1 powerful sub + 8 unreliable screws = this

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

I was driving to my campus and all of a sudden i heard my sub making wierd noises and not being able to produce some lower frequencies. Got to the parking lot and didn't want to open my trunk so i went to my back seat and tried smelling any burnt coils. nope, went to class, drove back home all worried as hell and found this in my trunk:

aparrently the screws didn't hold it well enough. Tomorrow morning i am going to make a new new mount and use larger more reliable screws, namely the screws i used to build the box. sigh, i thought my woofer had blown.

Click to read more...

 

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

heh, that's funny lookin. i've always wondered... say you're bumpin pretty hardcore, and then someone t-bones your trunk, doesn't damage the woofer, but wrecks the box... if the sub went free-air at the same amplitude that it was doing inside the box, wouldn't that kill the woofer? heh.

 

[Ray21 10+ year member]

T-nuts are your friend...

What kinda goop did you put between your sub/box?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

heh, that's funny lookin. i've always wondered... say you're bumpin pretty hardcore, and then someone t-bones your trunk, doesn't damage the woofer, but wrecks the box... if the sub went free-air at the same amplitude that it was doing inside the box, wouldn't that kill the woofer? heh.

If someone hit you with that amount of force, then:

1) The CD player would likely skip (assuming you were listening to a CD), and hence would have no output for a while.

2) You have much bigger problems on your hands then whether or not the sub blew.......

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

that would be caulk

as for the sub going free air, i don't really know what would happen to the sub if it went free air. The sub is pretty da-mn hardy.

gonna make outlines for a new mount ring and i'll use the screws i used for hte box. good ole 1.5 inch screws should be more than enough to hold down this beast.

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

^^^2, LOL, I got in a wreck, busted my amp mount in 2, but my cd player never skipped a beat, subs were fine, had to make a new mount and pull my dents out. Mine wreck was not all that major though.

 

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

that would be caulk
as for the sub going free air, i don't really know what would happen to the sub if it went free air. The sub is pretty da-mn hardy.

gonna make outlines for a new mount ring and i'll use the screws i used for hte box. good ole 1.5 inch screws should be more than enough to hold down this beast.

use rope caulk next time... $4 at hardware stores, sticks and unsticks very cleanly.

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

use rope caulk next time... $4 at hardware stores, sticks and unsticks very cleanly.

eh, i used rope caulk from home depot, it did the job, it was just that the screws weren;t holding it down better. I'll caulk a ring around the new mount ring tonight before i start cutting tomorrow

 

[monte_carlo97 10+ year member]

D@mn that is a powerful little beast isn't it.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Hmm...thay must be REALLY shitty screw. All i have holding every sub i've ever owned in (Including my current 70lb 18XXX) are 1.25" fine thread carpenter screws! The subs has even been in and out of the box...4-5 times and I've had no problems. Quit using ***** screws //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif haha. peace

NG

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

thats why i top mount //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

To me it doesn't look like the screws were the problem, appears that the cutout was a little too big and the screws didn't grab solid wood. Those holes are way too close to the edge (where they slipped and ripped the mdf) to have been the correct fit.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

try using T nuts instead.

bolts + tnuts = better than screws.

basically you pre-drill your hole, shuve the Tnut into the backside (inside of baffle) hole you drilled (there are 4 little teeth to grab the wood), then insert sub, and put screw in, and thread it thru the bolt - and when you tighten, the Tnut will bite into the wood,and hold the sub really well. a good idea is to apply a few drops of nail polish to the screw before you do this - it acts like 'loctite' if you know what i mean.

ill never screw a sub in without Tnuts again. they are so incredible.

and yes, it does look like your cutout was too big.

 

[JAZN 5,000+ posts]

i prefer double baffle when it comes to heavy subs.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

To me it doesn't look like the screws were the problem, appears that the cutout was a little too big and the screws didn't grab solid wood. Those holes are way too close to the edge (where they slipped and ripped the mdf) to have been the correct fit.

x2

In that last pic, it appears as though you can see a screw (top right of sub), but no corresponding screwhole in the board. I'd rack this one up to shoddy craftsmanship and learning experience.