Extremely random question, Subwoofer/amp fell over.

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

I know it may sound ridiculous to some of you that have been doing this for a while, but some idiot yesterday drove right in front of me and I had to break extremely fast. My sub flew over on its back. Ever since then I feel like it hasn't been hitting as hard. It still works, but not as well.

I kinda messed around with the RCA's while it was still playing, was that a bad thing to do with it?

I mainly just wanna know if a knock over like that would more likely mess with the amp or the sub.

Thank you for your patience with me everyone, i'm just rather new to this.

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[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

what kind of sub? if it's a dual voice coil, one of the speaker wires may have come loose on one of the coils.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

It is a Boston Pro Series 12.5LF, I just read the manual online, it does not have dual voice coil.

 

[#45 10+ year member]

I had an RCA cable before that would cut most of the signal out if i moved it a certain way. Maybe that happened to one of your wires when it flipped. break it all down, check your connections and try it again. Its a good idea to secure your amps/subs with mounting hardware.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

I have an extra RCA just hanging around, i'll try using the other one. Thank you for your input.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

If the motion was severe enough, the coil in the woofer could have become misaligned. It should be making some mechanical noises if that happened.

And, shame on you for not bolting your enclosure down. 3 important reasons to do this. 1, safety. If you have an suv, open cab truck, or have it sitting in the back seat, a box that isnt bolted down can turn a simple fender bender into a fatal accident. Want to see pics of how a box I had bolted down, broke in half and ripper away from the mounting hardware and crumpled my front seat into the dash? 2, safety for the equipment. You should understand this one already, as you suspect your mistake has now damaged something. And 3, performance of the subwoofer. Much of the information a subwoofer transfers to our human senses is tactile. You feel it as much as you hear it. So a box that's bolted rigid to the vehicle is more efficient at transferring that tactile information to the vehicle, and through the vehicle to your body. Number 3 is a very heavily overlooked aspect for many DIY'ers.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

If the motion was severe enough, the coil in the woofer could have become misaligned. It should be making some mechanical noises if that happened.
And, shame on you for not bolting your enclosure down. 3 important reasons to do this. 1, safety. If you have an suv, open cab truck, or have it sitting in the back seat, a box that isnt bolted down can turn a simple fender bender into a fatal accident. Want to see pics of how a box I had bolted down, broke in half and ripper away from the mounting hardware and crumpled my front seat into the dash? 2, safety for the equipment. You should understand this one already, as you suspect your mistake has now damaged something. And 3, performance of the subwoofer. Much of the information a subwoofer transfers to our human senses is tactile. You feel it as much as you hear it. So a box that's bolted rigid to the vehicle is more efficient at transferring that tactile information to the vehicle, and through the vehicle to your body. Number 3 is a very heavily overlooked aspect for many DIY'ers.

For bolting it down, would you recommend doing a false floor? i've been wondering about this

 

[rumdada 10+ year member]

Something like that happened to me before i got into a accident and my subs just stop working i figured i blew them or something so i bought new ones. Recently i just tested them out to see if i got any sound so i wires them up and Wala they worked sometimes your subs wiring can get messed up with a jolt like that if not wired properly id take the subs out the box and make sure all your wires and connected good before jumping to conclusions like i did

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

If the motion was severe enough, the coil in the woofer could have become misaligned. It should be making some mechanical noises if that happened.
And, shame on you for not bolting your enclosure down. 3 important reasons to do this. 1, safety. If you have an suv, open cab truck, or have it sitting in the back seat, a box that isnt bolted down can turn a simple fender bender into a fatal accident. Want to see pics of how a box I had bolted down, broke in half and ripper away from the mounting hardware and crumpled my front seat into the dash? 2, safety for the equipment. You should understand this one already, as you suspect your mistake has now damaged something. And 3, performance of the subwoofer. Much of the information a subwoofer transfers to our human senses is tactile. You feel it as much as you hear it. So a box that's bolted rigid to the vehicle is more efficient at transferring that tactile information to the vehicle, and through the vehicle to your body. Number 3 is a very heavily overlooked aspect for many DIY'ers.

Do you suggest bolting into the trunk floor? Gas tanks scare me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

 

[rumdada 10+ year member]

Do you suggest bolting into the trunk floor? Gas tanks scare me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

I remember a while ago my brother bolted his using 2 pieces Of L shaped metal and mounted it to the sub woofer and sides of the trunk

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

For bolting it down, would you recommend doing a false floor? i've been wondering about this

If the flase floor is mounted rigid to the vehicle, yes. Not as good as mounting the box directly to the sheetmetal, because the wooden floor will somewhat decouple the box and the metal, but its still a lot better than the box not mounted down to anything.

Do you suggest bolting into the trunk floor? Gas tanks scare me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

I remember a while ago my brother bolted his using 2 pieces Of L shaped metal and mounted it to the sub woofer and sides of the trunk

Yep, sometimes you have to get a bit creative. Or take some close measurements. Or both.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

If the flase floor is mounted rigid to the vehicle, yes. Not as good as mounting the box directly to the sheetmetal, because the wooden floor will somewhat decouple the box and the metal, but its still a lot better than the box not mounted down to anything.

Well the false floor would be bolted down to the frame since there are already bolts in the back that attach the frame. I just don't want to start drilling up my whole trunk

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like it would be fine then.

edit: But I should add, the accident I had that I mentioned earlier in this thread, my false floor broke, and helped push the box into the seat. That was a design flaw on my part though.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

What mounting hardware do you suggest if you only have access from one side? Say I'm drilling into the side of my trunk - I can't get to the other side to secure a bolt with a nut. Should I use sheet metal screws and L-brackets?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

What mounting hardware do you suggest if you only have access from one side? Say I'm drilling into the side of my trunk - I can't get to the other side to secure a bolt with a nut. Should I use sheet metal screws and L-brackets?

Since its in the trunk, I assume its captured and would have no way to smash into the back of your skull in the event of a car accident. So you are just trying to mount it rigid to the vehicle for coupling purposes. So yes, its not ideal, but L brackets and screws would be okay. Try to use as big of screws as possible.

Nuts/bolts/washers is always best when possible though.