Crossover fried on my Crystals....too much power??

[Latina33 10+ year member]

So I lose my midbass response this past Friday on my Crystal SSCS6's....I just had tweets and my sub. I take it by a stereo shop, have them take the doors off to access the problem, and on of the crossovers has literally come apart, and the copper coil inside has come completely loose.

I had 200W a side running to the Crystals, and the gains were only turned up about 25%. The guy at the shop told me that I was giving them too much power, and that's why the crossover came apart like it did. He said that I should consider not bridging them with that much power, and only giving them 100W a side, so I had him do that.

Does this sound like something legit that happens? Or was it just a bad crossover that needs to be replaced?

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[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Two things to ask:

1. What's the max volume you use on your HU?

2. Did you test the output signal of your amp to determine if that signal was clean at that gain setting?

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

Two things to ask:
1. What's the max volume you use on your HU?

2. Did you test the output signal of your amp to determine if that signal was clean at that gain setting?

Thanks for the response, Deja. To answer your questions:

1. 30 max, usually run it from 25-28 (on my Alpine 7998)

2. negative, never did that

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the response, Deja. To answer your questions:
1. 30 max, usually run it from 25-28 (on my Alpine 7998)

2. negative, never did that

1. 25/30 (83% of max) would likely be fine depending on what HU it is, but 28/30 (93% of max) will be sending a distorted signal to the amp, which the amp will in turn amplify and send to the xovers. This problem will only compound if your amp's gain is set too high which will then be clipping an already distorted signal. Might be a good idea to have your HU O'scoped to determine at what volume it starts distorting the output signal through the RCA preouts.....or just stick with the 75% of max volume rule of thumb. There are exceptions, such as higher end Eclipse HU's (CD5000, for example) which often show no signs of distortion and/or clipping at up to 90% max volume.

2. Might be a good idea (for future reference).

What I'm thinking happened is a distorted signal was being sent from the HU to the amp. The amp was amplifying this dirty signal and sending it to the xover causing the damage.

When an amp clips a signal, it usually wreaks havok to whatever is attached to it's output. Your tweeters were likely saved due to the protection circuits in the xovers.

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

Do you have these xovers mounted in the doors or on anything that would make them suffer from alot of vibration? Any chance you can take a pic of the xover and post it ? Does anything on the board appear to have overheated ?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

If it simply came loose, it could very well have been a problem with either the construction or installation enviornment (vibration/etc as dj pointed out).

Without pics of the xover or a more detailed description, it's hard to say what was actually at fault.

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

If it simply came loose, it could very well have been a problem with either the construction or installation enviornment (vibration/etc as dj pointed out).

Without pics of the xover or a more detailed description, it's hard to say what was actually at fault.

Thanks, squeak. I'll definitely try to get a couple of pics of the crossover posted up so that I can show you guys. I just need time to take the door off and take them.

I've actually been considering going active with my setup, and just removing the passive crossovers altogether. My amp does 75X4 @12V, and it's been bench tested to hit right around 100W RMS X4 at actual test measurement.

 

[rjcastr 10+ year member]

latina i was in the O.C. yesterday what kind of amp do you have that produces 75x4? im looking for something in that range. I have a set of competition passives if you are interested CDT audio 2 ways

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

latina i was in the O.C. yesterday what kind of amp do you have that produces 75x4? im looking for something in that range. I have a set of competition passives if you are interested CDT audio 2 ways

I've got two of these right now. It's a 5 channel:

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Alpine_MRD-F752/

One is running in my car, and my second one is boxed up in my garage. I've been debating on selling the second one, and for the right price, I'll probably move it.

I also have an oldschool Soundstream Reference 644s that's never been powered up, new in the original box. It's also rated at 75X4 @ 12V. Here's the profile of it from the same site:

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Soundstream_Reference_644s/

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

I've got two of these right now. It's a 5 channel:
http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Alpine_MRD-F752/

One is running in my car, and my second one is boxed up in my garage. I've been debating on selling the second one, and for the right price, I'll probably move it.

You have a PM!