HELP! subwoofer funny smell

[cadewin]

hello, just a disclaimer i am 17 and do not know much about car audio , around january of last year i bought dual kicker comp-r 12 inch subs, along with it i bought a 1200 waat mono kicker amp which i installed myself. recently i have noticed when turning my volume up it lets off a funny smell, not what i believe to be electrical smells like barbeque almost. on my deck the subwoofer dial ranges from -10 , 10, i tend to run them at -6 just for a casual listen which leads me to believe i am not overpowering the subs. Also a side note i do not have any bass boost setting on the amp.

I hope someone can help because i really don't know what im doing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[dbjunior 10+ year member]

You will need to have the gain set properly. There are many write ups on here if you search it. After reading if this does not seem like something you can handle go to a shop or find someone from here local to help you. What you are doing is over driving your amp creating a clipped signal it might get a little louder as you begin to clip but it will also create a lot more heat. The extra heat will eventually melt the glue holding your coil together and destroy the sub.

 

[cadewin]

okay that very well could be it because i have not adjusted the gain, do you think any damage has been done for the amount of time i have been running these?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

You will need to have the gain set properly. There are many write ups on here if you search it. After reading if this does not seem like something you can handle go to a shop or find someone from here local to help you. What you are doing is over driving your amp creating a clipped signal it might get a little louder as you begin to clip but it will also create a lot more heat. The extra heat will eventually melt the glue holding your coil together and destroy the sub.

Where have you been, Tony? Miss you at the shows. Try to get up to Sanford next month.

okay that very well could be it because i have not adjusted the gain, do you think any damage has been done for the amount of time i have been running these?

If your subs are smelling you are giving them too much power. Simply back off when you start to smell them until they cool down a bit. On the bright side, your amp probably isn't really big enough to blow them really quick... that said, you really don't want to play them til they stink too often, that can't help but shorten their life.

Also if your head unit is at -6 and you're overheating them your gain is set too high, you may well want to set that around 0 and dial back the gain on your amp accordingly. Less gain at the amp is nearly always better if you have a strong source signal.

 

[cadewin]

Where have you been, Tony? Miss you at the shows. Try to get up to Sanford next month.


If your subs are smelling you are giving them too much power. Simply back off when you start to smell them until they cool down a bit. On the bright side, your amp probably isn't really big enough to blow them really quick... that said, you really don't want to play them til they stink too often, that can't help but shorten their life.

Also if your head unit is at -6 and you're overheating them your gain is set too high, you may well want to set that around 0 and dial back the gain on your amp accordingly. Less gain at the amp is nearly always better if you have a strong source signal.

alright thanks for the info! also i was have confusion on input levels, i cant seem to find a clear answer anywhere being if i should run them on HI or LOW

 

[dbjunior 10+ year member]

High level inputs are speaker wire from the head unit. If you have rca's they are low level and are the preferred input to use.

 

[cadewin]

High level inputs are speaker wire from the head unit. If you have rca's they are low level and are the preferred input to use.

could you put this in easier terms haha, i'm not sure what an RCA is but i have do have my speaker wire running from the back of my head unit into my amp

 

[cadewin]

also i have turned the gain WAY down i happened to have it maxed out! anyways the smell still is faintly in my enclosure do you think it is "leftover" or could it still be producing the smell somehow??

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

also i have turned the gain WAY down i happened to have it maxed out! anyways the smell still is faintly in my enclosure do you think it is "leftover" or could it still be producing the smell somehow??

yes it could definitely be residue smell from how much you were harming it earlier. Might be a while till it airs out.

 

[cthedinger 10+ year member]

It sounds like the gains are set wrong, to much power, or wrong box. I suggest taking it to a shop to a look at. If you need a suggestion on a good shop in MI let me know.

 

[cadewin]

It sounds like the gains are set wrong, to much power, or wrong box. I suggest taking it to a shop to a look at. If you need a suggestion on a good shop in MI let me know.

yeah sure, a good shop can never hurt anything