my sub just went out!! please help!!

[sion1rawkz 0]

so i was on my way to work and i was subbing as usual..when i got the scent of like something burning..i really dont have the slighest idea of what it is but i can only compare it to like plastic burning..i noticed it only smelled when the bass is hitting low notes..so i get to work..8 hrs later..im leaving work and start subbing again, it plays about 10 seconds of the song and the sub goes out! and this was about 1 hour ago..so im pissed! i have no idea whats going on..everything is working fine except the sub..all lights indicate everything is good..do i need to recone it?? im not very knowledgeable with these audio systems! please help! this is my set up

1 18" fi btl

1 hifonics brutus 2000w d class

0 gauge power and ground wire

1 4 farad cap

1 epicenter

1 kenwood amp (for highs)

1 optima battery yellow top

[holley2346 6]

WOW! My BTL has been through plenty of short bursts of hell from incorrect amp settings and has never let me down.

You must of been sending some serious clipped power to this thing, mine takes ~3000 watts daily and has never had any problems.

[sion1rawkz 0]

WOW! My BTL has been through plenty of short bursts of hell from incorrect amp settings and has never let me down.

You must of been sending some serious clipped power to this thing, mine takes ~3000 watts daily and has never had any problems.

so what do i do?? recone it? how can i check if im clipping it?

[holley2346 6]

Your gains are likely set incorrectly, I'll let someone else inform you on how to set them correctly as I wouldn't be the best person to answer that question.

Get a DMM and put it on the positive and negative leads on each coil. If the resistance is extremely high you will need a recone for sure.

[bigrank916 72]

Do you have your bass boost on, on the amp?

Or maybe the epicenter? Ive heard they can do bad things if not used properly.

Edited October 29, 2009 by bigrank916

[mjmarovi 8]

epicenters can be great, or be your worst enemy if inexperienced. first of all, the sub sounds like it's toast, so yeh you need a recone. but to be certain, take the woofer out of the box, test coil resistance with a dmm, and be sure tinsel leads are in-tact. a quick test is to physically push down on the center of the woofer (dustcap) and listen for any scraping sounds or any feeling in movement that isn't smooth. if it seems to grab in certain spots and you hear some light scratching, it's toast....

second...after the recone do this...

a) be sure all bass boosts on amp/eq/head unit are off or on 0. (sub level on HU is different than bass boost read manual to be sure on how HU monitors signal strength on sub-out)

b) get a DMM (digital multimeter) and read through the sundown audio setting proper gain thread. that will get your gain set correctly.

c) next you smell something burning TURN IT DOWN OR OFF!

d) if after doing all of the above and now the system just doesn't seem loud enough, it's because that is what your 300 dollar amplifier is capable of and you need to invest in some serious power.

hope this helps!

[Frostedflakejake 148]

follow the "how to set gains" in the Electrical section of the SSA forum.

and do everything the above poster stated =]

smart guy

[sion1rawkz 0]

ok so i checked all wires and everything, i pushed down on the sub and no noise everything seems perfectly fine BUT i did see the terminal on the box was melted on the speaker wire..do u guys think that might be it? and not have to recone? im gonna go replace that right now..

[mjmarovi 8]

ok so i checked all wires and everything, i pushed down on the sub and no noise everything seems perfectly fine BUT i did see the terminal on the box was melted on the speaker wire..do u guys think that might be it? and not have to recone? im gonna go replace that right now..

lol not sure how that would happen, but depending all damage done to it, yeh could be. what kind of terminal is that?

[tommyk90 3]

ok so i checked all wires and everything, i pushed down on the sub and no noise everything seems perfectly fine BUT i did see the terminal on the box was melted on the speaker wire..do u guys think that might be it? and not have to recone? im gonna go replace that right now..

Is it one of those cheap plastic terminal cups that you see on prefabs?

If so, that could be your problem. You're pulling too much current through a poor connector, which builds up heat and ends up melting the plastic. Same thing happened to my friends setup.

Either run some speaker wire through the box or get some bolts and use those as your wire terminals.

[sion1rawkz 0]

ok so run the wire straight from the amp to the sub? and the other option is to run the wires from the sub to a bolts and the wires from the amp to those same bolts? what kind of bolts? carriage bolts? and do they have to be zinc plated or stainless steel? thanks everyone for ur help by the way!

[owenmakenna 0]

ok so run the wire straight from the amp to the sub? and the other option is to run the wires from the sub to a bolts and the wires from the amp to those same bolts? what kind of bolts? carriage bolts? and do they have to be zinc plated or stainless steel? thanks everyone for ur help by the way!

if its a ported box then you can route the wires through the port without having to use bolts. also while you have the sub out of the box run the wires from your amplifier speaker terminals directly to the terminals on the sub to check and see if the sub works and the box terminal is really the issue. my buddy had the same problem with his cheap box he put in his car. this is why i always tell people not to be cheap on things because if you take the time and do it right the first time things like this can be avoided.

[tommyk90 3]

ok so run the wire straight from the amp to the sub? and the other option is to run the wires from the sub to a bolts and the wires from the amp to those same bolts? what kind of bolts? carriage bolts? and do they have to be zinc plated or stainless steel? thanks everyone for ur help by the way!

Either way will work fine. I just use speaker wire right from the amp, through the box, and to the sub.

But I have done the bolt way before as well and that worked fine too. I used plain stainless steel bolts.

[sion1rawkz 0]

ok so i got it fixed at a local stereo shop...but they told me to use a terminal cup and use a banana plug..that my problem was that the speaker wire goin from the amp to the terminal cup got loose and caused that..so they charged me $5 and gave me a new terminal cup...but i think I AM A go with what u guys are saying and just run sum 8 awg wire from my sub to the amp and call it a wrap kuz if it happened once, its a matter of time before it happens again...thanks for all the help guys!

[mjmarovi 8]

ok so i got it fixed at a local stereo shop...but they told me to use a terminal cup and use a banana plug..that my problem was that the speaker wire goin from the amp to the terminal cup got loose and caused that..so they charged me $5 and gave me a new terminal cup...but i think I AM A go with what u guys are saying and just run sum 8 awg wire from my sub to the amp and call it a wrap kuz if it happened once, its a matter of time before it happens again...thanks for all the help guys!

lol banana plugs are going to fix it? please....except for the rare case....local shops crack me up....

def. use the bolts, those plastic cups are such crap.