VaserC63S

Anyone else have their passenger side tweeter get stuck while winding in or out? Mine occasionally makes ratcheting sound mostly when I turn off the Audio or turn car off and the speakers screw back in. Occasionally but less frequently its stuck in the unscrewed (open) position. Dealer is replacing it, but I was wondering if this is common. Neat trick but I am thinking its probably not very reliable over the long run. I only have 2000 miles on the car after couple months. I searched here found nothing but I vaguely recall seeing some post online about these little speakers jamming.

endofanera7

My car is also around 2500 miles and the passenger side Twitter only rotate half way out during start up. At times it doesn’t even spin. Dealer is fixing it under warranty.

VaserC63S

That is interesting it fails around the same mileage as mine. I am waiting for it to come in as they ordered it but it didn't come in last week while car was there. Why bother making these gimmick speakers spin if they are so unreliable? After the first few times I don't look or care that they spin. Am sure most buyers don't either.

cmsbrent

Mine is doing it also, always on first try. If I mute audio so it goes back in, it works the second time. Mine started doing it in first week I got car. I demoed another car before deciding on this one and it did the same thing. Only happens on passenger side. Never drivers.

VaserC63S

How did they miss something like this during testing QA? Am sure it did it for the test vehicles too. I guess not that important.

E63Wagen

I am still awaiting delivery of my wagon. Does this rotating tweeter only exist on the upgraded sound system? I know the wagon only offers the standard sound system.

cmsbrent

Yes it's only on upgraded 3D surround system.

MBS E53

What is the purpose of rotating tweeters?

E63Wagen

BTW, does anybody know the reasoning behind only offering the upgraded system in the sedan? Is it due to rear speaker placement issues in the wagon?

whoover

The 3D Burmester takes a lot of acoustic engineering to determine the best placement for all the speakers. It wasn't worth the R&D time to engineer the system for a chassis with pretty small sales (multiplied by the small percentage of buyers who opt for it). The rear woofer is only one part of the problem because the acoustic properties of the wagon would be totally different than the sedan, so it's really start from scratch.

VaserC63S

First of all when they get stuck or down wind out, they also dont produce any sound. Even if it gest stuck at only 50% you wont get any sound. I dont particularly care so much but I paid for the 3D so I want them to work as designed. To me the rest of the system is more important but perhaps I dont hear a difference because onlt one is malfunctioning?


Back to your question what do they do?: Well I'd say they tweet but what does that mean right? This wiki explains better than I could. See link here.. What are tweeters? What do they do?

whoover

I think he means why rotating tweeters. I suspect it's 99% gimmick, but the theory is that since high frequencies don't disperse like low frequencies proper positioning is closer to the listener and away from the slab of the door that could interfere with the proper sound beaming. But a tweeter that's stuck out like that is subject to being damaged so it's retracted when not in use for its protection.

kcjonz

Interesting mine is doing the same thing. Mute and un-mute and it will spin out all the way, sometimes that takes a couple tries At first I thought maybe it was detecting car occupancy and shaping the sound. It is odd it's only the passenger side

MBS E53

Thank you, sir. That is what I suspected, but wasn't sure they would go there. Very Cool.
I know what a tweeter is and what it is for, I have spent 35+ years in the audio and video business. (no, not working at Best Buy)

VaserC63S

Failed attempt at humor MBS_E53S But Best Buy didnt exist 35yrs ago and I had no clue what your background is. Anyway seems these things are back ordered. Been waiting two weeks for mine to come in and still no luck. I also tried the mute button multiple times and yes it does work sometimes. What I still cant quite figure out is why there is no sound if its stuck half out since the surround light is on. Probably some switch that only turns on if its all out would be my guess.

MBS E53

No problemo, Vaser.
I too would hazard a guess that it some kind of self-protection mechanism.

VaserC63S

Finally after a couple weeks waiting a couple weeks for a speaker they got it in and replaced it. It actually got worse as time went by. Looks like quit a few of these are failing.