Help: No cone displacement?

[bangman 10+ year member]

This is an odd problem I have never experienced.

I'm pushing 500wrms to a 12" L5 (750wrms) and it worked well for 1-2 weeks. Worked very well.

Then, about a week ago the subwoofer just cut off. I was blasting it for 30+ minutes so I just assumed the amp went into protect or whatever and didn't think much of it. When I got home I went to the trunk and realized a pair of RCAs came out of their slots. Plugged them back in and worked fine.

Then, a few days ago the subwoofer cut out again. I pulled over and checked the RCAs and once again they fell out, this time not too much though. From what I remember the positive was halfway in still but the negative was completely out of the hookup.

So I plug the RCAs back in and nothing happens and I hear a buzzing sound (music was still on, but very low) coming from the subwoorfer. So I go back and check the subwoofer terminals and they are connected fine. Then, I push on the cone and it doesn't move at all - hard as a rock.

Earlier today I hooked up an older Type-R and it worked fine.

Is it safe to say the L5 is done for? Perhaps there is something else I can try?

Thank you.

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[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like u locked the L5 up, its time to let her go //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

yeah...if the sub is "locked up" its done for.

 

[bangman 10+ year member]

Well that's bad news.

Any ideas as to what might have caused it? The RCAs slipping out?

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

did u plug the RCAs back in while the amp was powered up?

 

[bangman 10+ year member]

Yes I did.

Guess that was pretty dumb eh?

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

yeah. you could fry your pre-amps as well by plugging/unplugging them in with the hu/and or amp on.

 

[bangman 10+ year member]

Well. This has to be a shortest time I have owned a subwoofer. Two weeks. Such a shame, it was sounding so good with my new highs.

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

How do RCA's come unplugged?

Was the amp secured to something?

By the way, RCA's arent "positive and negative" like speakerwire (well speaker wire isnt either, polarity is only given to keep all speakers in phase). One RCA caries the signal (either balenced or unbalenced) for one channel UNLESS it's a digital signal in which case two RCA's can carry many chanels. Dolby pro logic only uses 2 RCA connections.

That was way off topic though, becaus 99.5% of RCA's in car will be analog and most low end head units have an unbalenced signal and most mid-higher end will have a balenced signal. (neither is superior to the other, balenced just has more resistance to noise entering the signal).