Brutus 1206D started squeaking today WTF?

[Rurockn 10+ year member]

My Brutus started making the sub squeak today, in a way that I've never heard. You really don't notice it until the volume is low (I forgot to unplug the RCA's to see if it still happens). It's not a whiney ground issue, I've had those before and this sounds nothing like that. This time you can see the woofer cone shake in and out slowly and the sub literally sounds like a squeaky door opening and closing or a tiny bird chirping. Also, if you turn up the volume it still pounds fine.

I'm planning to open it up tomorrow and check out the internals, any immediate thoughts?

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Click to read more...

 

[Cabin_Pressure 10+ year member]

any immediate thoughts?

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....you get what you pay for?

 

[Rurockn 10+ year member]

I opened it up and found a blown 63v 3300uf cap. I ordered the caps from Digikey ($2.26) and should have them Friday. Hopefully that's it!

 

[Hoodlum007 10+ year member]

I stopped using Brutus amps because of the high defect ratio.

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

I opened it up and found a blown 63v 3300uf cap. I ordered the caps from Digikey ($2.26) and should have them Friday. Hopefully that's it!

Ok mr smart guy

 

[Rurockn 10+ year member]

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Ok mr smart guy

So anyway...

I replaced the caps and hit a few fets that looked like they were cold soldered. Plugged it in and holy crap, it was loud! About 4-5 months ago the amp got quite on me one day, so I adjusted the input. In reality, that must have been when it first started to fail. Anyway, I have input set where I had it when it was brand new, however, it still squeaks. I have to wait 4 weeks to borrow an oscope when my buddy is back in town. I'm a mech. engineer and barely ever touch a circuit; does anyone have a suggestion or should I wait until I can borrow the scope?

Also, what is a decent amp these days? I have had a Brutus bxi600d running a Rockford HX2 at 2ohms since 2004/2005? in my Focus and never had an issue with it, it still works great. But this bxi1206d I put in my Mustang only lasted two years; seems like Hifonics quality went downhill at some point. If I buy a new amp, I want it to last longer than 2 years. Especially because I only drive the Mustang in good weather, so in reality the 1206 was barely used compared to the 600.

 

[Rurockn 10+ year member]

I stopped using Brutus amps because of the high defect ratio.

Is this a problem with the amps that are labeled Made in Korea or China? I opened a bxi600 (county origin not labeled) and the soldering looks much better and there aren't any signs of acid, while the bxi1206 looks aweful with acid blots all over the place.