Is something wrong with 15 ssd?

[cruzer23 1]

i know ///m5 says clipping lights are useless for music but when i used to use those lights on aq amps, running twice as much power to each sub, as long as i didnt stay in the clipping zone, AQ or DC subs could take 2kw wired load all day long without getting smelly.

Now, if i left music in the clipping area where it mostly stayed red the whole time, it would take a matter of a few seconds before they would start cooking.

Im sure the clipping light is not 100% accurate, but i used the same method to set the gains on my polk 10s. they had a shitty box, u could feel the air leaking, but they still... sounded good...

if the ssd cant take the power its rated at, then im sure that makes the situation different. I overpowered the polks by 170ish watts and they never gave me any problem even pushing them as hard as i did.

i did screw the box as the glue dried.

after turning down the gain on my way home this morning, it sounded a little better, but now it sounds stiff.

I dont have the tools to cut it straight, so i got lowes to cut it. The guy was older and took his time and was on his hands and knees trying to make sure everything was perfect. It looked damn near perfect, but im no carpenter so cant say for 100% sure. When piecing it together only one spot might have been not perfect, but it still looked decent. going to feel the box after i eat something. ill start with that spot, then ill check out the dust cap.

Edited August 24, 2010 by cruzer23

[slim2fattycake 85]

I have put 1500 watts on a 12" SSD before, 2k on two 10" SSDs, and this 15" SSD only got 750 watts.

[cruzer23 1]

Im sure it can take good power. All i know is my last box i could literally see the crack where it leaked air and it didnt sound terrible like this.

eating now and then im off to work so ill feel the box for leaks, then play a heavy metal song and record it. will post when i get home.

no matter what i just wanna figure out whats going on. if it is my box, im fine with that as i was gonna try ported, but it already doesnt sound good and i figure going ported wont help the sq. perhaps it wont hurt, but i dont see it helping.

[cruzer23 1]

K no leaks on the box anywhere.

here is a new video of it playing some heavy metal. Really starts to sound bad at the ending

[NDMstang65 403]

Take it out of the box and free air it at 20Hz and get it to full stroke and see if it still makes the noise.

[cruzer23 1]

not a bad idea to figure if it is the sub or not, but will that be bad on the sub? i thought test tones werent great on them and free air isnt how they are built. guess its only for a few seconds but still

[ssh 924]

not a bad idea to figure if it is the sub or not, but will that be bad on the sub? i thought test tones werent great on them and free air isnt how they are built. guess its only for a few seconds but still

turn the volume knob down to zero then slowly turn it up until the driver is moving to a full stroke.

[cruzer23 1]

any comment on the video? can u tell anything or is it too hard from a video? =/

[scottxgtr 9]

any comment on the video? can u tell anything or is it too hard from a video? =/

bass sounds real muddy on the video. i cant make a good diagnosis on it though because 1. its not a song im familiar with so i dont know how it should sound, and 2. im listening to a 15 woofer on a set of computer speakers. just for references sake, please tell us the settings on your amp and cd player so we dont miss any detail.

so have you pulled the woofer out of the box and looked at it yet? or are you just going to keep playing it with it malfunctioning and hope it just magically fixes itself? (or blows)

[pdubb 5]

you've also got some dimming issues too. haha

Good luck with this problem....

[wutang512 3]

any comment on the video? can u tell anything or is it too hard from a video? =/

Get a video of young jeezy's Hypnotize. Then I'd be able to tell you if something is not right.

[wutang512 3]

I take that back after listening to that 36 mafia late night tip video it sound like the sub is bottoming out.

[kirill007 52]

Clip clip clip, how did u set you're gains?

How is Bassboost set on the amp and the headunit?

What are the EQ settings on the HU?

[altoncustomtech 773]

Clip clip clip, how did u set you're gains?

How is Bassboost set on the amp and the headunit?

What are the EQ settings on the HU?

I agree with him. Sounded like the amp clipping the sub to me as well. I know speakers are "dumb" and they simply do what you tell them to do, but I swear I've noticed over the years that higher quality more sound quality oriented subs seem to make the clipping more noticeable, such as on kick drums where the power peak is sharp, than other subs that kind of mingle the clipping into the rest of the muddled mess they're reproducing. Just my .02

I say throw a sine wave to it period. If there's no noise that sounds like that then the sub is fine and the amp is clipping.

[cruzer23 1]

after the 3 6 mafia video i turned the gain down some.

Everyone on caraudio.com says that AQ makes great amps. I called AQ when i first got the amp and the guy walked me through setting the gains... I did it just as he said.

head unit is all 0 i dont touch it but the volume.

amp settings, gain is half, ssf is lowest as its sealed box. bass boost is 0, lpf is 80-90 somewhere i dont feel like figuring the exact #.

maybe the amp is taking a crap on me, but its funny ive ran it for over 7 months no problems till i put this sub in and oh now its clipping.

i live in an apartment, i really dont want to pull my sub out i front of the whole neighborhood and show them oh hey i have over $500 in car audio come steal it. Im off tomorrow i can run to my dads and pull it out. I do want this fixed, and pinpoint the problem, but it doesnt come before work and my life, so sorry if im not doing this fast enough for some of you. 12 hour shifts all u can do is come home shower, eat, sleep go back.

the clipping light on the gain knob is doing just as AQ said it should do when its safe. It blinks and goes instantly back off when bass hits. with the same amp, same head unit, 2 10" subs rated at a total of 700 rms, i had the gain 3/4 no problem, no clipping, no distortion, bottoming out, etc. the sub is rated to take 100 more watts, same everything else. Why would i have to run the gain at 1/4 to make it sound good or "right"???

Edited August 26, 2010 by cruzer23

[cruzer23 1]

tomorrow im gonna go to my dads and pull it out and play it. if it does anything wrong its the sub, if its fine its box/truck.

However, i just ran up the road, turned the gain down so that while playing 3 6 mafia - late night tip, the clipping light did not even blink... gain was maybe 1/4 and the sub is still making a muffling/slapping noise... no way i was pushing it hard enough to bottom out...

[altoncustomtech 773]

the clipping light on the gain knob is doing just as AQ said it should do when its safe. It blinks and goes instantly back off when bass hits. with the same amp' date=' same head unit, 2 10" subs rated at a total of 700 rms, i had the gain 3/4 no problem, no clipping, no distortion, bottoming out, etc. the sub is rated to take 100 more watts, same everything else. Why would i have to run the gain at 1/4 to make it sound good or "right"??? [/quote']

Well, to answer that question directly, it's because speakers are dynamic loads to the amplifier. I'm sure you probably understand that the load on the amp changes with frequency, however there are factors about the speakers connected that change from one to the next, even from speakers that come from the same assembly line, that cause different responses. Properties such as the inductance of the coil and the compliance of the suspension alone make differences in what the amplifier sees. Throw in the effect of the box and the environment the driver plays in and it will change more. You really cannot expect to simply drop in one speaker for another and have the exact same settings on anything, there's simply too many variables for that. That's one of the many reasons why drop in comparisons of subs tell you absolutely nothing and are generally completely invalid. Settings will have to change from one driver to the next, that's just the way it is. I'm not going to argue the fact that there could possibly be something wrong with the driver, there could be. There could be something wrong with your amp, the way the sub got wired, a power or ground connection got bumped and is flaky. I mean there's so many variables that there has to be some testing done to find the root cause of the noise. When you get a chance to take it out and test the sub, just let us know what you find. If it makes noise outside the box on a sine wave, it's got a problem. If not, then you'll have to start troubleshooting and running everything down and I'm sure you'll get as much help as we can give in the process. So calm down, take a deep breath and relax. We know it's frustrating, believe me you're preaching to the choir. We've all had issue's and problems, we can sympathize.

Since it's still making noise with the gain down, I can imagine there may be a problem with it. You gotta test to be sure though.

[cruzer23 1]

i got a different sub on the way, when it arrives ill test the ssd, and also test the new sub in the same box, same amp, etc.

i mean im a noob, but there has to be something wrong with that sub... the gain wasnt EVEN 1/4 sub hardly moving good, it still made the noise.

and i know obviously it wont be the exact same settings when switching drivers. When it went in i adjusted the gain a little as it was pushing too hard. I went down until the light came on and back off when it would hit. Same exact way as previous setups...

[kirill007 52]

have you done the free air test? (just play the woofer in free air and see if it still makes the sound)

Edited August 26, 2010 by kirill007

[stovebolt6 3]

yes please take it out the box and try it free air.

you also said you bought it used. was it shipped to you? if so check it out carefully, postal services are very rough on packages. maybe it was damaged. shifted motor, tiny cracks in basket. reason i mention this is you said it makes the noise even when sub barely moves, so maybe something is causing the coil to be out of alignment.

[cruzer23 1]

free aired it today on music. Doesnt make the noise, but i didnt turn it up to normal volume in fear of damaging it. though it was moving pretty good.

put the dc lvl 3 15" with lvl 4 soft parts in, sounds better, doesnt make the noise so far. though i have only listened for about 15 mins, played heavy metal, played late night tip, bass i love you, no problems so far.

i got in the bed of the truck and the back wall of the cab, and the front of the bed are shaking like no other and just a vibrating. if i sound deaden the inside of the back cab, will it help vs the vibrations or just make the sub sound louder as its sound does not exit?

[slim2fattycake 85]

You cannot turn it up that much if it is already moving a lot. You cannot free air the same amount of power as you had in a box. But if it doesn't make the noise then the sub is fine. Weird that the sub doesn't make a noise free air but in the box and then another sub doesn't make the noise in the same box.

And both to your question.

[Skullz 8]

What your hearing is called ringing from the box, it happens in sealed boxes mainly but can happen in ported enclosures as well. To remedy the problem just go to any upholstery store and get 1yd of dacron batting and line the walls with it and that will solve the ringing problem you have.