Tower Speaker Leaking Water

[Mark2]

Purchased a pair of Bullet Hollowpoint 770's over the winter and installed them the other week. Also had a set of speaker sox which I put on them. Well after I put them up it has rained a bit over the past week. Sunny day today so I took the sox off and fired them up. After a while they started dripping water from the gap between the grill and can. I figured that maybe a bit of water got in there, no big deal. I closed the boat up and looked a couple of hours later and there were now a bunch of new drops of water on the cover underneath the speaker.

My question is have any of you seen this before? Is it normal or should I be talking to Bullet about this?

Thanks for your help.

[EarmarkMarine]

Mark2,
I've seen that scenerio with speakers of different brands. Towers can fill with water also.
Bullet can only speculate as to how the water got in there. If nothing is bent and everything fits snug there is really no way for water to enter.
If you can tell me where and how the water is entering then I can give you a surefire fix.
Without getting into all the nano details there are three possibilities:
1) around the collar bolt.
2) around the terminal or binding post.
3) between the speaker rim and pod face.
After a critical inspection let me know which is the most probable and I'll walk you through what can be done to stop it for good.

David
Earmark Marine
david@earmarkcaraudio.com

[Mark2]

David:

The collar bolt and binding post both look good so I can't see how water is getting in there. No dents or anything. My only other thought is that some water has gotten into the face of the speaker and the only place for it to go is to drip to the bottom of the speaker and out between the speaker rim and pod face.

Any suggestions?

[EarmarkMarine]

Mark,
It never hurts to run a fine silicon bead around the interior side of the binding post as its being assembled. Its an easy precaution that guarantees a seal long term.
As for the face, you have a flat speaker rim mounted against a flat pod face. Its pretty hard to have a leak if the simple assembly is executed correctly. But here are a couple of possibilities and suggestions in any case.
The speaker allows you to rotate the driver/grill to level the pattern against earth even if you have a slight tower radius. All eight holes should be used on the 770 including the four that are concealed behind the grill.
The pre-drill on the eight holes should be carefully laid out precisely in the center of the speaker basket's rim pass-thru openings. If these are off-center then the sheet metal screw can simultaneously tap the edge of the metal speaker rim while it taps the aluminum pod. This would not allow the speaker to draw totally down and completely seal.
It won't hurt to use a fine silicon bead as a gasket or use a neoprene gasket (cut out of a thin tool box drawer liner material). We've never had to do this for this particular application but if you want an 'absolute' then this would do the trick.
I'd be a little concerned that the midbass cone rubber surround was torn during installation leaving a hole. It wouldn't be the first time that the drill motor, bit or screw slipped.
Just for grins, you could take a very small triangular file and create a 'V' groove at the bottom dead center in the back edge of the grill as a drain. Apply this at a slight angle so that just the tip of the groove is externally exposed.
Inspect that there are no unused and remaining holes in the pod face that need to be sealed. If any mounting holes were stripped out by an 18 volt drill for example, then I have a solution for that also. Get back with me if that would be the case as the instructions are a bit more involved.

David
Earmark Marine

[Mark2]

Thanks David. I didn't put these speakers together, I purchased them as a complete package so I'm not really comfortable taking them apart and messing with them if you know what I mean.

I think I will call Bullet and see what they say. For the money I spent on them, they should be perfect.

Thanks again for your help.

[EarmarkMarine]

Mark,
Of course they should be perfect. And if they are not, I can promise you that Bullet will make the correction. However, Bullet cannot control the installation execution. This is a fundamentally simple install on a simple product. Someone in the field, starting with the installer, has to assume responsibility.
I think Bullet can only go into the same type of speculation that I have. Past that, you will have to remove the speakers and send them back to the seller or Bullet for inspection. Unless its a manufacturer defect then we are right back to the installation.
As willing as everyone will be to help you, I'm not sure that is the most efficient route for you. After all that, if the issue happens to be one of the areas that I described, then the speakers will still have to be returned and re-installed correctly by someone. Wouldn't it be much easier to at least inspect the checklist beforehand?

David
Earmark Marine

[Mark2]

i understand what you are saying but the only install involved at my end was to bolt them to the tower. I purchased them from Bullet as complete units with the speaker and can already assembled. What I don't want to happen is for me to open them up and if there is an issue with a tear or something like that, then Bullet can make the argument that I did it and then I really screwed. Right now, the only thing that was done with the speakers was to bolt them to the tower so it can't be an install issue, it must be some kind of manufacturers defect.

I appreciate your input and if Bullet gives me the go ahead to try your suggestions, then I definitely will. I just don't want to jeopardize any warranty claim by doing something I am not authorized to do.

[EarmarkMarine]

Mark,
Understand that the speaker is removed from the pod in order to install the collar bolt. So the final seal is definitely up to the installer. And that seal will be broken again upon removal.
I'm just trying to help and make it easier for you.
However, given your concerns I would pack them up and ship them back to the seller ASAP for inspection.
Bullet HollowPoint has been an outstanding vendor and their service is unsurpassed. So if there is a legit issue you can be sure they will do the right thing.

David
Earmark Marine