Blown subwoofers and I have no idea why?

[alpinetree]

I have blown a rockford p1, kenwood excelon x2, sony xlpode, and audiopipe I pipe.

All of which were 12" woofers except the sony xplode.

I had been installing the subs in my single cab 99 ranger

alpine m500 amplifier, 500w rms 2ohm, 350w rms 4 ohm.

I upgraded from a sony xplode amp.

alpine head unit

and fierce audio ported enclosure truck box.

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/8780/8780651_rb.jpg

^^^^ exact box in image url ^^^^

I used a 1200w schoche wiring kit

I took the system to elite mobile audio in KY elizabethtown.

He took a look at it and seen that the amp was pushing 13V on his meter and said that was a very good reading.

Everything is wired tight and very clean connections with a good ground.

He put a memphis power reference 12" woofer in it and tuned it for me on the amp and he turned it up listening to it and he said he could smell the voice coil burning?

so I am stuck listening to my system turned practically all the way down.

If anyone can think of something that may be blowing the subs I would appreciate it a lot! I am currently covering the port hole on the box to see if that is causing them all to blow maybe?

any help appreciated!

thank you!

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[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

My guess would be excessive clipping OR your amp is passing DC current through its outputs due to some sort of malfunction. DC current will heat up a voice coil FAST and make short work of the subwoofer.

A quick test with a multi-meter set to read DC voltage on the speaker leads of your amp while playing music would be one test to rule out the amp being the culprit.

 

[alpinetree]

Thank you for replying!

Would two amplifiers in a row different brands do the same thing?

What could be some of the causes of clipping?

and the sub will only smell at a higher volume.

it plays OK at low volumes but still heats up.

it hits highs without heating up hardly at all.

but lows blow it FAST. and make it smell very fast at low volumes too

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Assuming everything else is fine, you can consider buying better subs.

 

[alpinetree]

I'm using a memphis audio ATM, I have been told they are actually very good.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

The smell of burning coil does linger around in the box and within the subwoofer though, so you can do this... take the sub out of the box with it still hooked up and see if the cone moves either in our out when you first turn your stereo on, if it moves without any music playing then it is getting DC from the amp, if that's the case then either the amp is faulty or your headunit's preamp stage is faulty, or the RCA cables are pinched and grounding out somewhere. If it doesn't move then play some music and observe the sub's movement and see if anything erratic shows up.

It ***** because it is much harder to troubleshoot car audio systems especially if it's something strange.

 

[alpinetree]

This memphis sub is brand new actually.

and I have blown subs the same way on my old sony amp as well as my old head units.

So the RCA cables are the only possible conclusion next to the box?

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

what exactly do you mean by "it hits the highs without heating up"? How high is your crossover setting?

what are all of your amp settings? My best guess since youve done this with multiple subs/amps is that you are setting your gains too high and turning the volume up a little high. both these things will cause clipping. basically trying to make a sub/amp do too much.

i'd suggest maybe doing a little more reading on gain and crossover settings.

 

[Duran 10+ year member]

Your using Sony Xplod what do you expect? A Zenon board? Lol

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

Your using Sony Xplod what do you expect? A Zenon board? Lol

you clearly didnt read his post.......

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

what exactly do you mean by "it hits the highs without heating up"? How high is your crossover setting?
what are all of your amp settings? My best guess since youve done this with multiple subs/amps is that you are setting your gains too high and turning the volume up a little high. Both these things will cause clipping. Basically trying to make a sub/amp do too much.

 

I'd suggest maybe doing a little more reading on gain and crossover settings.

this before anything else

 

[alpinetree]

Sorry to reply so late, I just got in from work.

I meant it hits high notes, not as thunderous bass and it will not heat up a single bit. but the lows on volume where you can just feel the bass makes it heat up and smell crazy.

Gain is set to match my speakers I had a professional tune it for me.

the LP filter is at about 55-60 on the alpine amp

and my bass EQ on the amp is set at about 3/4 way

it does not sound distorted at all, it sounds great but that smell continues to come. from every sub and even on the sealed enclosuer sony.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

bass eq = bass boost?

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Try turning the bass boost to FLAT or zero then compensate it by turning up the gain and see if it helps.

Usually you don't want to use any bass boost unless you really have to.

 

[Maxipads 10+ year member]

Sorry to reply so late, I just got in from work. I meant it hits high notes, not as thunderous bass and it will not heat up a single bit. but the lows on volume where you can just feel the bass makes it heat up and smell crazy.

Gain is set to match my speakers I had a professional tune it for me.

the LP filter is at about 55-60 on the alpine amp

and my bass EQ on the amp is set at about 3/4 way

it does not sound distorted at all, it sounds great but that smell continues to come. from every sub and even on the sealed enclosuer sony.

YEah i would DEF turn that down and set the gains accordingly. lol