphone requirements?
Click to expand...

Its a TBSC and I was thinking the HD497's, but I don't want to get off-topic.

Thanks for the tip, Diablo2k. I'll try that once I find a rubber band.
 
Off topic? It's your thread. You get to decide. By requirements, I meant what is the thing that you will be pluging them into and what sort of environment will you be using them in? Do you need attenuation of outside sound, or are you going to be ina quiet environment?
 
Mostly quiet, the case fans are pretty loud, but those are drowned out by moderately loud music. They would be plugged into the TBSC, probably along with the 2.1 speakers (i.e. no amp). It would be nice to be able to hear the phone ring, about 2 feet from my head.
 
I'm still not convinced agianst your inkling that your output is to blame. IS there any reason that a soundcard might blow out a certain speaker? Under what conditions did this happen previously?
 
I have no clue, the plug is always secure in the socket, but I haven't tried any new speakers since I switched from my onboard audio to the TBSC. It happened to my brother as well on his entirely separate computer ("Dude, my headphones suck. I've had this damn things only like a month and the right speaker is busted."). Also, my right speaker is much softer than the left in everything. Maybe I have a genetic defect that makes me have a slight audio imbalance between my right and left ear.

Whats better, HD280 or HD497?
 
I've been using the ATP3s for a couple years now and they've worked almost perfectly. The only issue I've had is also with that plug for the right speaker. It's not quite firm. In most positions it works fine, but occasionally it'll get loose and you have to wiggle it a bit to get the connection working. It's not an issue though because it doesn't get loose unless you happen to knock or pull the wire.

I'd say keep the ATP3s though. I also own the HD497s and while they have good sound quality, I've found that sometimes I just want to use speakers.
 
I think its just a bad engineering fault. I mean, what the hell were they thinking when they didn't make it a standard plug? Why not just make it a different color audio jacket?

The speakers sound nice and clean (to my ears anyway), and you sometimes want to be able to use speakers, so I'll be having the HD497/HD280 as a side thing.
 
Originally posted by lorcani
I think its just a bad engineering fault. I mean, what the hell were they thinking when they didn't make it a standard plug? Why not just make it a different color audio jacket?
Click to expand...

Well duh, because the right speaker has all the controls. You wouldn't be able to have the controls on the front speakers without having the corresponding cabling.

As for the HD280s... they're good if you want closed headphones, but I would not say they have better quality per se. The fact that they're closed changes the way they sound a bit, but in terms of overall sound quality, they're rather similar.
 
Originally posted by NightRaven
Well duh, because the right speaker has all the controls. You wouldn't be able to have the controls on the front speakers without having the corresponding cabling.
Click to expand...

They should've just made a third controller, like Klipsch. I know it would probably boost the price a tad, but its better than making the damn thing crap out.
 
Well no, they would still need a controller with a separate plug and if that plug failed, it would still cause problems. I wouldn't blame the fact that they needed a combined plug for the issue. Altec Lansing simply used a poor plug/jack in this case. I assume they thought it was sufficient, but obviously there are some problems with it.
 
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