Chris Duncan

Hello. I recently ordered a Q model 12". After about a 2 month wait I finally received it. First off the packaging was damaged when it arrived, the foam on the bottom had broken and the sub was slightly sideways in the box. I ignored this because I figured the sub was probably fine, it didnt appear to be too sideways in the box. I had the sub installed today in a 1.7 cu. ft. sealed box, and I must say I am very disappointed. It literally seems as if there is almost no output coming out of the sub (running at 2 ohms on a Sundown Audio 2500, so about 1200 watts RMS amp). I understand it needs to break in, but I mean that the volume is literally almost on off it seems. Also, I'm not sure what this could be, but I've heard it before in a sub with a blown voice coil, but if you turn the gain up enough to where the sub actually starts producing volume, and only flexes about an inch, it starts to make this sound as if it is bottoming out. It should't be bottoming out when it is only flexing this much, so I don't know if one of the voice coils is damaged and perhaps that is why it is also not very loud. The installer is Lakeside Audio in Montgomery, TX, and they have won top 100 installers in the country a few times. I have done several systems with them before and their quality is top notch. I don't know what to do at this point. I had a 10" kicker (really low model, not even L5) on about 200 watts in a tiny sealed box that came with the car, and this thing is barely louder than it. Help please.

Takes them several days to respond to any of my emails, and I am still no better off than when I started. Wish they would respond more timely so I could get my issue resolved.

Ok. I was more looking for assurance of what I was thinking, and I am still awaiting their response..

Ok so now it sounds like it is totally just done, and the cap was excessively hot, too hot to touch. I'm certain it is just a problem with the sub, probably damage during shipping.

I checked the exterior edges of the box and didn't feel any leaks, and this shop builds really sturdy boxes. I'm waiting to hear back from fi, but haven't in several days.

I don't want to keep unscrewing and screwing, but I can tell you exactly because I saw it. Positive to positive from amp to sub, then from negative on that coil to positive on the other, then from negative on that coil to negative on amp. Series wiring to 2 ohms. I actually said it is hard to move by hand and stiff, but that it was moving week in the box. But with the decent excursion came almost no volume and a clapping noise.

Sorry for the double post

They never fucked my shit up before. The last system they hooked up for me was the best I've ever heard, btl 18. Hit 146.8 at the dash without even being broken in. I think they just hook up what I give them and if it doesn't work, oh well. If something THEY do messes up then they fix it.

They never fucked my shit up before. The last system they hooked up for me was the best I've ever heard, btl 18. Hit 146.8 at the dash without even being broken in. I think they just hook up what I give them and if it doesn't work, oh well. If something THEY do messes up then they fix it.

Yeah I understand what you're saying. They didn't bother to do that, but they have this "you didn't buy the sub from us so we don't care that much" attitude. If it was their product then they would have done whatever it took to figure it out.

The box was custom built, they never use prefabs. This shop is top 100 installers in the country (if that counts for anything)

The other sub only happened to be on at the time because I had re hooked it up to turn off the 12 until I had the wiring checked. The problem still persists when the 12 is the only one playing. I don't know what could be wired wrong I checked everything out personally. The sub does move quite easily which is why it's puzzling with how little output, but with the ease of moving comes the clapping sound behind the cap. The system is not factory, I have a Kenwood excelon head unit.

I have not, but I don't really have the means to do that. The amp worked perfectly fine before so I don't think it's the amp, and (I know this is subjective but I've dealt with car audio for several years and make informed statements not just blabber) judging by the amount my lights dim there is quite a bit of current flowing, so it seems the power is there. I can tell the sub seems like it's "trying" to make the sound, the output just isn't there. The cap gets hot and everything too. Now I know I'm not an expert either and these are just my observations, I don't claim to know anything for a fact.

And the weird part is that even though the sub seems to be flexing, there is not much bass output. There is the rattling, but not much bass. I checked the box for leaks, it is intact.

This is a two part video of two different songs. The first part sounds like there is a little more output because the 10 that came with the car was still hooked up. I unhooked it for the second half.

How do I upload a video?

No scraping, but since the sub is new it would hardly move at all just by pushing with the hand because it's so stiff.

Ok I'll try

I highly doubt a video would do it any justice as I'm sure the audio would be miserable. But it is pretty much the same sound as when I had a burnt voice coil before, except this time the voice coils seem to be fine.

Went to the shop today, and saw with my own eyes. The coils are ok (he checked the polarity of each voice coil to make sure they were labeled properly), they are not wired out of phase, and there is no apparent damage that can be seen with the naked eye. Put the sub back in the box, and it still makes the bottoming out sound with fairly little oscillation. Then when it starts making the noise, it seems as if the actual bass dies off. Am I left with it maybe being damaged internally?

Ok thanks.

Should I not play it AT ALL until I can get it checked? Or is low volume ok without hurting it?

Ok I'll have that checked and get back. Thanks.

I was reading about the out of phase thing, but it would be weird if this place made such a dumb mistake. They are really high quality. Is there anything else it could be? Broken or blown voice coil?

I did pick high QTS because I planned on it being sealed. Here I was just being lazy: (D1/D2: Dual 1 Ohm, Cooling: Yes+30, Dust Cap: Blue, P Chamfer: Yes, High QTS: Yes, Spider: Yes +$5, I Heat Ring: Yes +$20, Internal Lead: No)