parts for my vr600 csxo crossover

I have an old set of components for my truck. They still sound awesome, until I play it loud for a few minutes, then my highs start clamping down until it sounds like my system only goes to 12k Hz. I may be completely wrong, but I believe my capacitors are old, and if replaced could breath new life into my speakers. Where can I get my hands on some of these capacitors, or does anyone have suggestions for a fix. Thanks Crossover Pic 1 Crossover Pic 2 Crossover Pic 3

Chances are there is no problem with the capacitors of your crossover.  It is normal for some component setups to turn the tweeter off to protect them when safe levels are exceeded.  Are you playing your system louder than you did before?

Nope, these speakers really sounded good back in the day.(read 2000-2001) I've always actively cut the freq. to 125Hz, and when I use to have my Sony, it was 198Hz. I run a Pioneer AVH-P6800DVD, with 2, 400-500 watt each, ?? Alpine amps (I forget the model #'s, but the higher quality units) This phenomena happens even at moderate levels. (It just takes longer for the clamping to occur). This is why I believe it is voltage related. I've always been able to play the system at 3/4 volume (guessing ~100+DB spl) with no distortion at all. If I do it know, 30-45secs in, sounds like you turned the ole treble knob all the way down. Is there a test I can do on the crossover? speaker? ... I left the tweeters in yesterday, and temporarily replaced the drivers with the pioneer coaxes out of my Honda (they SUC), and soldered a wire to the tweeter on the coaxial speaker to run parallel to my JL tweeter in the door panel. They work fine, and even at volume, while the music sounds like muddy sh*%, the highs don't falter. This leads me to believe the JL tweeters are functioning properly. I really want my components to work again.

Metallized polypropylene caps don't go bad. They just don't. Chances of the caps being bad in your crossovers are so slim... Let alone all of them going bad at one time... Something else is wrong. You said you left your JL tweeters connected at the same time as you connected another pair of tweeters? This cannot be an accurate test, as when you connected another tweeter, you changed the impedance that the crossover sees, DRASTICALLY changing the response and crossover slope. When the treble falls out, is it the entire tweeter section that turns off, or is it a band of frequencies above X frequency, leaving a portion of the spectrum still playing BY THE TWEETER alone? If the entire tweeter band falls off, then it is entirely possible that there is some protective device in the tweeter housing that you cannot get to. Is it both sides that fall off, and does it happen simultaneously?It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Yes, I hooked the JL tweets up to the Pioneer coaxial speakers tweet. It doesn't have a real cross over, just a single cap. I know I screwed up the slope, but I was trying to see if the problem was in the tweeters them selves. I'm unable to reproduce the upper frequency clamping in this configuration. It's hard to be 100% sure though because the speakers sound so sh*%#y. Best I can tell, there is not drop out of sound in this configuration. When the JL's were in, yes both sides would clamp down, and recover once the volume was reduced. I removed the crossovers in anticipation of replacing components. Seems your pretty sure they aren't bad. Physically they look fine, appears to be no swelling or leakage. Should I check for cold solder joints? Could this problem be originating in the driver, back feeding the crossover or something? I'm really stumped. I fired off a tech request from JL this morning, so maybe they know of some voodoo magic to preform here?? Thanks, any more pointers..

My vote is for blown tweeters.  I agree the Xover will not cause this behavior, and especially not on both sets at once.  Your tweets probably have their voice coils separating from the diaphragm (and in a tweeter these wires are very small and easy to damage or they can just wear out) so that they shut down due to heat expansion as the power level increases.  I suggest replacing the tweeters.Support the12volt.com

Poly caps won't swell or leak. They're dry, so that's not an indicator. Try this, but BE VERY CAREFUL. It's not frequencies that blow a tweeter, it's power, so as long as you are careful, this can be a semi-safe test. As a warning, this is what I would try to rule out the crossover, but if you pop, or in any other way, damage your tweeter, I can't be held responsible! If you feel you don't want to risk it, then don't do it! If you can, connect the deck leads directly to the tweeters with just a cap in line. Get 'em at Radio Shack. Go get six cat. no. 272-997, put three in parallel on EACH tweeter - it'll be equivalent to a 3kHz crossover point. They're $1.19 a piece. VERY slowly, turn the volume up to about the same level that causes the cut out. Do they eventually do the same thing? If so, then the problem lies in the tweeter, not the crossover. Another option: get some cheapie, dynamic, 4 ohm tweeters without any sort of crossover built in or supplied. Connect ONLY THOSE to the tweeter outputs on the crossover, and see if the error replicates with those. If it does, then the crossover is, in fact, to blame. No error? It's the drivers.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

OK, now we're talkin... Two very good prospects for testing, and a plausible answer to the question; Why it only does this when played loud. I might lean more toward the coil in the tweeters having damage that shows up under stress. This weekend, I'll get the caps and remove the JL tweeters from the tweeter of the coaxial speaker they're currently connected to, I'll also scare up some full range speakers for the crossover test. Thanks for the great input, if I blow up the tweeters, I'll have to buy a new set... if they're bad, I'll have to buy a new set... either one of those scenarios results in the same out come, so I'll take the risk, after the full range driver test. I'll post back.