first post, hello all and help

[marvelusmarvcus 10+ year member]

i have been lurking for a while now and after getting my system installed i have decided to join the forum. i look forward to making some new friends and sharing some ideas with everyone.

so i had a custom car audio shop install a system in my porsche carrera. i had them install one of those jl 13tw5 shallow subwoofers in a custom sealed box behind the back seats. i am giving it about 500 watts of fosgate power. the system was sounding pretty good when i got it back. the sub did not seem to hit like it should though.

after having it a few days, it would bottom out on certain songs/frequencies and make a loud popping sound. it sounded really bad when it did this, but played very well on most everything else. the other day it bottomed out again and now at low volume it makes this tinny noise when the bass hits, sounding like something is loose or broken. at high volume it still sounds good.

i need some help. what would make the sub bottom out like that, not enough air space?

is the sub blown now, or is it possible something is loose inside that can be fixed?

this sub can produce some really nice bass. it does well on bass cds even. it seems that just certain frequencies cause it to pop, and this pop may have done some permanent damage?

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[MarcusFranz 10+ year member]

Next time i would reccomend trying to do some research and doing your own install but thats just my advice

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

It sounds like its on its way out. My guess is the car audio shop did not set the gain and/or the xover and subsonic filter correctly.

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

Btw// They Should Eat The Cost Of Fixing It You Paid Them To Set Things Up Properly. And If You Touched Any Of The Settings Dont Tell Them!!!

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

The former for the voice coil is probably bent from bottoming out and or the voice coil may have started to unravel from the former.That may be the noise you are hearing.Its not really fixable short of getting your sub reconed/replaced.I'm not a big fan of shallow mount subs.Just doesn't seem like they have enough depth in the frame to provide any real output without bottoming out. If your box was too small it would be harder for your sub to bottom out.It could be a possibility that it is too big and also as was mentioned above the settings on your amp may have been incorrect which could have helped contribute to the subs damage.Read up here and do your homework and take it back to the shop.Maybe you can get them to replace your sub if they did indeed fudge your amp settings and or enclosure volume

 

[marvelusmarvcus 10+ year member]

thanks guys

also wanted to add that when i press on the left or right side of the sub surround while its playing, the speaker sound improves at low volume.

when i press on the top or bottom of the surround the sound actually gets worse while playing.

i got a bad feeling this sub is toast and i just bought it.

 

[basscort2009 5,000+ posts]

mine did this too. mine was from me forgetting to set the subsonic filter :/ (my mistake) but my tinsel lead came unsewn from the spider at the former. sounds like thats what urs did too. i would say recone time but jl blows for pricing so new sub time!

 

[anj46907 10+ year member]

thanks guys

also wanted to add that when i press on the left or right side of the sub surround while its playing, the speaker sound improves at low volume.

when i press on the top or bottom of the surround the sound actually gets worse while playing.

i got a bad feeling this sub is toast and i just bought it.

that sounds like one of the tinsel leads came off

 

[anj46907 10+ year member]

if you find this sub to be blown make the shop pay for it.

however alot of us will recomend getting different subs.

before you buy new subs come here and we would be glad to brainstorm with you and find the right sub.

 

[marvelusmarvcus 10+ year member]

thank you

the filter is set correctly

i doubt the shop will pay for another one. i provided the sub for install. it was brand new out of the box.

i guess i am more concerned as to why this happened at this point. i dont want to buy another sub and have the same scenario again. i have to use a shallow mount woofer as my airspace is extremely limited.

can anyone explain what would make this happen?

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

My best guess without seeing it. shop did not set gain properly. they should advise you anyway. they are the pros. doubt the thing was broken out of the box. I don't even have a shop and I could make sure your setup was not going to break.

 

[NhustlaR 10+ year member]

since the sub was NIB did you have a warranty w. it? I'm sure especially since a shop did the install you could get a replacement if it had a warranty.

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

since the sub was NIB did you have a warranty w. it? I'm sure especially since a shop did the install you could get a replacement if it had a warranty.

not if they set the gain improperly and clipped the amp which overheated the coil. which is considered end user abuse....no warranty.

 

[dadydolas 10+ year member]

In my opinion that shop fcked u bro. you paid them the least they could have done is make sure you wouldnt have problems

 

[marvelusmarvcus 10+ year member]

yea, i used to install my own stuff but this time i decided to forget the headaches and let a pro shop do it. i should know better, nothing gets done right unless you do it yourself.

checking into warranty options and gonna try to take it back to the shop to get looked at. im sure ill get the "its not our fault" crap. cant wait to get this speaker out of the box and see what happened.